“Wikipedia is lying.” Interview with Makhachev before the fight – about the difference in weight with the actions of Khabib and Oliveira

– On September 27, you turned 31. Did you eat anything forbidden that day?

– Wikipedia is lying, my birthday is in October. October 27 (the birth date of September 27 is also listed on Sherdog.com. – )

– Anyway, the next question does not change – Khabib ended his career at 32 years and 1 month, do you feel that you will have to stay longer than him, because you will only become the UFC champion at 31 years old?

– I can’t say for sure. We have a lot of good guys in the gym: Usman is fighting for the belt in Bellator, there are other guys competing in the up to 70kg category at a good level. When I feel like I’m not shooting with them, then I’ll think about ending my career. So far there is nothing like it.

– It’s the middle of the day in Dubai now, can you tell us what you did in the previous practice and what you will do in the evening one?

– We now had morning training: sparring, work and wrestling. And in the evening we usually have more cardio work. For example, tonight I’m going to work legs with a trainer, then a bike or treadmill, and swim for 20-30 minutes. Although the load is not decreasing, it is too early to slow down.

– What is your weight now?

– In the morning I weighed 80.1 kg

– When was the last time you fought with Khabib and what difference do you have now in weight and strength?

– Recently. The weight difference is probably more than 10 kg. It’s hard to fight it. But while working, he constantly shows new moments. At the beginning of the camp, he gave a lot of things.

Will he be around?

Yes, there will be Khabib and Javier Mendez. Let’s see who else. If Khabib is in the corner, it’s +10 to wrestling, striking, tactics.

– You told us that your father was not very serious about sports and devoted himself to agriculture. Will he come to this fight in Abu Dhabi?

No, my father will not come. He doesn’t usually come, and I wouldn’t want him to come myself, because it’s a bit of a distraction, because then you have to worry about him being okay. And so many people will come. We have a great team here, now over 20 people.

“Maybe people underestimate Oliveira’s position and how he improved it. Which of your training partners resembles him the most in striking technique?

He added yes. He only used jiu-jitsu, but now he’s good in the pit, but I train with Usman [Нурмагомедовым], with Sharip Zainukov. They are Thai boxing guys.

– Who was the hardest hit in sparring before this fight?

– I don’t remember anyone in particular, it’s just that there are difficult parts, like when my pulse is racing. I constantly change: two rounds with one, two rounds with another, for the fifth round someone else. I constantly put new opponents.

– You had a knockout loss – did you change anything in technique after that, in the way you punch and straddle at that time?

– I think I grew from that point as a fighter, I didn’t just start overlapping or punching in any other way. I realized that here, in MMA, there are small gloves and you have to be a little more careful.

– How will you be dangerous for Oliveira?

You must make him uncomfortable. All his defeats in the UFC was when he went to deep waters, when the pulse is already over 200. And his current winning streak, there were no hard fights, where he could knock down and calmly control. There was no one who could calmly fight him or resist in combat. By comparison, Ferguson had good jiu-jitsu and was able to fight Charles for all five rounds. Oliveira could not finish the fight with him earlier than expected (the fight lasted three rounds of five minutes. – “”).

– Do you believe that your fight will take place? Khabib said Oliveira may not come to Abu Dhabi from Brazil.

– For some reason, I often encounter this: the last three fights, my opponents have changed. And now there is a tournament planned in Brazil, so I don’t know. I believe he will come, I believe the fight will take place. But Oliveira was avoiding this fight so badly, he wanted to move it to Brazil so badly. He wanted a money fight for himself. And he was ready to fight sooner, call Conor, Nate Diaz. When told that he had to fight Islam, he began to support it in time and tried to transfer this fight to Brazil. Think of other excuses. I think they just told him they would find a replacement, especially since he’s not a champion now. I even heard that they wanted to offer this fight to Chandler for the vacant title. And then Oliveira immediately signed the contract.

– You had your last fight on February 26, Oliveira – on May 7. How did the negotiations go for you. Was there such a time when the fight wasn’t officially announced, but you already knew you were going to fight?

– Honestly, until the manager called and said that Oliveira had accepted the fight, there was no such certainty. It was hard to believe, because he was looking for many reasons, coming one after another. And he also lost the title, which is probably why the UFC had to fight.

– Can you remember where you printed and signed the contract for this fight?

– At first, the director wrote to me: “He accepted.” I didn’t understand what it was about. Then the manager called and said that Oliveira was okay, but hadn’t signed the contract yet. And then they said everything was safe. I called Khabib, Khabib said he was aware of this news and we started planning the camp, thinking about where and what we were going to spend. I signed a fight contract as my first UFC contract without even reading it. I saw three UFC letters and signed.

– On July 19, you posted a photo with a big fish and captioned it to make everyone think you finally got a contract for a title fight. Does this mean that you really agreed on all the details of the fight that day?

— Oh, no, no. There was no certainty at the time. That day was just a good catch. Here, by the way, fishing does not work, there are a lot of formations. The best way to relax is by bike.

“How often are you checked by USADA now?”

– If they come, I’m happy for them. Because it turns out that I ended up at home, I didn’t go anywhere, we met. It’s hard to fill everything, to always be in place. When I was in Dagestan, there was a case when they came, and the same week they came back. And the inspector himself says to me: “Prepare yourself, you are going to be tested a lot for this fight. Indeed, I have the impression that they check more than usual.

– Did it happen that during training you could not fall asleep because of overwork or thoughts about the fight. What do you think about the most in times like this?

– If you are very tired and trained closer to 8-9 p.m., then yes, the body is still on fire, and you go to bed, and it is difficult to fall asleep. Then you lie down with your eyes closed for an hour or two. If there is such a problem, I understand that it can go on forever, I can drink melatonin.

– You were at Khabib’s title fight with Iaquinta and Khabib’s high profile fight with Conor – did you get anything for yourself from those fights?

– Khabib’s demeanor, the way he trained, how he approached it, that’s what I remember very well.

– Khabib’s behavior after the fight with Conor too?

“Everything that is said must be answered. It’s good that it happened like that, it could have been worse later. He just beat it, but there was so much to say about the family. It might not end in a fight. I can say for myself that I will not let anyone touch my family, my country and my religion either.