UFC Lightweight Title holder Islam Makhachev has big plans for the future.
Islam Makhachev Isn’t Interested in Fight With Max Holloway
There isn’t a bigger fighter than the current UFC lightweight champion. This is due to him being the number 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC rankings. Islam Makhachev is on the verge of tying the record for the most title defences if he can get the victory against Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 next month.
The route he has taken for this upcoming fight has been a very unique one for the champion. Dustin Poirier has become the most readily available fighter for Makhachev after all other contenders were on the UFC 300 card. Arman Tsarukyan is the number one ranked contender in the UFC rankings and announced he was approached after his split decision victory over Charles Oliveira. Due to Tsarukyan not having enough time for a full camp, he declined the fight which opened the door for Dustin Poirier to step in.
One of the bigger winners who came out of UFC 300 was the former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway. Holloway has become a viable contender for the lightweight belt after knocking out Justin Gaethje for the BMF belt. However, Islam Makhachev has already defended the belt twice which have both come against former UFC featherweight champion Alex Volkanovski. Due to this Makhachev believes it is better to stick to fighters who are primarily lightweight fighters. Speaking on Good Guy / Bad Guy Makhachev stated;
“Honestly, Max has a job in his division,”
“I don’t want to give a chance to Max because people are still talking about me not defending my belt against the lightweight guys. I need some real contenders from my division.”
“I want to clean my division and fight for the welterweight [title].”
Max Holloway Has Other Plans
While Holloway has put himself in a good position for Makhachev’s title, Holloway has other challenges he wants to pursue. This is due to Holloway wanting to head back down and clinch his old featherweight title. If he was going to fight for the lightweight title, he would be attempting to become a dual-division champion. This is something Makhachev has eyes for himself.
Featherweight king Alex Volkanovski has defeated Max Holloway on 3 different occasions and has also moved up to face Islam Makhachev twice. Volkovski both times was going to become a double champion. This is due to Volanovski already holding the featherweight title at the time. Islam looks to do the same thing sooner rather than later. He has been offered the fight against the welterweight champion Leon Edwards before. This is due to UFC offering Islam Makhachev the chance to challenge for Edward’s title in the main event of UFC 300. However, this never happened and Islam Makhachev has a host of contenders including Poirier and Tsarukyan waiting for him. Makhachev Explained;
“Man, who has next?”
“Now, we have Poirier. After I beat Poirier and after Arman, I don’t know. I don’t have somebody in my division. I need that second belt. I think I deserve it. This is my dream to be double champion.”
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
