Makhachev continues to raise the bar with title defence at UFC 311
LOS ANGELES — In early 2018, a 29-year-old Khabib Nurmagomedov, having battering rammed his way to contendership, was booked to fight Tony Ferguson for the vacant lightweight title at UFC 233. But, in one of many near-satiric twists of fate that marked the repeated failures to get those two in an octagon, Ferguson suffered a freak injury tripping on a production studio cable only a week prior to the fight and withdrew.
With Nurmagomedov determined to stay on the card, UFC pivoted to featherweight champion Max Holloway, who agreed to attempt an extreme, herculean weight cut to take Ferguson’s place in the fight. But just 36 hours prior to the event, Holloway was deemed medically unfit to weigh in due to the aggressive cut. And subsequent attempts to book Anthony Pettis and Paul Felder quickly fell through.
Ultimately, veteran lightweight Al Iaquinta was pulled from the undercard into the main event on just over 24 hours notice. And after preparing for four prior opponents, Nurmagomedov stepped into the octagon against a fifth and did what he was always going to do, dominating the fight to claim the lightweight belt he went on to defend three times and held for 1,077 days — both UFC records.
Fitting, then, that Nurmagomedov was at Intuit Dome on Saturday, leaning forward on the octagon as his former training partner turned protégé Islam Makhachev sunk a first-round D’arce choke on Renato Moicano — a last-minute replacement after Arman Tsarukyan withdrew from the fight due to injury Friday morning — to break Nurmagomedov’s lightweight title defence record and maintain his path to breaking his title reign record, as well.
Makhachev was in Nurmagomedov’s corner the night he fought Iaquinta (Moicano was on that UFC 233 card, too, fighting Calvin Kattar at featherweight). Just 26 and only five fights into his UFC career, he saw up close how Nurmagomedov carried himself through the chaos. Now, he’s the one stoically responding to UFC’s constant havoc and uncertainty. He’s the one doing what he was always going to do and dominating the fight.
“For me, it’s nothing. I don’t prepare myself just for Arman or someone. I prepare myself for fight,” said Makhachev, who’s now won 15 straight and is knocking on the door of Anderson Silva’s UFC record 16-fight win streak. “If this happened like only one hour before (the fight,) I would say yes. Because I’ve been training the last three months for the fight, not just for one opponent. For the fight. No matter who it’s going to be.”
For all the commotion of the day prior, Saturday was a straightforward night at the office for Makhachev. After a brief feeling-out process, he hit a takedown midway through the round, controlled things for a spell, and capitalized the second Moicano exposed his neck in a scramble. Makhachev was barely touched and could have fought again later that night if he had to. He joked about not even needing a shower when he returned to the locker room.
For as much fun as it was to dream of the fan favourite Moicano seizing his moment and doing the improbable, the improbable is rarely done. Particularly against guys like Makhachev, who refuse to even allow overmatched opponents such as Moicano, currently No. 10 in UFC’s lightweight rankings, an inch of rope.
“This is a fight. We don’t have to be friends. I respect him. But he has to be grateful — because he fought for the title. I gave him a big opportunity,” said Makhachev, who’s finished eight of his last nine fights. “But I cannot fight with No. 10 and have a close fight or take some damage. That’s why I’m the best fighter in the world and I finished him in the first round.”
The only thing stopping this from being a banner night for Makhachev and Nurmagomedov’s Eagles MMA gym was Khabib’s cousin, Umar Nurmagomedov, ending up on the wrong end of another Merab Dvalishvilli onslaught in an instant classic preceding the main event.
Remarkably, it was the first time any of Khabib, Umar, or Usman Nurmagomedov — Umar’s younger brother who’s currently Bellator / PFL’s lightweight champion — have lost a fight. They’re now a combined 65-1-1.
That new “1” is among the most well-earned you’re ever going to see, after Dvalishvilli withstood an arduous first two rounds and flipped a fight he was losing on its head, unloading a high-capacity magazine of takedown attempts over the final three frames to do the unthinkable and break a Nurmagomedov.
“I didn’t care that I was fighting a Nurmagomedov and that he was undefeated. I knew that I was going to come and fight my fight,” Dvashvilli said, shirtless and still wearing his gloves over an hour after the fight. “I was taking my time. No need to rush. I was there for a fight. I wasn’t looking to wrestle. I wanted to punch the guy’s face. … As you guys know, in the later rounds, I start waking up more. I can go ten rounds.”
You could say Dvalishvilli’s game is all gas, no brakes, but the thing about gas is it runs out. Whatever Dvalishvilli’s fueled by is infinite. It’s not governed by the laws of thermodynamics.
How else does he withstand two rounds of Nurmagomedov’s lightning-fast, technically perfect counters, absorbing north of 40 significant strikes in the process, only to come out for the third and chain takedown attempt into a takedown attempt, finally getting his opponent to the mat and mockingly pointing at him before spending a sizable period of the round pinning him to the fence while carrying on a running conversation with the octagon-side commentary crew?
