Michael Bisping says Charles Oliveira will be the lightweight GOAT if he beats Islam Makhachev
Michael Bisping believes Charles Oliveira will be the greatest lightweight fighter of all time if he gets past Islam Makhachev.
Oliveira is set to face Makhachev in the headlining bout of UFC 280 on Oct. 22 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He will get the chance to reclaim the title he lost on the scales when he missed weight by half a pound against Justin Gaethje in May at UFC 274. ‘Do Bronx’ defeated Gaethje to extend his win streak to 11 and remain the top contender in the division.
Michael Bisping says Charles Oliveira will be the lightweight GOAT if he beats Islam Makhachev
Bisping took to his YouTube channel to give his take on why Oliveira will be the best lightweight fighter of all time if he beats Makhachev.
“Is Charles Oliveira, in fact, the greatest lightweight of all time?” Bisping said (transcribed by MMA Junkie). “Because he might just be. It all depends on what happens in Abu Dhabi. Greatest lightweight of all time? I think if Charles beats Islam this weekend, I think that belongs to Charles now. I really do,” Bisping said. “I think he will have surpassed him simply because he’s taken out all the top contenders. And it’s not Khabib’s fault, but you cannot deny the numbers, the momentum, the history that Oliveira’s making.”
Bisping isn’t sure if Khabib would’ve defeated Oliveira
The former middleweight champion isn’t confident Khabib Nurmagomedov would’ve defeated Oliveira if he kept competing.
“All we ever saw was him win and dominate people, but he retired at 32 years old after three title defenses and two-and-a-half-years as champion of the world,” Bisping said. “That’s fantastic, but if he had stuck around longer, would we have seen him lose the belt? Would we have seen him get challenged? We’ll never know, and that is one of the real arguments for Khabib not being the pound-for-pound No. 1. …
“The reality is, the reason we ask the question is because he didn’t stick around long enough. And we know why. It was a very honorable reason. He made a promise to his mother, and he stuck to that. Wow, what a guy. I respect that so much. But would he have beaten all these top new contenders? He’d have beaten some of them, but would he have beaten Charles? We don’t know. We can only imagine.”
