New Delhi: UFC Lightweight champion Islam Makhachev is set to defend his title against Arman Tsarukyan in the UFC 311 pay-per-view at the Intuit Dome arena in Inglewood, California on January 19, Sunday. Makhachev will also break his mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov’s record for the most lightweight title defence in UFC history in his next fight.
Makhchev has been a dominant fighter in the lightweight division as he successfully defended his title three times after winning the championship against Charles Oliveira. He is also undefeated since 2016 and won 14 fights consecutively.
Makhachev didn’t associate his performance with age as he compared himself with Artur Beterbiev, who is the undisputed champion in the light-heavyweight division in boxing and he is still undefeated.
“I train with a lot of young guys in the gym, if I see that I can’t keep up, that they are catching up with me, overtaking me, then why should I torture myself? I’ll stop [then]” Islam said.
Makhachev is just 33 years old and he is not thinking about retiring soon from the UFC and he wants to go into the welterweight division to challenge Belal Muhammad and become a two-division champion in the UFC.
Islam Makhachev desires to leave his title to a ‘newcomer’
Islam Makhachev has plans to move upwards and capture the welterweight championship in UFC. He will leave his lightweight title after successfully capturing the Welterweight championship. He stated that he will be more willing to move upwards after his teammate and current Lightweight champion in the Bellator organisation, Usman Nurmagomedov joins UFC.
“Of course [I’ll pass it to him] – UFC 70Kg is our weight class, and we have a lot of strong guys in the gym who can hold the belt for a long time. We [also] have interesting guys who can sell fights.” Islam stated.
Islam also admitted that Usman didn’t have much challenge left in Bellator and there is not much time left as Usman joins UFC and then Islam vacates his belt and moves to the welterweight division.
UFC Lightweight Champion Islam Makhachev opened up about his retirement fight after UFC 311 event at the Intuit Dome arena in Inglewood, California on January 19, Sunday. UFC Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
