“Poirier spent more time in the cage than many have.” Powerful analysis of Islam Makhachev’s fight at UFC 302

At UFC tournaments you could see Dugulubgov in the corner of Khamzat Chimaev and top lightweight Jalin Turner. Dugulubgov is from Kabardino-Balkaria and his MMA record is 8 wins, 2 losses. Azamat was supposed to fight his final fight with Justin Gaethje, but withdrew from the tournament due to health issues. We asked him to answer a few questions about Dustin Poirier’s chances against Islam Makhachev.

Poirier and Makhachev will fight for the lightweight belt at UFC 302 in Newark.

— Let’s imagine a situation in which Dustin Poirier came to you in March to tell you that he had an argument with Islam Makhachev. What do you think would be the best thing to do during this preparation?

“Islam is a fighter of a caliber for which it is difficult to fully prepare in three months. If we prepare a person who is not predisposed to defend themselves against a style as specific as Islam.

I would focus on simplifying my striking technique, which would aim to create obstacles between my opponent’s fight and me. I would teach Dustin forehands, we call them spears. They would force the adversary, if it were Islam, to maintain a high posture and would not give him the opportunity to lean forward. These are blows such as high kicks, types, straight blows, even aimed at the collarbone, and not at the head. Direct blows to the knee. The beginning would be like this: a lot of movements, a lot of shots like that. Plus the minimum number of amplitude impacts.

The second part of the workout would include scrambles and ties. I would not only teach him a technique: “Do this, take it here, turn there…” But in general, the directions in which he should aim. Because a high-level fighter who has muscle memory and well-established techniques would have a hard time learning new ones in three months. But it would be much easier to teach him new directions, new principles and new navigation. Classically, a man stands in the jungle, I show him: look, you see a big mountain – find a way to get to it.

— Should Dustin Poirier figure out exactly how he’s going to defeat Islam Makhachev? Or is it better not to do it, because if it doesn’t work he will be lost in battle?

— All coaches have different attitudes, I don’t want to offend anyone because of their views on strategies. I always prepare my fighters for the fact that 90% of the moves they initially attempt will not be successful. Both in stand-up and in wrestling. I teach them step by step to go to the end of the battle. My calculation is still that we will have the longest three or five round fight in history. And we must prepare ourselves so that during this longest battle nothing happens that can surprise you or become a surprise. When this part is finished, when we have gone through the full extent of all the techniques, then we are already going deeper. If we do everything by the book, then your best, most effective techniques will work. Just have them as your strengths, but at the same time always expect that we will always have a plan B, C, D, etc.

The task is to defeat opponents in all areas of battle for three rounds. And we have aces. Using them, if possible, you can complete the battle.

— If you consider Dustin Poirier as material, what advantages does he have in preparing for the fight against Islam?

— The very first thing is his vast experience. He has spent more time in the professional cage than many fighters in combat. The guy has a huge arsenal of strategies, techniques, etc. The good thing about Dustin is that if he prepares with good breathing and can be mentally stable with his strategy, then simply by his calmness he can wait until some of the errors of Islam are resolved.

But if you look at other aspects of its technology, then, firstly, the physics of Islam is on a different level. With his athleticism, his speed, his reaction, Islam is on another level. Second, Islam suffered less damage to his health during his career. Dustin has lived through wars. He has many internal scars and Islam is healthier and younger. The next thing is, of course, wrestling. If you compare the quality of the wrestling on the ground, the quality of the technique of transferring the fight to the ground, in all these areas Islam is simply 2-3 heads higher than Dustin. And if Islam himself doesn’t make any mistakes, he will still give Dustin a very small percentage chance of winning.

I am in favor of Islam and I really want to see how it will show people a completely different level of fighter. Because watching his training, I always expect that with every fight a new Islam Makhachev will arise.

— Is it difficult to find training partners in America to prepare Poirier for Islam? And would you need sparring partners with training in Sambo or Combat Sambo?

