The UFC lightweight title picture appears to be on hold, and Charles Oliveira's coach is growing frustrated with the standstill.
Diego Lima, who trains former champion Oliveira (35-10 MMA, 23-10 UFC), has voiced his displeasure with Islam Makhachev's hesitation in announcing when—and against whom—he will next defend his belt.
Makhachev (27-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC) was last seen in action when he submitted Renato Moicano at UFC 311 in January. When featherweight champion Ilia Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) recently announced he would vacate the 145-pound title and move up to lightweight, many assumed a champ-vs-champ superfight between the two was imminent.
However, Makhachev's coach and mentor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, recently revealed that they are awaiting the outcome of the upcoming welterweight title fight between Jack Della Maddalena and their training partner, Belal Muhammad.
If Muhammad loses to Della Maddalena, Makhachev is expected to move up to 170 pounds to challenge the Australian, and Lima believes that if he does make that move, the lightweight division needs to move on quickly.
“If Makhachev goes up? Then he loses the belt,” Lima said this week while speaking to MMA Fighting. “It’s like (Ilia) Topuria. I think the UFC will ask him to choose. If he says ‘I’ll fight’ (at 170 pounds), then they have to create an interim. I can’t put a whole division on hold. Personally, I think it’s absurd to hold an entire division.
“When an athlete goes up, he has to either drop his belt or create an interim. When a fighter starts to take too long thinking what he will do, then it’s time to create an interim. The division must move. Fighters fight a lot to get to the belt, and when they get there, they want to sit on the belt. It shouldn’t be like that, man.”
There has been speculation that Ilia Topuria was pressured by the UFC into relinquishing his 145-pound title before moving up to the lightweight division, and Lima believes that was a mistake on the former featherweight champion’s part.
“I’m not Topuria’s manager, but if I were, I wouldn’t let my fighter vacate the belt and risk moving up for nothing,” Lima said. “I would go up with a goal, with some negotiation. I don’t know if that’s what Topuria has done. There’s a lot going on that we don’t know yet.
“As for Makhachev, he’s said many times before he wants to move up,” he continued. “Between Charles and Makhachev there’s a belt, and that’s what we want to win. But first we have to get to the belt, and there are two problems there. First, Belal’s fight. We don’t know what will happen if Belal wins or loses. And there’s also Topuria, and we don’t know the negotiation they had the moment he let go of the belt and moved up a division.”
