Islam Makhachev

Alexander Volkanovski said his team is "close" to setting up a bout against Islam Makhachev, per Marc Raimondi of ESPN.

The battle of UFC champions would take place at UFC 284 on Feb. 12 in Perth, Australia.

"We're obviously pushing for it," Volkanovski said. "Everyone wants it. We're going to make it happen."

Volkanovski has emerged as the top pound-for-pound fighter in the latest UFC rankings after successfully defending his featherweight title against Max Holloway, his third win against the former champ. The Australian is now 25-1 in his professional career and is undefeated since joining UFC in 2016.

The next challenge for him is moving up in weight class, trying to join Conor McGregor as the only person to hold the lightweight and featherweight titles at the same time.

Makhachev is rated the No. 3 pound-for-pound fighter behind Volkanovski and Israel Adesanya, but his size and experience could make him a tough opponent in a potential bout.

The 31-year-old earned the UFC lightweight title in October with a win over Charles Oliveira by submission. He is 23-1 in MMA, with his only loss coming in 2015.

Volkanovski believes the fight will provide an opportunity to further prove himself.

"It's going to be like a David and Goliath, because everyone thinks he's the strongest man on the planet, best grappling anyone has ever seen," Volkanovski said. "The way they're talking about him—it's just going to look incredible when I get the job done."

Oh, so you thought Islam Makhachev versus Alexander Volkanovski was a done deal? Think again. This is MMA, where nothing is ever cut-and-dried.

After Makhachev dominated the great Charles Oliveira at UFC 280 on Oct. 22 to capture the lightweight title, there was plenty of momentum for him to defend his belt against featherweight champ Volkanovski, who used to fight at lightweight (and welterweight) and was keen to move up a weight class to vie for the 155-pound title and a chance to become just the fifth fighter to simultaneously hold two UFC belts at the same time.

The two men went so far as to meet in the Octagon following Makhachev's victory. But since then, confusion has set in. Volkanovski suggested on Twitter that Makhachev wasn't quite as eager for the bout as he seemed to be while renewing a call for the fight to happen in his home country of Australia.

Are you a man of your word? @MAKHACHEVMMA? 🇦🇺 Let’s make it happen! ✍️ #UFC284

— Alex Volkanovski (@alexvolkanovski) November 4, 2022

Makhachev himself, while indicating he was looking for his next fight, also expressed confusion and a little frustration over the logistics surrounding the bout, opening the door to further uncertainty.

I’m not sure what UFC wants, February Australia or March Vegas, I honestly don’t care about location and opponent, I never choose opponents. Just send a contract and stop playing games

— Makhachev Islam (@MAKHACHEVMMA) November 5, 2022

Here's what we know for sure: Volkanovski is the UFC's current pound-for-pound kingpin and has earned a shot at double-champ status. Makhachev, after being unranked on that illustrious list prior to UFC 280, is now third, behind only Volkanovski and middleweight champ Israel Adesanya. These are two highly skilled and terrifying champs, one with surefire Hall of Fame credentials and one who looks to be well on his way.

But that doesn’t magically make Volk-Makhachev happen. So, what's realistic for the Dagestani's first title defense? Here are the three options.

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Alexander Volkanovski

OK, let's get this one out of the way. Even with fresh doubt surrounding the matchup, it's probably still the most likely scenario.

Reading between the lines, the key hang-up here appears to be location. Volkanovski’s home country of Australia was originally expected to be the landing spot, but Las Vegas now appears to be in the mix.

No matter where it happens, here's hoping they can get something done. Makhachev (5'10") would have a size advantage, making his stellar grappling game even harder to deal with.

But Volkanovski is an MMA computer and an absolute machine in the striking game, where he leads active featherweights in significant strike accuracy (56.6 percent) and striking differential (3.12) while sitting third in strikes landed per minute (6.97), per UFC stats. This is a guy who knows how to find your chin. He'll need that tool to tame the Makhachev attack.

Any of these fights would be compelling, but this one would be appointment viewing.

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Beneil Dariush

Perhaps hoping to boost his own case, Dariush recently told Bella Michaels of ABC affiliate KRGV (h/t Harvey Leonard of MMA News) that Volk-Makhachev may not be a done deal just yet—and perhaps not the best idea even if it is:

"I don’t know who I'm fighting. The UFC's talking about making Makhachev and Volkanovski happen, but that’s not for sure either. If you think about it, there's people [Volkanovski] can fight and there's people Islam can fight, and then they can build that fight up in the future, the lightweight champion and the featherweight champion. We'll see what happens. I'm not really sure."

