Islam Makhachev has been told there is a "massive amount of pressure on his shoulders" to win back the belt Khabib Nurmagomedov once held in his fight against Charles Oliveira.
Makhachev looks to follow in the footsteps of his teammate and coach Nurmagomedov when he faces Oliveira for the vacant lightweight title at UFC 280 this Saturday. Nurmagomedov defended the 155lb title three times before vacating it when he retired from fighting last year and the UFC legend looks to pass the torch to Makhachev in the biggest fight of his career.
In the past few years, Makhachev has been labelled as 'Nurmagomedov's protege' and was even backed by the Russian's late father to become a UFC champion. The high praise from his peers is something that former UFC title challenger Dan Hardy thinks will put a burden on Makhachev heading into the title fight.
