Makhachev’s coach chooses ‘biggest challenge’ among athletes in the lightweight squad

Islam Makhachev overcame Alexander Volkanovski at the UFC 294. Photo: Reproduction/Twitter/@UFC

Keeping an eye on the vast lightweight roster (up to 70.3kg) in the UFC, Javier Mendez, Islam Makhachev, there is no doubt who would be the biggest challenge facing his pupil. Without hesitating in his statement, the coach stated that Justin Gaethje He is the fighter who would present the greatest difficulties in an eventual confrontation. Currently the North American is coming off a defeat to Max Holloway.

“Yeah, for me, the guy out of all the guys I thought, stylistically, was very dangerous for us, out of all of them, I thought he was Justin Gaethje. Stylistically, because of his wrestling pedigree and his striking is very good, strong. It’s all a matter of apples and oranges, because everyone has a different skill set,” declared Javier on his podcast.

The reason for adopting imaginary thoughts is because Mendez does not believe that duel will happen anymore, due to the setback suffered by Gaethje in the UFC 300.

“So I thought he was the biggest threat to us and now he’s probably never going to be in the game for us from now on, so there’s no need to talk about him as a threat to us.”

Current champion of the category, Islam defends his belt on June 1, in the main fight of UFC 302. To challenge him, Dustin Poirier was chosen. Currently, the Russian is considered a big favorite in bookmakers.