Rizvan Magomedov, Director Islam Makhachev And Khabiba Nurmagomedova told about Makhachev’s idea of fighting for the second championship belt, moving to the weight category up to 77 kg for a duel with Leon Edwards .
For the moment, Makhachev (24-1 in MMA) holds the championship belt in the category up to 70.3 kg. In the next division (up to 77.1 kg), the title holder is the representative of Great Britain Leon Edwards. Days earlier, Makhachev had posted on his social media that he was open to considering putting on weight to fight Edwards for a second belt at a tournament in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 21.
“Islam had a busy schedule, he had five fights in 23 months, he stayed active, he was tormented by small injuries and after the last fight he took a break because he needed to recover. Now enough time has passed, he has rested, recharged and we have reached an agreement with the UFC for him to hold his next fight in Abu Dhabi. Now we were just waiting to see who the opponent would be. He wanted to either defend his title or … we had this idea of going up in weight class.
– What is Khabib’s opinion on Islam’s fight with Leon Edwards?
– Khabib is only for… He [был] only “for” this fight.
– Is there a person in the gym whose fight convinces that Islam can beat Edwards?
– There are a lot of guys in the room who compete in the category up to 77 kg. And we also worked with Leon Edwards himself. At some point he came to AKA and trained.
– At the moment, can we say that Makhachev has started to prepare for the fight (a few hours after Dana White’s interview, he announced that Charles Oliveira, a former champion who lost to Islam in the fall of 2022, will become Makhachev’s opponent)?
– He never left the room, but the full preparation for the October tournament will begin in August. Then we will start the camp for the tournament in Abu Dhabi,” Magomedov told .
Despite posting Makhachev with a proposed weight change in order to fight for the second belt, UFC President Dana White announced on the evening of July 19 (US time) that Makhachev would have a rematch with Charles Oliveira. Their first fight ended with Makhachev’s victory by strangulation. Next, the Russian defeated Alex Volkanovski on February 11 and the Brazilian fighter defeated Beneil Dariush at UFC 289 on June 10.
Live broadcasts of the Mixed Martial Arts tournaments can be seen on and Match! Fighter”, as well as on the sites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.
Source : MatchTV
I am Ashley Ortiz and I am a professional journalist working for Athletistic. My specialty is in sports journalism, particularly boxing. I have written articles for some of the most renowned publications on the subject, and my work has been featured across both print and digital media platforms.
