UFC 280 will be headlined with a lightweight title match between Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev. And Chael Sonnen is excited about this matchup, mainly because of the different fighting styles.
Namely, he believes that this match will be a unique “BJJ vs. Sambo” experience:
This is a massive battle between Jiu-Jitsu and Sambo. And Sambo isn’t coming out and trying to get credit ahead of time because their guy is a three to one dog… And Jiu-Jitsu isn’t even mentioning it, because they’re not sure that their guy’s techniques work.
You have two sides that are scared.We’re going to see Jiu-Jitsu versus Sambo, period. We haven’t seen this matchup before.
These boys are going to the ground. We know this ahead of time, but Sambo isn’t coming out saying: “Keep your eye on us”, and Jiu-Jitsu isn’t willing to risk what’s at stake here.
He also stated:
If, from his back, from a guard position, Charles could finish Islam, it would be absolutely amazing. But there’s nothing historically that would make you think that…
Can Islam pass his guard? If he does, very bad. Can Islam pound him and put Charles on the defense? If so, very bad… These are the kinds of things that are at stake.
