Michael Bisping sees UFC light-weight champ Islam Makhachev as variation 2.0 of Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) will appearance to tie Nurmagomedov’s record of 3 light-weight title defenses when he dealswith Dustin Poirier (30-8 MMA, 22-7 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 302 (pay-per-view/ESPN2/ESPN+) primary occasion at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
Nurmagomedov passed the torch on to his protege after retiring as unbeaten light-weight champ in October2020 Bisping believes Makhachev is a more well rounded fighter than Nurmagomedov.
“Khabib came veryfirst, and he’ll constantly be keptinmind for that, for what he did to the sport, how he represented Dagestan and carriedout that design,” Bisping informed TNT Sports. “It took over the sport, let’s be sincere. But his time hasactually gone. It hasactually passed, however Islam is a brand-new, enhanced variation. Look at the head kick knockout of Alexander Volkanovski.
“He’s much, much smoother on the feet. His grapp