Islam Makhachev has the biggest opportunity of his career ahead of him, but it’s hard to resist thinking down the road a little bit.
Makhachev will go after a title in a second weight class when he moves up from lightweight to challenge champion Jack Della Maddalena for the 170-pound title in the UFC 322 main event at Madison Square Garden in New York next month.
Makhachev (27-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC) won the lightweight title at UFC 280 against Charles Oliveira. He had title defenses against Alexander Volkanovski twice, Dustin Poirier and Renato Moicano – the latter on a day’s notice opponent shift after top contender Arman Tsarukyan pulled out while cutting weight.
Maddalena (18-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) is making his first title defense. At UFC 315, Maddalaena beat Belal Muhammad in a Fight of the Night main event to win the title. Even though Makhachev is the smaller fighter moving up, he’s a 3-1 favorite against Maddalena.
Makhachev admitted the fight against Maddalena is the biggest of his career because of the instant top tier of MMA fighters he would join who have won UFC titles in two divisions.
“This is the biggest fight for me in my career,” Makhachev told UFC broadcast partner ESPN. “When I fought for the title the first time, this is very different. We have a lot of world champions, but not a lot of double champions. I want to be one of them. This is the biggest challenge for me. It’s very hard, and I deserve my chance. I defended my (lightweight) belt more than everybody, and now it’s a new step.
“… Now I fight for a second belt, and it’s a dream for me. This is the hardest camp of my life. It’s a hard fight, and it’s a big chance to be one of the best fighters who ever did this. That’s why I pushed for this fight very hard. Second belt, Madison Square Garden – everything together: It’s like a dream.”
By leaving the lightweight division, Makhachev had to vacate his 155-pound title. Former featherweight champion Ilia Topuria vacated his belt there to move up to lightweight – and won the belt Makhachev left behind.
Now Topuria may still be chasing a fight with Makhachev, even though he’s up to 170 pounds now. Makhachev thinks Topuria’s options right now are Tsarukyan and Paddy Pimblett – and he doesn’t think all that highly of Pimblett as Topuria’s first lightweight title defense.
“Maybe Arman, maybe (Justin) Gaethje, but not Paddy for sure,” Makhachev said. “Paddy beat who? Tony Ferguson? Who else? Michael Chandler? Everybody beats Chandler. He can do some things, but I don’t see a big chance. Honestly, it’s not a big challenge for Topuria. Arman, it’s a really big deal. If he beats Arman – he’s got good skills striking, wrestling, grappling … he’s a good fight. But Paddy? Nobody’s checked Paddy before.”
Ultimately, though, Makhachev said he could see himself fighting at the supposed UFC event at what’s left of the White House next June – and against Topuria in a superfight.
“He wants to fight in the White House, and I also want to be there,” Makhachev said. “For the MMA community, it’s going to be a big fight. People want this fight, and if the UFC wants this fight, we can do it. I know the UFC wants to do some big fight in the White House. Which fight would be bigger than this?”
