Islam Makhachev invites Charles Oliveira to join his camp for wrestling lessons ahead of potential Colby Covington showdown

UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev wants to help Charles Oliveira deal with Colby Covington and other elite wrestlers.

Makhachev will face Dustin Poirier in the UFC 302 main event this Saturday in Newark. He returns to defend the undisputed UFC lightweight title after back-to-back wins against Alexander Volkanovski in 2023.

Makhachev’s title reign began with a vacant title victory against Oliveira at UFC 280. Oliveira was forced to vacate the title after missing weight ahead of his previous fight against Justin Gaethje at UFC 274.

After a loss to Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 300, Oliveira is plotting a potential move up to welterweight for a clash with Covington. If the UFC brass grants his wish to face Covington, Oliveira could team up with Makhachev to prepare for Covington’s wrestling toolbox.

Islam Makhachev offers former foe Charles Oliveira wrestling help

During his UFC 302 media day press conference, Makhachev invited Oliveira to team up ahead of a potential welterweight move.

“Charles is a good guy, if I can help him one day, he can join our camp, and come to Dagestan,” Makhachev offered. “He has really good striking, high-level grappling. We can help him with the wrestling.”

Makhachev was then pressed to answer how an Oliveira vs. Covington matchup would play out.

“I think Charles can finish him,” Makhachev said. “Charles, he’s a very, very dangerous guy. Every second, [Charles] is looking for the finish. How many finishes does he have? I think more than everybody. [Charles] has very, very high-level skills.”

Before the loss to Tsarukyan, Oliveira defeated Beneil Dariush at UFC 289 and was slated to face Makhachev in a UFC 294 rematch. However, he was forced to withdraw after suffering from a severe cut during the final stages of camp.

Makhachev and Oliveira will forever be linked as UFC lightweight rivals, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have respect for each other. Oliveira could benefit a lot from learning from Makhachev and the other Dagestan maulers.