What about the fourth when Dvalishvilli nearly doubled-up Nurmagomedov on the feet, 48-26, while still landing four of the 9 takedowns he shot for? Or the break between rounds when Nurmagomedov was visibly exhausted while Dvalishvilli’s corner didn’t even bring a stool into the octagon? And then the fifth, which Dvalishvilli spent the latter half of bullying his opponent again and again, playing to the crowd with each takedown?
It’s safe to say we’ve never seen cardio like Dvalishvilli’s in the octagon. Never seen a fighter so capable weaponizing relentless pace. Saturday, Dvalishvilli broke Georges St-Pierre’s UFC takedowns record in his 14th UFC fight. It took St-Pierre 22 to set it.
“Yeah, I had a little bit of fun. I like to have fun. I don’t like negative energy. Even though I fight, I’m still looking for something positive,” Dvalishvilli said. “I thought the world was against me. The last couple of months, I blocked so many followers on Instagram because they were talking trash, going crazy.”
You get the sense that a loss Saturday would have been incredibly difficult for Dvalishvilli to reckon with. Over the last six weeks he’s repeatedly asserted that he didn’t want to fight Nurmagomedov, who he felt hadn’t earned his title shot, and didn’t want to fight him now, only four months after he took the belt off Sean O’Malley and having spent most of his time in between focused on healing a tweaked back and a gruesome, infected gash in his right shin.
But UFC made the fight anyway and Dvalishvilli signed the contract, gritting his teeth and letting the world know how disrespected he felt at every turn. The chip on his shoulder swelled throughout fight week as he and Nurmagomedov traded insults back-and-forth, and Dvalishvilli’s first instinct at the end of the fight was to seek out UFC President Dana White to unload it.
Nurmagomedov quickly taking to social media after the fight to share a photo of a broken hand seemingly didn’t sit well with Dvalishvilli, either.
“I broke my back during the training camp. Some days I couldn’t get up from bed,” Dvalishvilli said. “I’m not making this an excuse. You’re a f—ing fighter. You’ve got to find a way to win. After he disrespected me, he said so many bulls— things — I don’t know. As a fighter, I respect him. God bless him. I wish him all the best. But it’s a fight. And guess what? Who broke his hand?”
Yes, it was an emotional week for everyone. But all these obstacles and slights will soon be forgotten. And Umar’s cousin, Khabib, is a good reminder that it’s the results of your resume that matter — not the context.
Back to that night in 2019 — UFC 233, when Nurmagomedov first won the lightweight title. That Iaquinta never belonged in the octagon with him in the first place (never mind the fact he was ineligible to win the title due to weighing in .2 of a pound over the championship limit) hasn’t coloured Nurmagomedov’s legacy among the greatest of all time.
Neither has the fact that Nurmagomedov’s first defence came against an erratic and unfocused Conor McGregor coming off a two-year layoff. Nor that he fought only twice more prior to retirement. The early-career miss on the scales, the two years of inactivity in his prime, the last-minute withdrawal due to a botched weight cut — all lost in the fog of time.
There is only Nurmagomedov’s 29-0 record. Just as all this trouble Dvalishvilli went through will go down as merely one title defence in the books. Someday soon, maybe even sooner than he’d prefer, he’ll have to do it all over again.
Makhachev, too, will see human nature smooth out the rough edges around his win the further we move past this event. Last minute opponent change? An overmatched Moicano making a glaring error on the mat? These circumstances will be forgotten; a record-setting title defence won’t.
And remember, the hard work for Dvalishvilli and Makhachev was merely getting here. Dvalishvilli had to win 10 straight to get his first title shot. His last four fights prior to Saturday were all wins over former champions — Jose Aldo, Petr Yan, Henry Cejudo, and Sean O’Malley. Add Nurmagomedov’s name to the list and you have one of the best five-fight runs in the sport.
Meanwhile, Makhachev won his belt against Charles Oliveira, as dangerous a lightweight as you’ll find even in his mid-30’s. He defended it twice against Alexander Volkanovski, a tactical wizard widely regarded as one of the sport’s pound-for-pound best. He held it through a back-and-forth fight-of-the-year candidate with Dustin Poirier in 2024. There are no if’s, and’s, or but’s with any of those wins.
And like Dvalishvilli, Makhachev’s repeatedly answered the bell against all comers, regardless of conditions. He submitted Dan Hooker in the first round on a month’s notice in 2021. Four months later, he knocked out Bobby Green in the first round on two weeks’ notice. A year after that, he stopped Volkanovski in the first round on 10 days’ notice. Surely, after submitting Moicano within the first round on 36 hours’ notice, he can’t possibly raise the bar again.
Well, maybe we shouldn’t doubt that. Makhachev just took one of Khabib’s records and now he’s running down Silva. Dvalishvilli’s talking about making four title defences this year to set a UFC record. Makhachev says he doesn’t only want to add the welterweight title to his collection, he wants the middleweight belt someday, too. Dvalishvilli thinks 25 minutes isn’t enough. Seriously.
“I wish the fight was longer,” Dvalishvilli said. “I’d enjoy it more.”
Source link