Filed under: FanHouse Exclusive, Bellator
Zack Makovsky captured his first championship belt in 2010 after winning Bellator’s inaugural bantamweight tournament. Makovsky’s rise to glory came quietly, which is not surprising given his soft-spoken nature. Still, it was an accomplishment worthy of some bragging rights, particularly given his grinding schedule; Makovsky fought six times in eight months in 2010, winning all his fights.
With the championship, Makovsky put himself on the international MMA radar, though he hasn’t been a surprise to those in the know. Among those was his Philadelphia Fight Factory teammate and fellow Bellator champ Eddie Alvarez, who told MMA Fighting that he forecasted Makovsky’s success from the beginning.
“For people who don’t know about Zack, you’re going to find out,” Alvarez said. “You don’t need my words to tell you, you’re going to find out very soon. The first time I met him, before I ever won a title, I said to him, ‘You’re going to be a world champion.’ That was maybe 5-6 years ago. He just had certain qualities where you knew that he was not going to have it any other way. Some guys just have what it takes. It’s not the talent, speed, strength or whatever, it’s the attitude. And he had that attitude to be a world champion.”