Pound-for-pound king Islam Makhachev plans to fight Justin Gaethje next. Yet, for Charles Oliveira’s coach and manager, Diego Lima, the champ has no other choice but to fight the winner of the Charles Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan fight.
Earlier this week, UFC CEO Dana White announced that the UFC 300 winner of the Oliveira vs. Tsarukyan fight would be the one to be given the title shot against Makhachev. The Russian fighter, however, shared the timeline of his fight plans recently, saying he’s targeting Gaethje next instead of the No. 1 title contender the promotion wants for him. The resistance is not new, as the champ is open about his lack of interest in rematches, with Oliveira and Tsarukyan experiencing loss to him in the past.
Yet, for Lima, there is no other choice for Makhachev than to honor the plans of UFC for him.
“I think the winner of this fight will fight Makhachev,” told MMA Fighting. “There’s nothing else. There’s nowhere to run. I really believe that’s the fight.”
For the manager, Oliveira is the sole choice Makhachev can take, especially if the recent fight records of the other fighters would be considered. And despite Makhachev breaking Oliveira’s 11-fight winning streak, Lima has faith that it will be a different situation the next time the two face each other in the cage.
“If you look at Gaethje’s last six fights, if you look at [Dustin] Poirier’s last six fights, if you look at [Beneil] Dariush’s, there’s no one else for him to fight. It’s Charles,” said Lima. “In my opinion, it’s clear that he doesn’t want to fight Charles. Not taking anything away from him, it wasn’t Charles that night. We won’t take anything away from him, but everybody saw it. It wasn’t Charles’ night. It was Makhachev’s night, and if they fight again, I’m sure it will be a whole other fight.”
Lima is not alone in the argument. After Makhachev shared the plan, Tsarukyan also opposed the champ and said that Gaethje would have to wait.
“I think he should wait (for) us, because we are going to be contender No. 1,” Tsarukyan said in his interview with Daniel Cormier. “Hopefully, they’re not going to book that fight for the summer and wait (for) us. After, when I win, I’m going to fight with Islam, and then we can talk about Gaethje. I feel like we are next, and Gaethje has to wait (for) us. Gathje has to wait (until) October. OK, we’re going to fight for the title in the summer.”
