Islam
Makhachev is only one successful title defense from tying the
UFC’s all-time record at lightweight.
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The American Kickboxing Academy product authored his second
successful defense at UFC 294 with a first-round knockout of
Alexander
Volkanovski at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. The
lightweight record of three championship defenses is currently held
by Khabib
Nurmagomedov, B.J. Penn,
Frankie
Edgar and Benson
Henderson.
With an upcoming itinerary that likely includes fights against
Charles
Oliveira and Justin
Gaethje, Makhachev could suprass that record as early as 2024
if all goes well.
“He keeps doing what he’s doing, you’ve just got to keep grinding,
knocking them down one by one and it will eventually happen,” UFC
CEO Dana White said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference.
“The truth is when you look at Khabib — and nothing against Khabib,
Khabib came in and won the title and defended it — but this kid
could go on a defense run that absolutely blows everybody away that
ever held the belt in that division.”
Makhachev draws plenty of comparisons to Nurmagomedov, who retired
in 2020 with a 29-0 mark. Because he does have one blemish on his
record, Makhachev hasn’t received quite as much acclaim as “The
Eagle,” but according to White, he is on the right track for
building his own lasting legacy.
“[UFC 294] was a big step in the right direction,” White said. “The
guy’s been dominant and then he goes in, all the controversy that
came off the last fight, and he finishes this fight the way that he
did. There’s no excuses. It’s not like, ‘Oh, it went into the third
round, Volkanovski didn’t have time to train.’ He went in there and
viciously, impressively finished this fight with a Cro Cop-esque
kick to the head.
“It doesn’t get any better than that, against a very tough, durable
guy who has a great chin. And you don’t ever see anybody do that to
Volkanovski.”