UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev will return to action in January according to his long-time friend and coach Khabib Nurmagomedov.
“UFC offered us a fight already, in January. We accepted it,” Nurmagomedov said during an appearance in Indonesia this past weekend.
So far there’s no official word on this or who his opponent might be, but it would be a surprise if it’s anyone other than current No.1 contender Arman Tsarukyan, whose split-decision win over Charles Oliveira at UFC 300 in April was billed as a 155lb title-eliminator.
The 28-year-old Tsarukyan is on a four-fight winning streak that also includes a unanimous decision win over Damir Ismagulov followed by a KO win against Joaquim Silva and 64 second TKO finish of Beneil Dariush.
However, as good as Tsarukyan has looked during his overall 9-2 run in the UFC, one of those losses was against the man he expects to face next, Makhachev.
The two were paired up together in Tsarukyan’s UFC debut back in 2019, and while he earned respect for making it a competitive fight that night, it was ultimately Makhachev who emerged with a unanimous decision victory.
That took Makhachev’s winning streak to five fights at the time, and he’s only gone from strength-to-strength since, with his unbeaten run now extending to 14 bouts.
Along the way he has of course becoming lightweight champion defeating Charles Oliveira by 2nd round submission to seize the title, and has gone on to successfully defend it three times, including back-to-back defeats of featherweight kingpin Alexander Volkanovski followed by a submission win against Dustin Poirier.
As such UFC hall-of-famer Nurmagomedov has no doubts that his man is currently the best-of-the-best in the sport.
“Islam is now not only champion but he is pound-for-pound the best fighter in the world today,” Khabib said.
