ISLAM MAKHACHEV SENDS DEFIANT DIRECT MESSAGE TO JACK DELLA MADDALENA FOLLOWING UFC 315 TITLE WIN

Islam Makhachev’s next fight has finally become clear following UFC 315 this past Saturday.

In the UFC 315 main event in Montreal on Saturday, Jack Della Maddalena dethroned Belal Muhammad to become the new welterweight champion after a five round war.

Following the fight, Muhammad was trolled by Dricus Du Plessis, the UFC middleweight champion, after Belal Muhammad previously hinted at a future move up to 185lbs.

Ahead of the UFC 315 main event, UFC boss Dana White claimed that the result would determine both Islam Makhachev’s and Ilia Topuria’s next fights, as the two were linked to fight each other but Makhachev continued to remain hopeful of moving up in weight.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Islam Makhachev sends Jack Della Maddalena a defiant message

Islam Makhachev was in an awkward position coming into the welterweight title fight as Muhammad is his teammate so he was supporting him, however, he knew ‘Remember The Name’ stood in his way.

Immediately after Della Maddalena’s win in the main event, the Russian took to social media to declare his next fight will come against the Australian, stating that his plan to become double champion is on.

Although Della Maddalena isn’t teammates with Alexander Volkanovski, the two are close friends, and in his Octagon interview, the Australian stated that he wants to beat Makhachev for Volkanovski, after he suffered two losses to the Russian.

“You are not Volkanovski, I will show you different levels. Keep my belt clean,” Makhachev told Della Maddalena in a post on social media.

Volkanovski and Makhachev first fought in 2023 at UFC 284 when Makhachev very narrowly picked up the unanimous decision win in what was an extremely close fight.

Jack Della Maddalena responds to Islam Makhachev

With Della Maddalena completely open to fighting the lightweight champion in his first title defense, he issued his response to Makhachev in the UFC 315 post-fight press conference.

“Come and get it, come get it,” Della Maddalena responded to Makhachev.

Makhachev revealed earlier this week that he won’t be vacating his 155lb title in pursuit of the second belt and it is still unclear when he may return to the Octagon with his opponent now clear.

- Jamie Theodosi

CHAEL SONNEN: ISLAM MAKHACHEV'S DESIRE TO CHANGE WEIGHT CLASSES ISN'T ABOUT UFC TITLE

ZUFFA LLC

Chael Sonnen believes the true reason UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev has been talking about chasing a second title in a higher weight class has nothing to do with accolades or building a legacy.

Soon after defeating short-notice opponent Renato Moicano in the first round at UFC 311, Makhachev (27-1 MMA, 16-1 UFC) said he would move up to middleweight to challenge current champion Dricus Du Plessis. Moving from 155 pounds to 185 is a huge jump in weight, but it would be the next logical step for Makhachev since he will not fight current welterweight champ Belal Muhammad.

“Islam’s got to talk about (Alex) Pereira at 205, and he’s got to talk about Dricus at 185,” Sonnen told MMA Junkie. “And that’s weird, and that’s not anything that anybody will take serious, but he has to do that because his friend has the belt at 170.

“There’s really no teams out there, there’s just guys that say they belong to a team, and that includes the NFL and NBA. Those guys are whores. You put down a bigger check than somebody else, they’re put your jersey on. The only team, real team, is Khabib’s and they have a code and they have an honor. You’re just not going to see a fight with Islam and Belal. But the No. 1 thing that Islam wants, and the No. 1 reason he keeps bringing things like this up – it’s not a challenge, it’s not a new world title. He wants out of the weight class.”

After hitting championship weight of 155 pounds at official weigh-ins the day before the fight, Makhachev gained 23.5 pounds, weighing-in at 178 pounds on the night of UFC 311. That’s just slightly under what he claims is his walk around weight of around 180.

If Makhachev were to move up to challenge Du Plessis, he knows it would take time to bulk up and add muscle to his frame, but he believes he could get the job done.

Sonnen is of the belief that Makhachev’s calls to change divsiions is a plea for help of sorts, and one that could lead to an early retirement if not acknowledged by the UFC.

“The biggest problem Islam has is a thing that beat his coach twice and that ultimately retired – Khabib did not retire because he didn’t want to fight Conor (McGregor) a second time,” Sonnen said. “The UFC showed him the wrong numbers. Every time they had a meeting, they showed more commas and more zeroes. That was the wrong number. If they would have made the weight class 170, they would have got Khabib for one more fight. They’re going to run into that same problem with Islam eventually.

“The No. 1 reason a combat athlete retires – they tell you it’s because their contract’s up, they tell you because they’ve had enough, they tell you because it’s too told – the No. 1 reason, No. 1, any combat athlete retires: they don’t want to make that weight anymore. They don’t want to beat the scale. Everything that goes into that. That is a 24/7 lifestyle to get those calories off to beat that damn scale.”

- Matthew Wells and Mike Bohn

ISLAM MAKHACHEV FORCES QUICK TAP FROM RENATO MOICANO TO CLOSE OUT UFC 311

Islam Makhachev and Renato Moicano, UFC 311 Credit: Gabriel Gonzalez/Cageside Press

Once again proving that in MMA, anything can happen, Islam Makhachev picked up a new opponent for the main event of UFC 311 just a day out from the fight.

That new opponent, Renato Moicano, had been paired up with Beneil Dariush. However, with Arman Tsarukyan injured during fight week, “Money” Moicano had a chance to make just that, and claim his first UFC championship.

