There’s been some chatter this week that UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev’s first title defense could take place on July 11th during International Fight Week in Las Vegas, but Dana White has now revealed it’s likely to be a month later.

“Islam got offered a different fight at welterweight to be the main event, and Islam said, ‘Hey, let’s do this in July.’‘” Makhachev’s manager Ali Abdelaziz claimed during an interview with TMZ Sports yesterday when asked about a rumored fight against Ilia Topuria at the UFC: White House event in June..

“He has some [injury] stuff going on, you know, Dana speak about it. He has some stuff going on, but I can tell you this: if the [Topuria vs. Gaethje] fight is awful in June and Islam even had one leg, he would have took the fight.

“But in a way, Islam already have a fight in the summer. He have a welterweight number one contender match against someone. So it’s a done deal already, and the UFC will announce it probably soon.”

However, White has since responded to clarify that it won’t be in july.

“Not true. It’s August,” White wrote on an Instagram post by Freak MMA.

At this stage it’s still not known exactly who Makhachev will be fighting though, with the No.2 ranked Ian Garry, undefeated No.3 Michael Morales and former champ Kamaru Usman all having been suggested as potential opponents.

Whoever the opponent is, having Makhachev’s fight take place in August instead does seem to leave the door open for Conor McGregor to finally return to the Octagon in July, as was rumored earlier this week.