At the moment, current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov has no plans to compete anytime soon after announcing his retirement from the sport after UFC 254. This, despite the fact that UFC President, Dana White, has been trying his hardest to get “The Eagle” to fight at least one more time.
Should Khabib stay retired, he is very confident his teammate Islam Makhachev will be the one to follow in his dominate footsteps, saying that by the end of 2021 Makhachev will be at the top of the 155-pound weight class.
“Now, everybody talks about Dustin, Conor, Chandler, Justin, Oliveira,” Nurmagomedov told ESPN. “But by the end of the year, it’s gonna be changed. I don’t think anyone can beat [Makhachev] right now. He will run [the division].”
Makhachev is currently on a six-fight win streak and is 18-1 overall with his lone defeat coming at the hands of Adriano Martins, a first round knockout loss at UFC 192 five years ago. Since then, Islam has been on a terrorizing run through the Lightweight division, though he hasn’t exactly picked up a staple win against a high-ranked opponent that sticks out.
Of course, that can all change once Makhachev — currently ranked No. 14 — starts getting the bigger name opponents. Up next for the Russian-born wrestling powerhouse is a matchup against Drew Dober at this Saturday night’s (March 7, 2021) UFC 259 event in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Do you think Makhachev has what it takes to prove Nurmagomedov right?