Islam Makhachev, also known as the protege of the great Khabib Nurmagomedov, currently reigns supreme as the lightweight champion of the UFC. Beginning his UFC run in 2015, he quickly became the fighter most opponents avoided, dominating each of his rivals, similar to how Khabib used to do.
Making it difficult for anyone to deny him anymore, Makhachev finally seized the UFC lightweight championship in a performance of the ages against the deadly Charles ‘Do Bronx’ Oliveira. Islam submitted Charles in round 2, making the fight look like a cakewalk up to that point.
Islam Makhachev weighs in on next potential fights
Since capturing UFC gold, Islam Makhachev threw an immediate challenge to face the then pound-for-pound king and reigning featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski. Makhachev went on to score a close victory over Volkanovski in their first clash in early 2023, leaving fans with doubts and a want for a rematch. But later in that year itself, as Volk stepped in on short notice to fight Makhachev again, the reigning featherweight champion got sent into the shadow realm.
Ever since then, fans have been wondering about whom Islam Makhachev will face next. Charles Oliveira was supposed to avenge his loss against Islam in October, 2023 after a stellar performance against Beneil Dariush, but he had to pull out due to an injury, which resulted in Volkanovski stepping in.
But luckily for UFC fans, the lightweight champion is likely to defend his belt against the B.M.F champion, ‘The Highlight’ Justin Gaethje’ on June 8th, who knocked Dustin Poirier out cold with a head kick in his last octagon appearance.
Gaethje is known for his ruthless but calculated way of chaos with which he has decimated most of his opponents. Although Makhachev has never faced a foe like Gaethje before, he is beyond confident stating that he will easily walk through him like he’s done with all his opponents before.
Islam Makhachev beef with Ilia Topuria explored
Ilia Topuria recently turned the MMA world upside down as he viciously knocked out Alexander Volkanovski to become the new featherweight champion. But being as brash and confident he is, Topuria set off a beef with Islam right away in hopes for a future double-championship opportunity.
‘El Matador’ posted the video of Islam getting knocked out in his only loss, on his Instagram story. Makhachev didn’t take long to respond to Topuria by mocking his short height and making a bold comment stating that he’ll first defeat Gaethje and proceed with injecting Topuria with ‘dagestan growth medicine’ in their bout. Makhachev made similar comments to Volkanovski before defeating him twice, and seems to be certain that he’ll do the same to Topuria.
The future of the Dagestani champion looks extremely promising. It is certain that he will feature in many massive fights, not only in his division but also in others, and exit the game as one of the all-time greats.
