Islam Makhachev is the current UFC lightweight champion. The Russian grabbed the title for the first time by defeating Charles Oliveira in the main event of UFC 280 last Saturday. Islam has won 23 fights out of the 24 bouts in his professional MMA career and is currently on an 11-fight winning streak.
After a second-round dominating victory over former Brazilian champion Oliveira, Islam is preparing for his title defense. Alexander Volkanovski, the current UFC featherweight champion, is thought to be Islam’s next opponent for a shot at the UFC lightweight title. This has been confirmed by a number of sources.
Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski for No. 1 pound-for-pound. Let's go!#UFC280 | Results: https://t.co/ASgbZsUNOZ pic.twitter.com/ROV9ontAiM
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) October 22, 2022
Volkanovski was the backup fighter for the UFC 280 main event as the Australian wanted to move up the weight. Islam and his mentor, the former undefeated UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmegomedov, want that fight to be organized in Australia and are proposing that fight should take place as the super fight of UFC 284.
In the post-fight match briefing, Islam expressed his new target of being the No. 1 fighter in the UFC pound-for-pound ranking and revealed how he could achieve the target.
“I have a new target. I have to be the No. 1 pound-for-pound champion. That’s why I have to go to Australia and beat this guy. I have a big team. It doesn’t matter; it’s good for us. We can travel to Australia, it’s a good country. We can make some camp there, training there.”
In the press brief, Islam also revealed his thoughts about his retirement plan and even expressed a desire to move up to a different weight division, but before all that, the Russian champion wants to defend his lightweight title.
“I don’t think about retirement right now. I have to be the No. 1 pound-for-pound champion. After that moment, we’ll see. We’re going to think about this, but right now I have to defend this belt many times. I have to defend this belt in my division, then we’ll see. For my legacy, it’s a good idea to move to the other weight division.”
The Australian champion, Alexander Volkanovski, who never lost any bouts in the UFC, is currently the men’s pound-for-pound No.1 fighter. Therefore, the upcoming fight between UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski would be a treat for UFC fans.
