“I was asked to represent the Emirates. But we represent Russia. Powerful interview with Islam Makhachev

21st of October Islam Makhachev for the second time in a row he will enter the octagon with Alexander Volkanovski and for the second time he will defend the UFC lightweight championship belt. This happened because the Australian accepted the offer to replace the injured Brazilian Charles Oliveira, who was initially supposed to fight the Russian.

The Makhachev vs Volkanovski 2 fight can be seen in different ways. Some think the Australian comes out ill-prepared. Others (and Islam agrees with them) say that it was Alex who gave the Russian the most difficult fight of his entire professional career. The first meeting between the fighters took place at UFC 284 in February and ended with Makhachev’s victory by unanimous decision.

A few days before the second fight with Volkanovski, Makhachev unexpectedly said that the Australian in this fight is interested in failure and…

— How do you think Alex Volkanovski now sees his chances of defeating you?

“He sees his chance to make a lot of money.” I decided to take a risk as soon as the opportunity presented itself. There is no pressure on him, he is at a moment’s notice. Even if he loses, people will make excuses for him.

– He says he wants to end the fight early…

“He’ll probably hope for a hit, he’ll try to catch me, I’m not going to underestimate him.” He’s a champion, he’s always ready and will fight until you knock him out and put him to sleep.

— On October 12, you stated that you had not completely reviewed your fight with Volkanovski. Have you looked at it now?

— I’ve already watched it several times. Lots of mistakes in combat. At times it stagnated. There were a lot of mistakes on the pitch. We worked on it. We didn’t have much time to fix or change anything, but we got the job done.

— Volkanovski came into play with two weeks of preparation. If you were asked to be an alternate for the Covington-Edwards title fight on December 16, would you accept it?

— We now find ourselves in slightly different positions. He fought for the belt with me and lost, then he had time to prepare, and I immediately took the fight with him, even before he had time to get out of the cage and that’s all. Now he has nothing to lose, he accepted the fight knowing he had no responsibility. But my situation is a little different.

I will go to this fight. If the UFC offers to provide insurance, you and your team can sit down and think about it. Why not. You don’t really need to lose weight. The form is good, you just need to maintain it and that’s it.

— Bobby Green regularly addresses the subject of your use of doping. Given the absurdity of his accusations, can you tell us when and where the most unexpected visit from anti-doping officers took place for you?

— I’m always happy when USADA comes and I’m home. Because you’re tired of constantly changing locations, sometimes you just don’t physically have the time to keep up with it. Somewhere I forgot, somewhere I went to a village. And I already understood that I was not at home, USADA came and I received a flag (an official warning from the anti-doping agency – “”). That’s why I’m happy when I’m home and they come. They arrive at any time. They can come two or three days in a row. As for Bobby Green’s words… I don’t know, even when they fought me with him, I didn’t consider him my opponent and I didn’t think he was a fighter at my level. He can’t prove anything with his fights. And he wants to create some kind of hype around himself with this, even though a few months ago he himself was suspended for doping. I’m not trying to stir up the situation on the Internet, but I’m trying not to pay attention to it.

— You and Nurmagomedov explained why Khabib no longer supports fighters. Does that mean you haven’t even asked him about this possibility once in the last month?

– No, I didn’t ask him, because we know that if Khabib said it, that’s it. He is a man of his word. Of course, if you ask him, if you persuade him, he may agree, but I understand him perfectly. Not only is Islam Makhachev there, but he has a very large team. And then it will begin: someone will be offended if he is in my corner, but he will not go to someone. This is not a problem.

— It’s clear that Khabib sometimes attacks young people. Can he talk tough to you during training?

– Maybe. He is older than me. And it makes no difference, one day, one year or three years. I will allow it. And I don’t deny that this can happen. But I don’t give a reason, I do everything according to schedule, I train as he says. But he always has problems with young people, they are inexperienced, they think they understand something, that they know something. Suddenly, they forget something, and he puts them in their place.

—Are you asking him something?

– Yes. The main plan of the fight, we will definitely consult it. What to work more on, what to work less on. He has supported all my sparring here, he is constantly in the process.

— You told our site in an interview that the last time you abandoned the technique was in 2016 during the fight with Luke Rockhold. Is it true that since then no one has surprised you at the reception?

– No, no one yet. I don’t remember knocking. I don’t exclude that this is possible, but for the moment I am at the top and it will be very difficult to make me give up.

— Six hours before your fight, a very popular fighter in Russia, Shara Bullet, will fight. Will you try watching his fight?

– Of course, I will watch his fight, right here on TV (points to the TV in the room. – “”). His style is very interesting, varied, I also watched his fights in Russia. And I will definitely watch his fight, I will worry about him. I wish him good luck.

— Shara is considered one of the best strikers, but no one has tested him in wrestling. Do you think his wrestling can be on the same level as, say, Dan Hooker, who you beat in 2.5 minutes?

“I’ll be honest, I don’t know his wrestling skills.” I didn’t see where he fought well there. I’m sure he understands where he is and where he’s performing. You have to evolve in all directions: wrestling, grappling, striking, he understands it and improves with each training.

— A limited circle of people is allowed to enter the locker room. Typically, seconds and a manager. Will Hasbik… and Khabib Nurmagomedov be in your locker room?

— Khabib won’t be in the locker room, he won’t even be in the arena. And Hasbik, he has a place near the cage, he can even enter the cage or the locker room.

— You played in the Dagestan amateur football league. Can you name the strongest football player, even a stranger, that you have played against?

— I won’t name names, but the boys there play very well. They just didn’t have the influence at the right time to get them somewhere, to make them part of the team. Because we understand that Russian football is a difficult sport. Talents are lost on construction sites.

– Vagab Vagabov, Marif Piraev, Magomed Molodoy, Shara Bullet – did they all play football? Have you played with any of them?

– None of them. With us in the team now is Olympic freestyle wrestling silver medalist Magomedhabib Kadimagomedov, so he is playing at the level. Khabib shares on social media how he scored thanks to himself. And he constantly scores in the championship, he was even MVP for several rounds.

—Have you ever fought in a football match?

— We played football three days ago, but I really didn’t play. And since a lot of the cameras were coming from the UFC, I immediately said, “This won’t be a game, it will be a disaster.” » Well, there are always arguments and fights. There is never a match ending without controversy.

— You said that you poisoned yourself before the fight with Arman Tsarukyan. What does your food look like after weighing: where do you get it to be sure of its quality?

“I am currently working with a nutritionist provided by the UFC. I trust him completely. It is important. It helps me in both the weight loss process and the recovery process.

— Khamzat Chimaev will represent the United Arab Emirates at this tournament. You have good relations with the Prince of Dubai. Have you ever been asked to fight to represent the UAE?

—To be honest, it was. After the first fight, I was asked to represent the Emirates. We said that we represent Russia, that we live there and this topic was not brought up again.

Russia’s Islam Makhachev will defend his UFC lightweight title against Australia’s Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi. Watch the live broadcast of the tournament on October 21 on the channel from 9:00 p.m. Moscow time.