Islam Makhachev could also be standing on high of the MMA world after breaking Anderson Silva’s consecutive UFC win streak document and notching a key title protection throughout a second UFC weight division, however issues weren’t at all times this manner for the Dagestan native, in response to one among MMA’s most influential, patriarchal figures.
This was revealed by means of an unearthed interview from December 2019, with the media outlet Ushatayka, through which Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov touched on the UFC’s points with giving Islam Makhachev high-ranking opposition. Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov additionally talked about that Khabib Nurmagomedov confronted the identical type of systemic points within the promotion for a prolonged time frame when he was an lively competitor.
Through a translated account of the referenced interview, by means of an excerpt posted by the X account @RedCorner_MMA, Nurmagomedov stated,
“They fake that Islam [Makhachev] isn’t a contender. They may not be thinking about that, however we’re thinking about one other Russian light-weight taking on from Khabib [Nurmagomedov]. They don’t give us any opponents. Give us somebody from the highest ten. Let me make this assertion as soon as once more. Give us anybody. If there’s nobody from the highest ten, simply give us somebody.”
“That’s why I’m saying this: ‘Give us an opponent.’ We’ve been by means of the identical stuff with Khabib for 3-4 years, when he was already a title contender. Now we face the identical problem with Islam Makhachev. They fake that he’s not a contender. They may not be thinking about that, however we’re thinking about one other Russian light-weight taking on from Khabib.”
Islam Makhachev wonders why an enormous welterweight title eliminator wasn’t on his UFC 330 undercard
Islam Makhachev shone atop the 170-pound division on August fifteenth, however the reigning kingpin of the division was considering why two of the division’s massive contenders didn’t additionally conflict at UFC 330. The fighters Makhachev was referencing are Carlos Pates and Michael Morales, who have been each reside in attendance on the numbered UFC occasion, with each being featured on digicam throughout the broadcast.
There’s clearly a narrative being painted internally to the published of the present that each of those explosive combatants might be subsequent up for a crack on the welterweight crown, and providing up his ideas on these items inside the division he at the moment helms, Makhachev acknowledged [via MMA Fighting],
“Allow them to struggle. Why are they not preventing on this card to see who’s the No. 1 contender? It’s OK. We’ve got some actual contenders on this division. These guys [Michael] Morales, [Carlos] Prates, Shavkat [Rakhmonov], they make me coaching on a regular basis extra tougher. As a result of I see that is the true fighters who may give me good fights.”
