Khabib Nurmagomedov has a plan for newly crowned UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and that involves a superfight with current UFC featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski next year in Australia.
Makhachev, who has now won his last 11 trips to the Octagon, submitted former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira in the main event to capture the undisputed 155-pound title earlier today (Sat., Oct. 22, 2022) at UFC 280 live on ESPN+ PPV from inside Etihad Arena on “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi.
After the fight, Nurmagomedov was interviewed by UFC color commentator, Daniel Cormier, and proceeded to call his shot following Makhachev’s submission win over Oliveira. Remember, Khabib is a long-time teammate of Makhachev and currently one of his coaches.
“Now is our plan,” said Nurmagomedov (shown below). “Fly all the way to Australia and fight in pound-for-pound king’s backyard with Volkanovski. Let’s do it. We know we’re going to finish this guy.”
Who’s next? @MakhachevMMA wants @AlexVolkanovski in Perth #UFC280 pic.twitter.com/xE3YMd7Fmr
— UFC (@ufc) October 22, 2022
Volkanovski, who was actually the backup for UFC 280’s lightweight main event, was sitting cageside when Nurmagomedov called for the pound-for-pound superfight. The Australian champion may have had a few beers throughout the card, but he still made his way into the cage to have a face off with Makhachev. That can be seen above as well.
Considering Volkanovski was the backup for this fight and doesn’t have a No. 1 contender to defend his featherweight title against this actually makes a whole lot of sense. Makhachev could find himself defending his lightweight title against the likes of Beneil Dariush next, but it wouldn’t be surprising for UFC to take Khabib up on his offer and book Islam vs. Volkanovski for Australia.
What do you think? Is this a fight you want to see?
Let’s hear it!
For complete UFC 280 results and coverage click here.