The lightweight champion is still looking for a more interesting opponent than current No. 1 contender Arman Tsarukyan.
Lightweight champion Islam Makhachev is once again picking on featherweight fighters.
Since winning the 155 pound belt, Makhachev has fought former 145 pound champion Alexander Volkanovski twice, and now he says he’s open to fighting another 145er in Max Holloway.
Holloway is scheduled to fight Ilia Topuria in the main event of UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi — a card that was originally supposed to feature Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan. But an Islam hand injury scrapped that, and now Mak sees Max as a potential better option than Arman.
“Why not?” he said of a Holloway fight at a recent Q&A session. “I already beat Arman. If UFC puts him next, that’s no problem. But, I’m not excited much [by Tsarukyan]. I need new name, new challenger. I already beat Arman.”
“If Max wants, let’s do it. I don’t need his BMF belt, but Max is a good name. It’s going to be a crazy fight for the fans. If he beats Topuria — this is a hard match-up for him. If he beats him and UFC wants this match? Let’s go.”
It seems like Makhachev is always willing to challenge these smaller fighters with bigger names, rather than discuss fights at his own weight class. It’s something Max Holloway has called him out for in the past.
“I saw Islam talk about, ‘Oh, this fight makes no sense,’ and blah, blah, blah,” Max said leading up to UFC 300. “Brother, you should’ve fought Justin in February.”
That being said, Holloway does has his eye on Makhachev’s belt.
“If I can go out there and get my hand raised like we plan on doing, there’s a lot of fights that can be there for us. And one of them being the 155 champ, which I think would be a fun one.”