At UFC 311, two of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s closest teammates— Islam Makhachev and Umar Nurmagomedov will be involved in title fights. Another one of his students, Tagir Ulankebov will open the PPV with a bout against Clayton Carpenter. So, while historic, it will also be a very busy night for Team Khabib, which arguably makes the legendary fighter more anxious than his own fights ever did.
Speaking at a press conference, lightweight champion Makhachev acknowledged the stress his mentor must be feeling and expressed his sympathy for the “worried” man.
However, determined to make life easier for his mentor, he also promised to deliver a stellar performance and successfully defend his title for the fourth time.
“We try to make it easy but it is going to be long night for him (Khabib) from the opening… Tagir fighting the first fight, myself, Umar. I feel bad about Khabib, its going to be a long night for him.”
️ Islam Makhachev: “I feel bad for Khabib, it’s gonna be a long night for him.”
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) December 6, 2024
But Makhachev faces his toughest test yet—a rematch with Arman Tsarukyan. Islam has yet to face a grappler of Tsaurkyan’s caliber. His title defenses have been primarily against strikers, who he could take down and keep on the ground with ease, thus controlling the fight.
With Tsarukyan, he risks the danger of being taken down himself for the first time since he won the title from Charles Oliveira at UFC 294.
Meanwhile, Khabib’s cousin, Umar Nurmagomedov, will also challenge bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili in a fight that has been brewing for months now. Umar has been calling out Merab since he defeated Cory Sandhagen, and the champion captured the belt from Sean O’Malley at UFC Noche.
Khabib, feeling the weight of these monumental matchups had earlier joked on Instagram, “What a night is waiting for me, I hope I’ll survive.”
Khabib is already stressing about cornering both Islam Makhachev and Umar Nurmagomedov at #UFC311
“What a night is waiting for me ♂️ I hope I’ll survive.”
(via. IG / @TeamKhabib) #UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/BFsUlHmEh8
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) December 5, 2024
If both fighters emerge victorious, Khabib and the AKA camp’s dominance will extend even further, with two titles in the UFC and one in Bellator, where Umar’s brother Usman holds the lightweight title.
But the job isn’t done even if all of his fighters win on the night.
At some point in the near future, Khabib will have to address the ever-growing ambition of Islam to win a second title, especially since the UFC lightweight champion doesn’t seem keen on moving down in weight to do so.
Islam shuts down Topuria fight talk
Islam has officially had enough of featherweight challengers. The UFC lightweight champion, who has already defended his title twice against Alexander Volkanovski, made it clear at the UFC 311 press conference that he’s ready to move on.
“I’m tired of giving small guys a chance,” Makhachev said, asserting that it doesn’t benefit him in the slightest, even if he wins. Instead, the champ has his eyes on a bigger prize—literally. “I need my second belt,” he emphasized, signaling a potential move up in weight.
However, he doesn’t really want to fight welterweight champion Belal Muhammad since they train together. Now, there’s a solution to that but it’s not going to happen tomorrow or the day after either!
Belal has earlier claimed that if Islam wanted to move to welterweight, he would consider moving up to middleweight. But since Belal hasn’t defended his title even once, this idea, while plausible, seems to be in the distant future. So, the real question is- does Makhachev want to wait that long?
