Islam Makhachev explains why he's more likely to fight Belal Muhammad than Ilia Topuria following UFC 311
01/11/2025 07:31 AM
Ahead of his UFC 311 title defense against Arman Tsarukyan, Islam Makhachev has teased a potential fight against his teammate, Belal Muhammad.
On January 18, Islam Makhachev will look to break the UFC record for the most title defenses in the lightweight division when he takes on ‘Ahalkalakets’ at UFC 311.
The two first met in 2019 when the Russian won a unanimous decision against Arman Tsarukyan in the Armenian’s UFC debut.
UFC 311 is set to take place from the Intuit Dome in Inglewood California, however, due to the devastating wildfires in LA this week, there is potential that the event could be moved to Las Vegas.
The history of Islam Makhachev’s feud with Ilia Topuria
Ahead of his UFC 311 title defense, Makhachev has been feuding with the featherweight champion, Topuria.
The beef between the two started midway through last year when Ilia Topuria claimed he would send Makhachev to the hospital if they fought each other in the street.
The 33-year-old’s teammates then chimed in on the feud, mocking ‘El Matador’ by stating that he isn’t a street fighter which only heightened the tensions.
And with that, the featherweight champion declared that he would move up to the 155lb division to pursue a potential super fight against Makhachev and his coach claimed he would vacate the title.
Despite that, Topuria came out not long after and admitted that he would be staying at featherweight for his next fight and that a potential move up would be decided following his next fight.
Makhachev has always been adamant that he has double champ aspirations of his own and so hasn’t ever particularly been interested in a fight against the 27-year-old.
Not only that, but his coach Khabib Nurmagomedov has also stated that it wouldn’t be fair for Topuria to move up and immediately fight for a title.
Islam Makhavhev claims a fight against Belal Muhammad is more likely
If Makhachev is successful in breaking the UFC record for the most amount of title defenses in the lightweight division with a win at UFC 311, the likelihood of him moving up to welterweight after that is extremely high.
The lightweight champion previously talked about a potential fight against Leon Edwards when he was reigning over the 170lb division, however, things were made slightly more awkward when Belal Muhammad dethroned him at UFC 304.
‘Remember The Name’ is a teammate of Makhachev’s and he and his team even helped Muhammad prepare for his fight against Edwards which saw him win the title.
Khabib has admitted he would not be okay with Makhachev and Muhammad fighting, however, the lightweight champion believes that is more likely to happen in 2025 than a fight against Topuria.
“I think (it’s more likely I’ll fight the winner of Muhammad vs Shavkat Rakhmonov) because Topuria does not make sense. For what? For belt, for money? I have money, I don’t need. I need the second belt,” Makhachev told ShakMMA.
Muhammad’s first title defense was scheduled to come against Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 this past December but the champion withdrew after breaking his toe and suffering a subsequent bone infection.
