Arguably the biggest headline to come out of Tuesday’s wave of fight announcements was the confirmation that Islam Makhachev will vacate his UFC lightweight title.
Makhachev (27-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC) is officially moving up to the welterweight division as he begins his pursuit of becoming a two-division world champion. During a live video on Instagram, UFC President Dana White revealed that a fight between Makhachev and newly crowned UFC welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena (18-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) is expected to be announced soon.
In recent weeks, rumors had swirled that Makhachev was closely watching the outcome of last Saturday’s welterweight title bout between Della Maddalena and Belal Muhammad—a longtime friend and training partner of Makhachev.
According to Makhachev’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, had Muhammad defeated "JDM" at UFC 315, Makhachev likely would have remained at 155 pounds and taken on Ilia Topuria instead.
“If Belal were to win, Islam was never going to fight Belal, and he's going to stay in the (lightweight) division. But now Jack wins,” Abdelaziz said “Islam has beaten everyone in this division, literally. Dan Hooker, Arman, Charles Oliveira, he’s on a 15-fight winning streak, finished nine of his last 10 opponents. (There’s no one who) deserves to go fight for a second title than Islam, and the reason he wasn't going to do it because Belal was the champion.”
“You have these two guys, Charles Oliveira and Ilia fighting, and they can fight for the title,” Abdelaziz said. “But everybody knows who's still champion in this division because he never lost the title.”
Although Makhachev is expected to officially vacate the title he won by submitting Charles Oliveira in 2022, his manager, Ali Abdelaziz, insists the Dagestani star should still be recognized as the rightful lightweight champion moving forward.
“Nobody in the UFC right now in any division is doing what Islam Makhachev is doing – finishing guys at this level, putting on unbelievable fights, knocking people out with head kicks, just smashing people,” Abdelaziz said. “I’m going to tell you something: He's going to be a problem for a lot of these guys. I believe at welterweight, you're going to get a bigger, not depleted, stronger Islam Makhachev, and I believe he is going to be a problem for the whole division.
“He will have the two belts on top of his shoulder because he's still the lightweight champion. … When Khabib retired, Khabib retired as a lightweight champion, as pound-for-pound No. 1 king. Islam is the pound-for-pound No. 1 king (now), and he never lost his title.”