The best way to help one's own cause, of course, is to take care of business on the field of competition and to do so in a way that will stick in the minds of fans and UFC brass. Mission accomplished on that front for Dariush, who hammered favored hot shot Mateusz Gamrot over three rounds for a unanimous-decision victory further down the UFC 280 main card. It was Dariush's eighth straight win, dating back to 2018.

Oliveira may have a case for a rematch, but it's not as strong as that of other fighters who have yet to face Makhachev. Why? Because he was just dominated by Makhachev. Usually instant rematches only happen following a controversial decision. Plus, with a division this deep, it's time to open the playing field a bit.

Dariush may not have massive name value, but he's been trying his level best to change that with his work inside of the cage. It may be ready to pay off in the form of a title shot. If not, a title eliminator between Dariush and Oliveira could help clear up the back end of the contender picture.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdIBWcQugJ4

Winner Between Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler

These two will do battle on the UFC 281 main card going down at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 12.

After this possibility and the others listed here, there's a steep drop-off among the other candidates in terms of likelihood. But if the UFC decides Volkanovski will stay at 145 pounds for now—or the pair can't get a deal done—or if the promotion believes that Dariush still lacks the star power needed to tentpole a pay-per-view, either of these men would be a ready-made challenge for Makhachev.

Add in the intrigue that comes from the fact that Poirier, maybe the most famous non-Conor McGregor lightweight in the world, was beaten pretty handily by retired lightweight GOAT and Makhachev friend and mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov back in 2019.

Poirier versus Chandler seems to contain some legitimate bad blood, which, knowing these two, will mean another master class in hand-to-hand violence. A Fight of the Night-level performance, which is entirely plausible, would springboard the winner into the thick of this discussion.

One fun aspect of this stems from the fact that Makhachev is relatively new to the elite levels of his division—arguably only since beating Oliveira. So he has yet to tangle with most of the killers that exist at lightweight, the UFC's deepest, most talent-rich weight class. That means all sorts of fresh matchmaking possibilities with top-tier guys like Poirier or Chandler.

These guys are in the third slot on the UFC 281 pay-per-view—pretty prime territory considering the main and co-main are both title fights. If they show out, that could change this equation in a heartbeat, especially if Volk-Makhachev continues to hit snags.

Islam Makhachev is the new UFC lightweight champion after defeating Charles Oliveira by second-round submission at UFC 280 on Saturday.

Former UFC featherweight and lightweight double champion Conor McGregor isn't impressed, however. In since-deleted tweets, the 34-year-old said he's capable of beating Makhachev, citing his experience versus "s--t."

MMA Fighting Newswire provided the quotes.

"Nice fight. nice performance. I have built all the tools to beat this style now versus before. Experience vs. s***. Face breaking shots from clinch and baby brain batter shots from bottom. And the rest of my repertoire yous know. Steel left leg. Cannon back hand. Wrist control.

"The thought of shutting down this system of fighting with my own developed system is quite intriguing to me. Whoever of them against. It’s not personal. It’s a skill evaluation and a fight. Even through generations. The [IMMAF’s], amateurs. A war of attrition. To the box."

McGregor is working his way back to the Octagon with an eye toward a comeback in 2023 after suffering a broken leg during a match with Dustin Poirier in July 2021. He is 22-6 for his professional MMA career with 19 knockouts, including a 15-match win streak.

The 31-year-old Makhachev is 23-1 lifetime with 11 submission wins and four knockouts. He's currently on an 11-match win streak.

What happens when you finish the greatest finisher in the history of MMA?

Lots of things. For starters, you win a UFC title. Secondly, you create your own legacy, one that defines itself in years instead of months. And finally, if you’re Islam Makhachev, you step out of the shadow of your legendary mentor and cement yourself as your own legend, an athlete and fighter in full.

Saturday at UFC 280, Makhachev captured the vacant UFC lightweight championship by submitting the great Charles Oliveira at 3:16 of the second round. Despite his status as only a slight betting favorite, Makhachev dominated the contest from pillar to post. Oliveira, who holds the UFC records for most finishes (19) and submissions (16), was never really in the fight.