— Today, MMA has become so international and limitless that looking for partners only in your own country is an outdated story. Now people bring training partners from different countries: they fly in, train together and fly away. I think if Dustin wanted to look for a sparring partner, he would find Russian fighters. If I was prepping him, I would definitely put him with the Greco-Roman wrestling guys. So that he learns to work from chest grips. Because most Americans, when they prepare for fighters from the CIS countries who have good grounds and wrestle, they just put on wrestling shoes and practice freestyle wrestling, like they teach it in colleges . But during a fight there is no freestyle wrestling, it’s a completely different type of wrestling. And unfortunately, many still don’t understand this.

And now I notice that I’m starting to pick up more and more movement dynamics and mechanics similar to those of Greco-Roman wrestling: chest work, certain transitions and movements, net work. Naturally, with modifications.

— It seems to me that it is a constant error that Poirier does not invite anyone with a sambo school. He is now helped by Mateusz Gamrot, an excellent MMA fighter from freestyle wrestling.

— In general, they have a large number of guys from the CIS countries in their gym, including good wrestlers. If I were fighting a fighter of Islam’s caliber, I would make sure to put the maximum resources into finding fighters with his physique, with his language, with his vision and with his technique.

— Everyone I spoke to in Russia repeats that Poirier has good boxing. Do you think Dustin’s boxing is his main characteristic? And does this add much to the battle against Islam?

“For my part, I would say that he does not have good boxing, but a good sense of exchange of blows in MMA. If you put him in a boxing ring, an average boxer will crush him. But he understands when to chain punches during MMA transitions. And the second thing that helps him hit well is his open eyes during rallies. If you watch him take his best shots in slow motion, those are the moments where his eyes never leave the target. He has a fixed target, he looks at it – and the surge of kinetic energy when connecting the shot with the target is much higher when you see the target.

A lot of people talk about his punching power, but it’s not physical strength – he rejects kinetic energy well and a lot of efficiency comes from his eyes. So yeah, that’s one of his strengths, a cool weapon. If Islam gives him the opportunity to enter into these exchanges, then yes, it is already a chance for Dustin to take another direction in the fight.

— What impresses you about Islam Makhachev’s wrestling or grappling that perhaps ordinary fans don’t understand?

“Even many professionals won’t understand this until they fight it.” This is the amount of physical force he can take and direct towards the opponent’s weakly protected part.

Rather than just butting heads, he can carefully transfer all of his power to a single point – and very easily bring the episode into a position that is positive for itself. It’s very difficult to prepare for it if you haven’t felt it on your body.

— Does it make sense to give a person a large number of wrestling matches, just to gain a little endurance, like marathon runners gain a week’s worth of volume by running at a low heart rate?

– Oh, yes, it’s one part of the battle preparations. I have training days where we do a lot of different positions, 30 to 40 seconds in one position, then the next, and so on for a very long time. This is how we practice “width” techniques. Then, there are days when we practice only one or two techniques, but in all variations. This is called “practicing the technique in depth.” And you need to combine them, both styles bring their own useful effects.

“Sometimes it seems like a fighter will collapse mentally if everything goes wrong for him in the first round. What would you say to Poirier if he was emotional and tortured throughout the first round?

“Believe it or not, my job is mostly done when my student enters the cage.” I give small reminders, but it will be very difficult to change or improve anything. If we haven’t figured out during training how to make Islam not crush you, then no matter what I say to him while we have 60 seconds, it won’t do any good. Confidence and attitude are all the product of useful actions during training. The more you practice useful actions, the more your brain stores this information and remembers… understands that out of ten times eight we succeeded, the more confidence you gain. This is called true confidence.

Everything else is motivation before the fight. Many fighters go out to fight with motivation, and once the adrenaline rush wears off and they sit down for the first break… there is no more motivation – and they are under the shock. But when in training you go through a tough first round over and over again, and you have to move on to the next one and land in the second round, that will carry over into the fight. Because in combat, I’ll be able to sit back and say, “Dustin, we worked on this!” Remember how we went through that fire – and now the work begins? And then there’s the possibility that he’ll say, “Oh, coach, yes, we’ve done that a few times, and it worked well for me.” »

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