Khabib Announces Islam’s Next Fight – ‘We Accepted It’
Khabib Nurmagomedov says Islam Makhachev will defend his UFC Lightweight Title in January.
Makhachev is coming off a successful defense against Dustin Poirier at UFC 302. He submitted Poirier in the last round to defend his title as Khabib was in the corner. After the fight, there were suggestions that Makhachev would face the number one ranked contender in the division, Arman Tsarukyan. Tsarukyan is one of the leading contenders in the division.
He defeated Charles Oliveira at UFC 300 in his last fight. That was his fourth win in a row. He previously faced off against Islam on his UFC debut in 2019. However, Islam came out victorious with a unanimous decision. There were reports that Islam was going to face him in October.
“[The fight with Islam] was supposed to take place in October. But they have put it off. Now it’s being negotiated for December… It depends on when Islam is coming back, if he needs a surgery and he returns next spring then they will put an interim title on the line,” Arman said
Khabib Reacts
But that changed after Islam revealed that he picked up an injury. There were question marks over whether Islam would fight at the back end of the year at UFC 310 or early next year. But now Khabib has confirmed they were offered a fight in January. However, The Eagle did not confirm the opponent, although it is expected to be Arman.
“UFC offered us a fight already, in January. We accepted it,” Nurmagomedov said
It is welcome news for fans wanting to see Makhachev remain active. He has not had a defeat in the UFC since losing to Adriano Martins. Since then, he has won 14 UFC fights in a row, making him the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, alongside John Jones and Alex Pereira. Islam had previously stated that he wanted to move up a weight class to chase a title in another division.
What’s Next?
He was eyeing a fight with the former UFC Welterweight Champion Leon Edwards. But Edwards lost his belt when he took on Belal Muhammad at UFC 304. Belal dominated to win a unanimous decision, ending hopes of Islam taking that fight. Islam has revealed that he is close friends with Belal, thus ruling out that possibility. While there is a chance to consider the middleweight division, Islam admitted that it will likely be a step up too far.
“Belal didn’t give him any chance. Smash him everywhere. He make us nervous a little bit with a couple of positions, but now Belal is the champion. This guy broke my plans to be double champion. But I am really happy for him and happy for his country. He deserves it. I can move [up], but it’s going to be hard. All middleweight guys are so big and I have to bring some weight. We will see. When I finish all my jobs in my division, we will make plans,” Islam revealed
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