With coach, friend and retired lightweight GOAT Khabib Nurmagomedov in his corner, Makhachev wrote another chapter in the ongoing saga of MMA greats from Russia’s Dagestan region.

“I always figured this was not going to be an easy fight,” Makhachev told broadcaster Daniel Cormier in the cage after the fight. “Because [Oliveira] always pushes his opponent. But I knew he was gonna be wary of my wrestling skills. That’s why I cannot be pushed too much.”

Indeed. One of the things fans love most about Oliveira (33-9 [1]) is his instinctive willingness to dive directly into the belly of the beast—and then find a way to pull victory out of the fire. For example, he did it fairly recently when he chose to bang with knockout artists like Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler, and managed to get stoppages both times. That seemed to be his strategy in the first round against Makhachev, when during an early clinch he appeared to drag the Dagestani down to the canvas and into his guard.

It didn’t work out for him. Oliveira hunted for a choke and then a leg lock, but Makhachev was implacable from the top. The action eventually returned to the feet, but Makhachev used a nifty toss to get the fight back to the mat, which is where the round ended. According to UFC stats, Makhachev controlled 3:48 of the five-minute round, landing 12 significant strikes to Oliveira’s six. That’s what they call a dominant 10-9 round.

Makhachev takes the first round with a strong wrestling base and ground and pound to start the first. #UFC280

— Adam Martin (@MMAdamMartin) October 22, 2022

In its opening moments, the second round felt like it might favor Oliveira. As the action played out on the feet, Oliveira marched forward, firing punches and kicks but not landing anything of consequence.

Clearly preoccupied with Makhachev’s takedown threat, Oliveira was taking a visibly more conservative approach to the standup game than fans are used to seeing from Do Bronx.

Makhachev took advantage. Instead, it was he who was landing the bigger shots, including a sharp one-two combination that appeared to stun Oliveira.

With roughly two minutes remaining in the second stanza, Makhachev dropped Oliveira with a right hook, and the ex-champ appeared stunned. Makhachev fought through up kicks and jumped into Oliveira’s half guard. From there he immediately locked on an arm-triangle choke. Once he passed half guard and reached full side control, the torque was on in earnest, and the squeeze of Makhachev was simply too much. Oliveira quickly tapped, and a new champion was minted.

What was it like to submit the UFC’s submission king?

“I always said this was my goal,” Makhachev told Cormier matter-of-factly.

Makhachev then dedicated his win to Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, his former coach and Khabib’s father, who died in 2020 from complications related to COVID-19, as Khabib stood downcast in the background.

But it went beyond just that bit of symmetry. Statistics are not the be-all and end-all in MMA, but they sure can tell a story sometimes, and they certainly told one here. The new champion outstruck the former champion 30-19, with a sky-high accuracy rate of 73 percent compared with 48 percent for Oliveira. He landed 2-of-3 takedowns—right in line with his career 65 percent success rate, also extremely high. Makhachev managed more than a full round’s worth of control time with 5:05 total; Oliveira checked in with 0:42.

Islam Makhachev EASILY beats Charles Oliveira, submitting him with a head and arm triangle in the second round. #UFC280

— Luke Thomas🏋️‍♀️ (@lthomasnews) October 22, 2022

Make no mistake: This was pure dominance, the kind fans expected from Nurmagomedov but not for Makhachev, protégé or no. Makhachev appeared to lack the dynamism, aggression, offensive tool kit and pure meanness that made his mentor the greatest at what he did at 155 pounds. Plenty of people, myself included, pointed to his weak strength of schedule, punctuated by good-not-great names like Bobby Green and Dan Hooker. While Makhachev dominated lesser competition, Oliveira was gun-slinging with the likes of Dustin Poirier and Tony Ferguson.

But here, at age 31 and now with a record of 23-1 and an 11-fight UFC win streak, Makhachev has established himself as an active great in the UFC.

So what does the future hold for the new champ? Let’s let Nurmagomedov tell the story, as he jumped on the mic post-fight to offer some ideas.

“Now it’s our plan to fly all the way to Australia and fight the pound-for-pound king Alex Volkanovski,” Nurmagomedov said. “You know we’re going to finish this guy.”

Volkanovski is, of course, the reigning featherweight champ, but has designs on the lightweight belt as well. UFC president Dana White has indicated a willingness to pit Volkanovski against Saturday’s winner.

