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Islam Makhachev took a subtle dig at Michael Chandler, who has not backed him in any of his title fights.
The lightweight champion has fought for the belt twice, once as a challenger and once as a champion. He beat Charles Oliveira to become champion and then defended his belt against Alexander Volkanovski.
In a recent tweet, he thanked his 'haters', mainly Michael Chandler, who predicted both his title fights wrong:
"Shoutout to my loyal haters"
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Attached to the tweet were screenshots of three different articles wherein Michael Chandler had backed Makhachev's opponents to beat him. One stated that Chandler believes Justin Gaethje could beat the current lightweight champion. Fans in the comments section were trolling 'Iron', calling him jealous of the champ because he knows he will never beat him.
Although Gaethje has not fought the Dagestani fighter yet, he seems to be next in line. Islam Makhachev is currently set to fight Charles Oliveira in a rematch for the title.
Justin Gaethje wishes Charles Oliveira beats Islam Makhachev so he can fight him
Justin Gaethje put on the performance of a lifetime against Dustin Poirier at UFC 291 and it has made him the favorite to challenge for the title next.
'The Highlight' has already fought for the title before and lost at the hands of Charles Oliveira. So he hopes the Brazilian can win his title back from Makhachev so he can get a rematch against him:
"I prefer Charles because he beat me. I'm a competitor, you know, this chance at redemption was amazing (rematch against Poirier), it drove me to work harder, be ready more. But, they're the best in the world and I wanna fight the best in the world. After last fight I couldn't see Charles winning, but I can hope."
Take a look at a clip from the post-fight press conference:
Justin Gaethje does not think Charles Oliveira can beat Islam Makhachev based on what he saw in their previous fight. However, he hopes the Brazilian can win so he can avenge his loss to him the same way he did against Dustin Poirier at UFC 291.
