Check out what Islam Makhachev had to say about the sudden switch in opponents for his upcoming title defense in Abu Dhabi.
Lightweight champ Islam Makhachev has commented on the short notice switch-up of opponents at UFC 294 that will see him rematch featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski.
Makhachev was originally supposed to face Charles Oliveira on October 21st in Abu Dhabi. A headbutt suffered by Oliveira in training has changed all that. Now “Do Bronx” is out and “The Great” is in, setting up a second fight between the No. 2 and 3 ranked pound-for-pound fighters. They originally faced off at UFC 284 in February 2023, with Makhachev winning by decision with 48–47, 48–47, and 49–46 scorecards.
Volkanovski has been vocal in his opinion that he won their first meeting and even more adamant that he’d win a rematch. Now he’ll have a chance to prove his words, albeit with just two weeks to prepare.
Makhachev is making it clear that he doesn’t want to hear any complaining about the circumstances surrounding the fight after he beats Volk for a second time.
“Respect for taking this fight on short notice Alex, but don’t use it as an excuse after the fight,” he wrote on Instagram, tagging the post #Round2.
Makhachev is deep in training for the Abu Dhabi scrap, and he has a not-so-secret weapon for the final weeks of his camp: Khabib Nurmagomedov, who has returned from a near-complete withdrawl from the MMA world to help coach his friend. Another post from Islam showed Coach Khabib working hard alongside his former teammates.
We’re sure the intensity of those workouts is only going to increase now that Makhachev is fighting Volkanovski again. Following Mak’s win at UFC 284, his AKA coach Javier Mendez revealed that Khabib was more than a little stressed about Volk leading into their first fight.
“Khabib would call me up and would say, ‘Coach I’m really worried about this fight, Volkanovski is really tough, I’m concerned for Islam a little bit on this one,’” Mendez said. “I was like, ‘I’m not, we’re gonna win this fight. I don’t know how easy or how hard, but we’re gonna win this fight. So, I know you’re worried Khabib, but I’m not worried.’”
“And he goes, ‘I know, I know, coach, but we know this is a tough fight, we have to prepare for a tough fight.’”
When Nurmagomedov called Makhachev up to congratulate him on the win, he said he “aged 50 years” watching the fight.
“He told me he was so nervous,” Makhachev said at the UFC 284 post-fight press conference. “And he said, ‘Why are you doing this, this, this this?’ If you come too and if you were my corner, I can do this. But you didn’t come.”
We’ll see how a Khabib-backed Islam does against Alexander Volkanovski in two weeks time at UFC 294.