UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev has admitted that his last fight against Ian Garry was tougher than expected, but it seems he has no plans to move back down to lightweight, stating that he there’s at least three more fights for him in his current weight class.
The current No.1 pound-for-pound fighter in the sport still managed to defeat Garry by unanimous decision at UFC 330, but since expectations have now been set so high for him, it perhaps wasn’t as convincing and dominant a performance as he would have hoped.
“The main thing is the win, but I planned and thought it would be easier,” Makhachev admits in a new interview after returning to Dagestan. “It’s not that it didn’t go to plan; I just thought it would be a bit easier. But opponents are preparing, too, and every time it gets harder, because you can say the opponents are stronger, and the weight class is growing. So I also need to improve even more so that the fights are easier.”
The win means Makhachev now holds the record for longest winning streak in UFC history (17 fights), but he still thinks others could surpass that in the future, so he’s happy to continue adding to it.
“Well, I wouldn’t call it unbreakable by any means,” Makhachev said of his current winning run. “There are fighters out there, not exactly breathing down my neck, but there are those that already have 10 wins [in a row]. I don’t know, maybe the title fights record? Though the record for title fights is quite large. I fought 10 bouts before getting the title, while the record holder fought for the title in his third or fourth fight.
“So I don’t know what records will come next, but in my weight class I have some very good title contenders. I think I have at least three more spectacular and very tough fights for me.”
While he doesn’t name him, current No.1 ranked contender Carlos Prates will surely be one of them, and the undefeated Michael Morales is also firmly in the title picture at this moment in time.
And meanwhile, another undefeated star Shavkat Rakhmonov finally got the greenlight to begin sparring earlier this month after an almost two-year long injury absence, and if he could regain his pre-layoff form then a fight with Makhachev would be a must-see encounter.
