Are Islam Makhachev and coach Khabib going back on their word?
When Makhachev called Alexander Volkanovski into the Octagon following his defeat of Charles Oliveira at UFC 280, a super fight between the pair in Perth, Australia, for the lightweight championship looked like all but a done deal.
As it turns out, the situation may not be as clear-cut as once imagined. Earlier today Volkanovski hinted at what looks like a hold-up on the Russian’s end, prompting him to question Makhachev if he was a ‘man of his word’ in a post on Twitter.
While the event, scheduled for February 12th (local time), is still months out, a swathe of matchups have recently been announced – Paulo Costa vs Robert Whittaker, Tyson Pedro vs Mingyang Zhang, Josh Culibao vs Melsik Baghdasaryan among others over the past weeks. The wheels look like they’re truly in motion to fill out the remainder of the Australian card.
Which begs the question: what’s the holdup? Whether the fight has been officially offered to Makhachev, who fought just weeks ago, is as yet unclear outside of Volkanovski’s say-so. But regardless, what once seemed set in stone may now be on shaky grounds.
UPDATE:
Makhachev has responded to Volkanvski, suggesting he’s not received a contract
The AllStar MMA roundup
- Exclusive: Israel Adesanya: Title or no title, ‘I’m still gonna have a target on my back’
- UFC 281: Dan Hooker looks to reboot career after ‘reckless’ two years
- UFC Vegas 64: The AllStar’s Best Bets, curated by Garrett Kerman.
The best of the rest
- Aline Pereira, sister of UFC middleweight title challenger Alex Pereira, signs with LFA – BloodyElbow.com
- Kayla Harrison confirms 2022 PFL finals are last appearance in season tournament format – MMAFighting.com
- Henry Cejudo believes Colby Covington has advantages over Khamzat Chimaev – MMAJunkie.com
- Dan Hooker: Islam Makhachev underestimating Alexander Volkanovski, ‘really in for a whole lot of trouble’- MMAJunkie.com
- Amanda Lemos fires back at Marina Rodriguez ahead of UFC Vegas 64 clash: ‘Nobody forced her to take this fight’ – MMAFighting.com
The soapbox
Izzy’s gunning for another easy night out at MSG:
Looks like Tony Ferguson is starting business school:
Zhang Weili lifts heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou sky high:
No more bets until Gilbert Burns gets a fight – but he’s leaning Chandler:
Vettori just wants a scrap:
Another 5am secret juice inspection for Paulo Costa:
The morning view
Up for a punt? The Propping You Up boys have you covered for UFC Vegas 64:
Adesanya drops the third UFC 281 fight camp vlog:
Refresh yourself with all of Alex Pereira’s knockouts ahead of UFC Vegas 61:
MMA On Point details some of the worst corner calls in MMA history:
Done deals
Friday
- Tatsuro Taira to fight Jesús Aguilar at UFC Seoul on February 4th (per Carlos Legaspi)
- Omar Morales to fight Mateusz Rębecki at UFC Vegas 67 on January 14th (per Mateusz Rebecki)
- Tafon Nchukwi replaces J. Pogues to fight Vitor Petrino at UFC Vegas 66 on December 17th (per Raphael Marinho)
Thursday
- Thiago Moisés to fight Guram Kutateladze at UFC 283 on January 21st (per Carlos Antunes)
- Alex Caceres to fight Julian Erosa at UFC Vegas 66 on December 17th (per Iridium Sports)
- Juancamilo Ronderos to fight Clayton Carpenter at UFC event on February 18th (per Carlos Legaspi)
- Joe Solecki to fight Benoît St.Denis at UFC event on February 18th (per Guillaume Peltier)
Wednesday
- Jailton Almeida and Shamil Abdurakhimov rebooked for UFC 283 on January 21st (per Marcel Dorff)
Tuesday
- Tyson Pedro to fight Zhang Mingyang at UFC 284 on February 11th (per Chris Presnell)
- Ismael Bonfim will fight Terrance McKinney at UFC 283 on January 21st (per MMA Fighting)
- David Onama to fight Jarno Errens at UFC Vegas 67 on January 14th (per Marcel Dorff)
- Yusaku Kinoshita to fight Adam Fugitt at UFC Seoul on February 4th (per Nolan King)
- Jack Jenkins to fight Don Shainis at UFC 284 on February 11th (per Iridium Sports)
- Dan Argueta will fight Isaac Dulgarian at UFC Vegas 67 on January 14th (per Mathias Meade)
Monday
- Ion Cutelaba to fight Kennedy Nzechukwu at UFC Vegas 65 on November 19th (per MMA Junkie)
Roster Watch
Fighters removed this week:
- Sergey Khandozhko
- Jason Witt
- Darian Weeks
- Cameron VanCamp
- Jesse Ronson
- Charlie Ontiveros
- Majored Mustafaev
- Louis Cosce
- Misha Cirkunov
Fighters Added this week:
- None to note
Credit to UFC Roster Watch
On this day in MMA…
On the 4th of November, 2017, Georges St. Pierre became champion of the UFC middleweight division at UFC 217 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
St. Pierre, the former welterweight champion (and possibly the greatest ever in that division) stepped out of a four year retirement to face recently crowned 185-pound champion, Michael Bisping, in the pay-per-view event’s headline bout.
The pair of veterans scrapped it out, mostly on the feet, for the better part of three rounds before St. Pierre dropped Bisping with a flush counter left hook, leaped on him with ground and pound, and eventually sunk in a rear-naked choke as the Brit turned and gave ‘Rush’ his back.
Following the victory, St. Pierre was in talks to make his first defense at 185-pounds opposite number-one contender Robert Whittaker, however, the champion would vacate his belt just 33 days after his UFC 217 performance.
