Insider Says Dana White Is “Counting” on Islam Makhachev’s Charm for Selling Dustin Poirier Fight

Lightweight champion Islam Makhachev will return to the cage at UFC 302 against Dustin Poirier. Poirier beat Benoit St-Denis at UFC 299 and earned his quick turnaround shot at Makhachev. Interestingly, the latter believes Poirier does not deserve the fight but agreed since he had no other contenders available for the June date. While the prevailing selling point seems to be Poirier’s shot at completing his story, Chael Sonnen thinks that Makhachev made the right moves to get the fight and he has a nice media play and charm. 

In his new YouTube video, the retired UFC veteran addressed Makhachev’s UFC 302 fight and spoke about his charm. He said, “Islam is out there and it’s largely because of Poirier, it’s largely because the company is now counting on him. But they are also counting on him and he is getting Poirier ’cause Islam is pretty good at talking to you guys. He is pretty good at the media. You are starting to see the charm; he is relaxing a little bit.” Sonnen also added that this was not within the team’s culture before and this is not what senior Nurmagomedov (Abdulmanap) had set up.

Makhachev and Poirier have been going at it for a while now. Back when Poirier fought Justin Gaethje at UFC 291 for the BMF belt, the champion jibed at the pair for fighting for a non-title belt. So when he finished St. Denis at UFC 299, Poirier immediately called for a shot at the champion and has since been teasing a guillotine finish. But not if Makhachev has a say in the matter.

Makhachev shared what he felt about fighting Poirier and admitted that he was dangerous. However, he also mentioned that he did not fear the guillotine choke and had a plan for it. He even laid out the plan of action for defeating ‘the Diamond’ and said it out loud in the media.

So yes, his charm is in place indeed! The champion is riding high on confidence after his last KO win over Alexander Volkanovski. Let’s see what his plan for ‘The Diamond’ is.

Islam Makhachev dismisses Poirier’s guillotine threat

Talking about Dustin Poirier’s guillotine choke,  Islam Makhachev said, “Brother, honestly I respect him but, okay, I don’t respect his guillotine but all his skills. Because I never see him finish someone on the guillotine. Maybe one day, but it’s not gonna be me.”

Daniel Cormier recalled how Khabib Nurmagomedov took on Poirier at UFC 242 in 2019, and defeated him via submission in round 3. However, there was one part where Poirier did execute a guillotine choke. Makhachev replied that it was a part of the plan for Khabib. He said that before the fight Khabib told him that Poirier would hold him in a guillotine and Poirier needed to make the fighter feel that he was in the trap. That is when Khabib struck.

If this is indeed true, then it was a bold gamble from the former lightweight champion. Speaking of the moment, Nurmagomedov once said that there was no way he was tapping out while his father was watching from cage side. Poirier seemed to have had the choke locked in and went all in. But once ‘The Eagle’ escaped, he took an exhausted Poirier’s back and choked him out.

It remains to be seen if Makhachev pulls off something similar, especially since he has a striking game much better than his mentor’s. What do you think? Will Poirier ‘jump the gilly’ against Islam? Could Islam survive if that happened? Let us know in the comments.