Could Oliveira vs Makhachev Be The New Khabib vs Ferguson?

Charles Oliveira successfully defended his lightweight title for the first time last Saturday (Dec. 11, 2021) at UFC 269 by submitting Dustin Poirier in the third round of their championship bout (see it). If all goes as planned, “Do Bronx” will be defending his title against Justin Gaethje next sometime in 2022.

In the meantime, Islam Makhachev is working his way toward his first-ever shot at winning UFC gold, and if he defeats Beneil Dariush on Feb. 27, it all but assures he will face the winner of Oliveira vs Gaethje. And that is the scenario Khabib Nurmagomedov is envisioning.

“Right now is Charles Oliveira time,” Nurmagomedov told ESPN (via MMA Junkie) about Oliveira’s win. “He impressed me, and I really believe he is one of the best fighters in the world right now and best lightweight in the world. It’s going to be a very interesting fight if next fight Islam wins and Charles wins, and they’re going to fight end of the next year. It’s going to be a great fight.”

Of course, Gaethje would love nothing more than to spoil “The Eagle’s” vision. If not, Oliveira vs Makhachev would pit two of the absolute best lightweight grapplers in the world against one another. According to Khabib, a potential fight between them is eerily similar to his own scheduled fight against Tony Ferguson that never saw the light of day.

“It’s going to be a little bit like Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib, you know – Islam vs. Charles Oliveira. They both win. Right now, (Oliveira) has (a) 10-(fight) win streak. If Islam wins next fight, Islam is going to have 10-win streak,” he explained.

“And 11-win streak, Charles Oliveira – it’s going to be great, great fight for both of them and for UFC for sure. I really (hope) they both win and they fight end of the next year.”

Let’s just hope that potential scrap doesn’t suffer the same fate “The Eagle” vs. “El Cucuy” did…on more than one occasion.