After being called out for his apparent inactivity, lightweight champion Islam Makhachev has fired back at several fighters set to compete at UFC 300.
UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev has made it crystal clear that he wants to face Dustin Poirier in the summer, but the Dagestani wrestler isn’t rolling over as top contenders continue to question his activity.
The lightweight champ has been in the firing line for several weeks
Whilst Charles Oliveira vs Arman Tsarukyan has been promoted as a number one contender’s bout, there is a certain expectation that a spectacular performance in the BMF title fight could also provide Makhachev’s next opponent.
Yet back in March, Makhachev questioned the point of a BMF title fight between Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway being put together, given the title pictures at both 145lbs and 155lbs:
“I don’t want to make people upset, but this is a useless fight for a useless belt. Nobody gains anything from this fight…For me, and for the [lightweight] division, the fight means nothing.”
Holloway responded by suggesting that Makhachev had purposefully avoided facing Justin Gaethje earlier in the year and that the champion was making a habit of only accepting bouts when it suited him:
“I saw Islam talk about, ‘Oh, this fight makes no sense and blah, blah, blah’. I’m like brother, you should’ve fought Justin in February…You should’ve turned around and came [back in] February. He’s complaining like ‘I can’t get fights’ [but] I’m like it’s because you’re only fighting around the times you want to fight.”
“It’s not you can’t get fights, you’re just not taking the fights that are offered,” claimed Holloway, who is set to make his second foray into the 155lb weight division this weekend at UFC 300:
“If he really wanted to fight, I thought he would’ve turned around and fought in February.”
Islam Makhachev fires back at inactivity comments
Those comments from Max Holloway have been reiterated by several top contenders during the build-up to UFC 300, with Charles Oliveira notably criticizing Makhachev for calling out fighters in other weight divisions; yet refusing to acknowledge ‘do Bronx’ directly.
Now, the lightweight champion has fired back at comments surrounding not only his inactivity, tweeting out a rather to-the-point receipt of the number of fights that each of them has had in the past few years:
“For the record: Since 2021 I fought 7 times, while Holloway did 5 and Justin just 4. Do your homework before talking trash about your champ.”
Speaking of trash-talking, both Makhachev and Poirier verbally agreed to a summer clash back in March, following ‘The Diamond’ earning a stunning comeback KO of Benoit Saint-Denis, sharing hand-shaking emoji with the champ noting “Want to fight brotha, no more wait.”
However, those respectful words appear to have turned bitter in the weeks leading up to UFC 300, with Makhachev later sharing: “Dustin if you could beat anybody, you’d be holding this belt right now, not me,” followed by, “His level is: permanent contender, how many title losses, 2? 3?”
Bobby Green also calls out Makhachev ahead of his own UFC 300 fight
Before either Oliveira, Tsarukyan, Gaethje, or Holloway make the walk on Saturday evening, two legends will collide on the early prelims when Bobby Green faces Jim Miller.
At the pre-fight media day, Green also took the opportunity to call out Islam Makhachev for his perceived inactivity, sharing how he is part of a select group of athletes who “are going to fight as much as we can.”
“We’re trying to fight all the time and stay in front of that before our time is up, so you have to respect that about them. The other guys, like Islam Makhachev, are taking their time and stuff; if you want to be that star or that guy, you have to take those chances and risks.”
UFC 300 goes down this weekend from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, this weekend exclusively on PPV.