Khabib Says Makhachev-Muhammad Fight Is Unlikely – ‘It’s Hard To Beat Belal’

Fans are unlikely to see Islam Makhachev and Belal Muhammad fight each other.
That is according to Khabib Nurmagomedov. The fight has been mentioned as part of Makhachev’s quest to win a belt in another weight class. The 33-year-old is the current UFC Lightweight Champion. He secured the title after beating Charles Oliveria before defending it three times. His last defense was against Dustin Poirier. He submitted Poirier in the final round at UFC 302. Islam will now face Arman Tsarukyan on January 18 at UFC 311. Makhachev won the first fight via a unanimous decision in 2019, meaning he will fancy his chances.
Ilia Topuria, the UFC Featherweight Champion, is targeting the winner. He has mentioned a possible fight against Islam, following his KO win over Max Holloway at UFC 308. Alexander Volkanovski failed to beat Islam twice after moving up from featherweight on both occasions. That reduces Ilia’s chances of winning, while Islam is not keen on that fight. Makhachev’s coach, Javier Mendez, says the focus is another belt as Islam could retire at 35.
“He’s going to probably do what Khabib [Nurmagomedov] did and retire at 35. Well, Khabib did it a lot earlier, but I think 35 is the magic number for these guys. They have that in their head, that 35 is the cutoff point. Some will go over, but I think Islam is already set financially, he’s done really well with his money, so I think it will probably be lights out after 35,” Mendez said
Khabib Reacts
A move to welterweight was the logical step. But those plans have suffered after Leon Edwards lost his title to Belal at UFC 304. That was Belal’s tenth win out of his last 11 fights, which includes one no-contest. Belal has regularly trained with Khabib, meaning the latter’s loyalty may be divided. Khabib was in Islam’s corner for the Poirier fight. Khabib recognized that Belal is no easy opponent. But Islam may only have two years left in the sport. If he does not face the best, there is an argument that he should walk away. But Khabib does not want that fight to happen.
“If they had asked me to fight with Belal when I was an active fighter, (I would have said) no. But for example, Belal and Islam, OK, you have to talk with them. My heart – my heart is not OK. It would be hard to prepare Islam to beat Belal. I don’t think that it’s ever going to happen. For me, it’s going to be very hard to prepare somebody to beat Belal. If you want to beat Belal, I think you have to stop him.
“Without a stoppage, it’s going to be very hard. What are you going to do? OK, if you take him down, it’s very hard to control him for 25 minutes, first of all. Second, it’s very hard to dominate him on striking game in all 25 minutes because he mixes it up. He doesn’t stay with you all 25 minutes. [And] he wrestles and strike, wrestle and strike. He is good,” Khabib stated
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