It didn’t come easy for Islam Makhachev, who fought through fire to get the win against Dustin Poirier at UFC 302. In what was his record third title defense, Makhachev submitted Poirier via D’arce choke in the closing moments of the fifth round to retain the lightweight gold.
In the process, he equaled the likes of BJ Penn, Benson Henderson, and Khabib Nurmagomedov for the most title defenses in the UFC’s lightweight division. The fight also won Makhachev the FOTN and POTN honors.
Soon after the victory, Makhachev made a special request to Dana White about his next opponent. And once again, the UFC lightweight champion expressed his desire to fight Leon Edwards for the 170 lbs title.
Islam Makhachev doesn’t want to fight Arman Tsarukyan next
Addressing the fans during the post-fight Octagon interview, Islam Makhachev opined how he is looking for fresh faces and considering he has already fought Arman Tsarukyan in the past, he seemed the least interested in facing the Armenian fighter.
“It’s my dream, I want to fight for the second belt. I want to feel that energy again. Because when you defend your belt, it’s not same. I want new one.” Makhachev said.
It remains to be seen what’s next for Islam Makhachev. Even UFC President Dana White did not have much to say about the possibility of Makhachev vs Edwards in the near future. When asked about the same during the post-fight press conference, the UFC head honcho neither agreed or denied the potential match-up. On the contrary, White looked optimistic about Makhachev vs Tsarukyan in Russia.
“If I was him, I wouldn’t think about moving up until he had that fight.” White said.
As for Leon Edwards, the UFC welterweight champion will defend his title gold against Belal Muhammad in the main event of UFC 304 in Manchester, London. While a lot will depend on the outcome of that fight, it’s safe to say, it will be a while before we see Makhachev back in action once again.
