Reigning UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev wants to make his next 155-pound title defense at some point in June, presumably at the UFC 302 pay-per-view (PPV) event in Newark. Unfortunately, No. 2-ranked title contender, Justin Gaethje, doesn’t want to fight until the promotion’s Madison Square Garden card in November.
Assuming he defeats Max Holloway at UFC 300.
No. 3-ranked Dustin Poirier also remains an option for Makhachev, but the promotion is likely to call upon the winner of Charles Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan, who join Gaethje on April 13 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas — even though Makhachev remains ho-hum on the idea (because of this).
“Ideally, they’re calling this Oliveira-Tsarukyan fight a title eliminator, so the winner of that fight fights (Makhachev) in June, then I fight the winner of that in preferably Madison Square Garden in November,” Gaethje told MMA Junkie. “That sounds like a perfect timeline for me. I’ll definitely have my time to rest, recovery and retrain myself to get ready for that fight. That’s the perfect situation for me. We’ll see if Oliveira sh*ts the bed again. I think if Tsarukyan wins he takes it because they are calling this a title eliminator, so whoever wins is going to have to fight that fight.”
Oliveira holds wins over both Gaethje and Poirier.
Makhachev, 32, has not competed since stopping Alex Volkanovski at UFC 294 last Oct. in Abu Dhabi. The winner of Oliveira vs. Tsarukyan would need to emerge from UFC 300 with no serious injuries since UFC 302 is less than two months away; otherwise, expect Poirier to get the call.
A lot of questions will be answered this weekend in “Sin City.”
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