With UFC 284 inching closer as the hours pass by, Lightweight champ Islam Makhachev looks more dialed in than he has ever been in his MMA career. The 31-year-old is set to defend his title for the first time in Australia, although he won’t have his friend and long-time training partner Khabib Nurmagomedov beside him. After cornering him in a number of his fights, ‘The Eagle’ recently announced his shocking retirement from coaching, to spend more time with his family. While this means that Makhachev will have to make the walk out in front of the Perth crowd without Nurmagomedov, it clearly doesn’t mean that the former lightweight champ has completely dropped his coaching duties, as many would like to believe.

In a conversation with Daniel Cormier, the current champ disclosed how Nurmagomedov has continued to guide him as a coach while also adding that the 34-year-old does put some pressure on him when it comes to weight cuts. DC, as a part of his YouTube channel, does a regular series called ‘Daniel Cormier Check in’ which is where Makhachev had made the comments at.

Islam Makhachev tells Daniel Cormier about Khabib Nurmagomedov’s pressure on his weight cut.

While conversing with DC, the host asked Makhachev about the 29-0 record holder’s absence from his current camp. In response, the 31-year-old right away talked about how the ‘Eagle’ would send him a message every day to check on his weight cut.

“Every day in the morning first message, how’s your weight, how much your weight?” stated Makhachev.

This, as per Makhachev, much to his dislike, has only added more pressure. Although, no doubt, the conversation between DC and the champ was fairly light-hearted and talks about the additional pressure were mostly done in the same tone. The Dagestani then pointed out his previous weight cuts, which he seemed to have done quite comfortably to drive home the point that he was well on his way to making 155 pounds.

“He puts pressure. I think my weight is good but today he says ‘ you a little bit big’ I said all my cutting weight like 10 fights, I have the schedules you know, I put in the in the phone, I check all last time how much I weighed, Wednesday that time how much my weight…” stated Makhachev.

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Despite his retirement, Khabib Nurmagomedov has clearly continued being a part of his team as described by the current lightweight champ.

Makhachev is all set to defend his Lightweight title against Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284

Ultimately, even without Nurmagomedov beside him, Makhachev‘s confidence heading into the fight looks sky high. And considering that his first title defense is against another champ itself, the 31-year-old clearly recognizes what’s at stake. A win here will see him climb a step above Volkanovski in the P4P rankings, a position once held by Khabib Nurmagomedov himself.

Thus UFC 284 might just be Makhachev’s most important fight of his career, while some might even put more significance on it than his last win over Charles Oliveira.

Will Makhachev successfully defend his title? Or will Nurmagomedov’s absence hurt his confidence as he walks out to a hostile Australian crowd? Let us know in the comment section.

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