Islam Makhachev is back in action. The UFC featherweight champion, coming off of a fantastic head-kick victory over Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 294 last October, wanted to fight in June. The only problem was that the top three contenders for the title were not available for June when Makhachev wanted to fight.

Justin Gaethje, whom Makhachev has been angling to fight since last year, was booked for (and lost) what turned out to be the ‘Fight of the Night’ winning UFC 300 bout against Max Holloway. The other two, namely Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan were booked to fight each other on the same card. Which means that the UFC went to its next best option: Dustin Poirier. And ahead of their UFC 302 title bout, Islam Makhachev sent a stern warning to Poirier.

Islam Makhachev suggests Dustin Poirier work on his wrestling

Dustin Poirier’s career was looked to be in no-man’s land last year following his loss to Justin Gaethje at UFC 291. In a division as competitive and stacked as the UFC’s featherweight division, ‘Diamond’ was expected to have a long and hard way to return to a title shot.

However, his fortunes changed dramatically after he defeated promising and dangerous lightweight prospect Benoit Saint-Denis in an upset knockout at UFC 299 last month. During the bout, Poirier, who is almost entirely a striker, uncharacteristically, attempted multiple guillotine chokes on the Frenchman, even after his corner advised him against it.

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Islam Makhachev, in a recent interview, half-jokingly suggested that he would be ready for Poirier’s guillotines if it came to it in their UFC 302 bout. “I defend my neck. I am ready for your guillotine. That’s why it won’t happen in our fight, but I will be ready,” the champion said. In addition, he advised the New Orleans native to “be ready. Wrestle a lot” even though he felt it wouldn’t do Poirier much good.

Makhachev thinks their stylistic matchup is nightmarish for Poirier

Speaking about his matchup with Dustin Poirier, Islam Makhachev praised ‘Diamond for being a “warrior” and a “legend” with oodles of experience. Dustin Poirier has thirty fights in the UFC and has been with the promotion for over a decade.

However, Makhachev felt that Poirier’s striking-first fighting style as well as an acute lack of a ground game meant that he would be able to take the former interim champion to the ground and finish him there.

“His problem is his style. That’s the one problem this guy has. His weak point is wrestling and grappling. And I have the key for the easy fight, and if I follow the plan, I can beat him easy. My style and Khabib’s style, it’s worst style for this guy, Dustin. People that can take him down, hold him there, always give him problems,” he said.

What do you think about Islam Makhachev’s take on his upcoming fight with Dustin Poirier?