Israel Adesanya believes that fight fans are in for a grappling-heavy main event this weekend at UFC 311. At the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, lightweight champion Islam Makhachev will face top contender Arman Tsarukyan in a rematch of their first encounter in 2019.
With Tsarukyan making his UFC debut in their previous meeting, what surprised so many fans is that he was able to compete with Makhachev in the grappling exchanges which very few have been able to do even if he wasn’t able to secure the win. Both men do their best work on the ground but the biggest difference heading into their second bout is the significant improvements that they have made on the feet over the past few years.
The challenger has shown that he is a dangerous striker with a wide kicking arsenal in particular which allows him to control the range and keep opponents guessing. His knockout over Beneil Dariush showed that he is able to get the job done without needing to get hold of his opponent to drag them to the canvas.
Makhachev, on the other hand, has a simple but effective style which has led to him having a lot of success with his boxing, particularly in his last fight against Dustin Poirier where he won a lot of the exchanges against “The Diamond”.
When breaking the fight down on his YouTube channel, the former two-time middleweight champion acknowledged how both of them have evolved into well-rounded mixed martial artists though it still seems likely that they will look test each others grappling once again. “The Last Stylebender” thinks that regardless of the fact that both men are confident strikers, they will revert to type in this matchup.
“His striking is looking way more comfortable lately, way more polished. Arman as well… He’s got nice kicks, good hands, very explosive. But yeah, it’s gonna be a wrestling fight. It’s gonna be WrestleMania.”
