Islam Makhachev has sent fans into raptures on social media this evening, appearing to hint he is only willing to fight for the welterweight crown in his UFC return later this year.
Makhachev, the current undisputed lightweight kingpin, has been heavily linked with a summer return to action, to no avail so far. Furthermore, the Russian has been tied to one notable fight in particular, a title super fight with former featherweight kingpin Ilia Topuria.
But he remains coy on his immediate fighting future amid speculation over a move for a title in a second weight class. Warned away from taking a fight with close friend and training partner, Belal Muhammad, in recent weeks, it seems Makhachev is less than hesitant to fight the Illinois native.
In an Instagram story, Makhachev posted a picture of himself, tagging UFC boss Dana White with the caption, “He goes for the second one.” But on Reddit this evening, a host of fans are less than happy at the assumption that Makhachev is hinting at a welterweight run.
One would pen, “I genuinely don’t care. Almost every champ acts like a spoiled diva“, referring to UFC champions like Jon Jones holding the division hostage for personal glory.
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Another fan mocked the state of the UFC, pointing the finger in the direction of the inactive Jones and said, “At this point I honestly think Jon has some kind of blackmail he’s holding over Dana”.
“UFC feels so stagnant right now, just little mouldy bread crumbs of social media posts teasing this and that but nothing actually gets announced,” A Reddit user posted, referring to no official announcements yet for the International Fight Week in June.
“And the most egregious of them all is 6 months on (Jon) Jones has not even so much as verbally agreed to his next fight. Or been forced to vacate,” commented another, once again bringing the conversation back to the heavyweight champion.
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“Either he doesn’t have faith in Belal or he’s gonna turn heel,” joked a Redditor. This fan asserted that Islam should get the same treatment his team has been dishing on Topuria and added, “Islam is gonna have to work his way up to the champ. Fight a couple contenders first”.
But while Makhachev seems to be eager to fight for the welterweight belt by any means necessary, he may be left opponent-less.
Muhammad wants no piece of Makhachev
Maintaining in the months prior that he would not welcome a title fight with friend, Makhachev, the incumbent welterweight champion, Muhammad has not changed his tune yet.
He is set to fight Della Maddalena this weekend at UFC 315. But has stressed that win or lose, he has no desire to fight the Dagestani champion at any time at all in the future.
He even boldly vowed to vacate the belt to pursue a career at 185 lbs he’s pushed to take on the pound-for-pound number one
“For me, loyalty means more than anything,” Muhammad said on FULL SEND MMA.
“I feel that I’m at the point now where if I get two title defenses. I could start looking to move up. When I am looking at 85, I think it is an easy division for me. So me and Islam could double champ back-to-back,” Belal suggested.