Moicano wasn’t shying away from the fight. He started the fight landing a few leg kicks and straight punches. Moicano slightly stumbled Makhachev, getting his attention. Makhachev was able to take Moicano down, and get into half guard. Moicano used his guard to kick Makhachev off him, but in the scramble, Makhachev latched onto a d’arce choke and Moicano tapped shortly after the choke was locked in.

The lightweight division is in an interesting position. The obvious next title fight is Makhachev v Tsarukyan 2, the original UFC 311 main event. Then we have Justin Gaethje taking on Dan Hooker in a five-round co-main event at UFC 313. Dustin Poirier, Charles Oliveira and Beneil Dariush are also all looming around the top five. Beneil Dariush stated that he would like to fight Poirier next as well. Makhachev has a plethora of fitting challengers for his lightweight throne.

Featherweight champ Ilia Topuria also took to Twitter/X after the fight, expressing an interest in fighting Islam Makhachev.

Official Result: Islam Makhachev def. Renato Moicano by Submission (D’arce Choke), Round 1, 4:05

- Patrick McCorry

ISRAEL ADESANYA PREDICTS ISLAM MAKACHE

Israel Adesanya envisions plenty of grappling exchanges in the UFC 311 headliner.

Islam Makhachev (26-1 MMA, 15-1 UFC) defends his lightweight title in a rematch against Arman Tsarukyan (22-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) in Saturday’s main event (pay-per-view, ESPNews/Disney+, ESPN+) at Intuit Dome.

Both Makhachev and Tsarukyan are elite grapplers, but Adesanya doesn’t think their games will cancel out. Just like their first fight in April 2019, where Makhachev outlasted Tsarukyan, Adesanya expects the two to lean on their strong wrestling bases.

“This is going to be a wrestling fight,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. “This is going to be WrestleMania. I think they are going to have to test each other’s wrestling because they’re that good. I don’t think it’s just going to cancel each other out. … Even though we are going Islam, I still think Arman has a dog in this fight.

“I just feel like sometimes, some people, when it comes to that moment, they take it, and Arman, I don’t think he’s going to shy away from this. He’s used to the spotlight. Islam has definitely lived in this moment, main event, all that stuff.”

Adesanya ultimately picked the more experienced five-round fighter in Makhachev to win.

“In this fight, I’m going to go Islam just because he’s on a roll right now,” Adesanya said. “He just seems to be getting better and better and better. Arman is doing the same, as well. I was very impressed with his last fight and the way he handles the spotlight and everything.

“I just don’t think it’s going to be enough to take on Makhachev. Round 5, late submission (win for Makhachev). That defense against Charles ‘Do Bronx’ (Oliveira) was really slick, but when he’s tired, that’s what I am banking on. I just know Islam can definitely get the steam rolling.”

- Farah Hannoun

MAX HALLOWAY QUESTIONS ILIA TOPURIA PARADING AROUND WITH UFC AND 'BMF' TITLES, TOPURIA RESPONDS

Max Holloway was the “BMF” champion. Ilia Topuria knocked him out. So Topuria is the BMF champion now, right?

Apparently it’s not that simple, as Topuria’s incredible knockout of Holloway in the UFC 308 main event only secured Topuria’s featherweight championship. Holloway won the BMF title with a fifth-round KO of Justin Gaethje this past April, but UFC CEO Dana White never stated that Holloway’s title was on the line Saturday. White later told reporters Holloway is still the BMF even after the loss.

None of that stopped Topuria from parading around with two titles after beating Holloway, which “Blessed” was asked about at the evening’s post-fight press conference.

“Could you imagine [lightweight champion] Islam [Makhachev] walking around with two belts after knocking out [featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski]?” Holloway said. “Let that sink in. The belt was in a different weight class for a different reason. I think the fans make it happen, if the UFC really wanted to make it happen they would have put it up, but Dana said what he said, so he’s the boss man.”

Topuria was also asked why he was waltzing around with the BMF title in addition to his UFC title and he wondered why it wasn’t up for grabs in the first place.

“I never understand why they didn’t put the BMF belt on the line,” Topuria said. “It has to be on the line since the first day, but they don’t want to make it official, I’m going to make it official by myself.”

“It’s going to be a little bit weird for them to promote him as a BMF, but is what it is, no problem,” he added. “I’m going to keep it in my house. … Now, I’m the new baddest motherf*cker world champion.”

Prior to fighting Holloway, Topuria suggested he could challenge for titles in multiple divisions, targeting bouts with welterweight champion Belal Muhammad and lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.

Holloway was asked if he thought Topuria could get Islam next, but he still sees options at 145 pounds for Topuria.

“I don’t know,” Holloway said. “I saw Dana White talk about it, Dana White said that Ilia got a lot of contenders here, so we see what happens. Certain situations come up for certain fighters because of certain workload that they do, so at the end of the day if he gets it that’s cool, but probably not. He has Volk and Diego [Lopes] ramming down the door right now, so I think they might keep him down there.”

“It’s hard to go against Islam,” Holloway said when asked to evaluate the potential matchup. “His fighting style is a tough one. He likes wrestling, he likes striking now, he’s falling in love with his striking, so it’s hard to win against Islam.”

- Alexander K. Lee | @AlexanderKLee 

FORMER UFC TITLE CONTENDER FURIOUS RESPONCE | ISLAM MAKHACHEV

WAR TIME BETWEEN JUSTIN GAETHJE & ISLAM MAKHACHEV | UFC