So, we shall see. But for now, Makhachev can be secure with his place in the MMA hierarchy—independent of his friend and mentor Nurmagomedov—after finishing maybe the best finisher in the history of the entire sport. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday.

Khabib Nurmagomedov wants the world to know Islam Makhachev is the best fighter in the world after the Russian star earned a submission win over Charles Oliveira to take the lightweight championship at UFC 280 on Saturday.

"I told you guys Islam Makhachev is the best fighter, not just in lightweight. He's No. 1 pound-for-pound in the world," Nurmagomedov said after the fight (h/t ESPN's Marc Raimondi). "Now plan is to fight pound-for-pound king Alexander Volkanovski in his home of Australia."

After the challenge was made, Volkanovski got in the cage to accept a bout for the lightweight championship and unofficial title of best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

Alexander Volkanovski accepts Islam Makhachev's challenge to fight for the UFC lightweight title and P4P No. 1 status #UFC280 pic.twitter.com/iezb8rOyJa

— Shakiel Mahjouri (@Shak_Fu) October 22, 2022

Coming into Saturday's event from Abu Dhabi, Oliveira told reporters Makhachev was only getting a title shot because of his relationship with Nurmagomedov.

"I think Islam deserves all the respect in the world," Oliveira said. "But I think he should’ve fought somebody maybe in the top five like I did, not just surf on someone else’s wave and skip the line like he did."

It's not an unfair statement for Oliveira to make. Makhachev's last fight before Saturday's bout was over Bobby Green in February. Green has been a journeyman fighter for most of his tenure in UFC and has a 29-13-1 career record in 43 fights.

Makhachev was originally supposed to take on Beneil Dariush on the show, but Green got the spot when Dariush had to withdraw because of an ankle injury.

Nurmagomedov, who vacated the lightweight title when he retired from competition after defeating Justin Gaethje at UFC 254, has moved into the coaching ranks. Makhachev is one of the fighters working with The Eagle.

Oliveira won the vacant 155-pound title by defeating Michael Chandler at UFC 262 in May 2021. Do Bronx was forced to vacate the championship for missing weight prior to his scheduled bout with Gaethje at UFC 274.

The win by Makhachev is, by far, the biggest of his career. It also improved his career record to 23-1.

Volkanovski is the most dominant current champion in UFC. The Great has held the featherweight crown for more than 1,000 days since beating Max Holloway in December 2019. He has successfully defended the title three times.

Despite primarily competing in the 145-pound division, Volkanovski does have three career fights as a lightweight. He hasn't competed in the division since 2016.

Islam Makhachev is the new UFC lightweight champion with a second-round submission win over Charles Oliveira in the main event of UFC 280 from Abu Dhabi.

Makhachev showed from the outset that he's more than just a wrestler. He cracked Oliveira on the feet in the first round before going to work with his vaunted grappling in a round that proved the champion was going to have his hands full from the opening bell.

The striking was once again a big factor in the lead-up to the finish. Makhachev intercepted a flying knee attempt from Oliveira with a two-punch combination that floored Do Bronx.

Makhachev wasted no time in following up, jumping on the arm-triangle choke that drew the tap.

The coronation is the ultimate achievement in the Russian's current 11-fight win streak. The 31-year-old has been slowly working his way up the rankings since starting the streak back in 2016.

Now he holds the spot that was long the possession of Khabib Nurmagomedov, who now trains Makhachev.

Whether the new champion can live up to the impressive legacy of his friend remains to be seen, but he already has his eyes set on challenging another UFC champion.

Alexander Volkanovski was the backup fighter if either Oliveira or Makhachev missed weight. The lightweight title was vacant because Oliveira failed to make weight in his defense against Justin Gaethje.

He was also there to meet the winner in the center of the cage after the fight:

Volkanovski enters the Octagon to accept Makhachev's challenge for the lightweight title 👀 #UFC280 pic.twitter.com/VyNdFDLbgc

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) October 22, 2022

Volkanovski didn't get his crack at gold Saturday, but Makhachev is willing to head to Australia in 2023 to defend his belt against the featherweight champ.

“Why not? Yes [I’ll fight Volkanovski in Australia],” Makhachev said this week, per Damon Martin of MMA Fighting. “I went to Australia one time. I can go again."

Picking up his first title defense against a fighter of Volkanovski's caliber would only serve to further cement his status as a champion that's going to be hard to top.