Has Oliveira already outclassed Khabib? Is a fight with Makhachev needed?

The Brazilian has already seen a lot of action in the UFC, while Nurmagomedov is out early.

Fighting fans are looking forward to the UFC 280 tournament, where Makhachev and Oliveira will meet in the main event. They will be fighting for the lightweight championship belt. It should be recalled that the Brazilian has had it for a year and a half.  But in fact, due to a 200 gram excess before the fight with Gaggi, Oliveira doesn’t have the belt. But everyone is used to him being the champion. But it begs the question, is Oliveira really better than Khabib?

Nurmagomedov is at the top of this chain, but is he the best? Would Cherles be better after all and should he be called the greatest in the lightweight division? If Makhachev wins then everything will be in its place, and there will be no more questions.

But on the other hand many say that it will be the Brazilian who will win the fight and he will have the title.  The numbers and history are indeed on Oliveira’s side.

But now we just have to wait for the tournament and watch the two lightweights fight. Of course, Charles has losses, and there are eight of them. There have been knockouts, injuries and surrenders.

There are stories of bad weight lifting, but that’s been with Khabib as well. But the Russian fighter doesn’t have 30 fights in his arsenal.  The Brazilian has had time to fight many fighters throughout his career, and he has won against many top fighters. There have been setbacks along the way, but it’s also an order of magnitude tougher path.

Of course, Nurmagomedov has also achieved significant results in 12. But the distance isn’t that solid, so 0 defeats doesn’t look very solid. For example, he didn’t fight Ferguson, he didn’t change or even try to change his weight class. Nor was there any spectacularity in the fights.

But seriously, all these parameters are a matter of taste. We can argue endlessly about which one is better. There will be no single conclusion.