“I would never fight him (Islam), 100 percent,” Belal Muhammad provided the world of mixed martial arts with an ultimatum when he was prompted to talk about fighting Islam Makhachev. Of course, Makhachev has been planning to move to the welterweight division for quite some time with the aim of becoming a double-division champion. However, with Muhammad sitting on the WW throne, things have been a bit bumpy for the lightweight champion. But Joe Rogan’s recent podcast guest had a different view about the fight.
On episode #166 of the JRE MMA Show, Rogan invited Ilia Topuria for a conversation. Therein, the JRE host revealed that he recently had a talk with Dana White regarding the future of the sport. But the UFC head honcho had one problem. Rogan narrated, “I was asking him some questions like, what are you doing with this, what are you doing with that. And he starts telling me, ‘Oh, this guys wants that, and this guy won’t fight this guy.’” Of course, the duo talked a bit about Topuria without really revealing anything solid. But things weren’t so bright for Muhammad and Makhachev. With the lightweight champion taking an adamant stance on his desire to become a two-division champion, his friendship with ‘Remember The Name’ might have to take the backseat. That is, if the Palestinian champion succeeds against Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315.
‘La Leyenda’ wasted no time in saying, “That’s gonna happen!” But the UFC color commentator focused on the if factor. According to him, the fight can happen only if Muhammad defended his title successfully against Della Maddalena. But Topuria stayed true to his reasoning. He said, “Even if he [Della Maddalena] wins, they’re gonna make that fight happen against Islam.” Needless to say, Rogan was a bit confused by this take. He believed that fighting Della Maddalena for the welterweight championship belt made more sense for Makhachev. On top of that, the hurdle for Makhachev vs. Muhammad was that they trained together.
But that wasn’t a reason Topuria was going to fall for. He said, “How many guys we see fighting between each that they used to train before?” The 57-year-old podcaster confessed, “Oh, I agree. I mean, I think they should fight. I definitely think they should fight.” And Joe Rogan had to agree while confirming that Khabib Nurmagomedov would be highly disappointed with the bout. He continued, “I think Khabib doesn’t like that idea.” Nevertheless, it seems like Makhachev has until UFC 315 to let White know of his WW stance.
As much as the world of mixed martial arts wants to witness the war between Makhachev and Muhammad, the matchup is shrouded in nothing but doubt. They not only train together, but also have the same manager, Ali Abdelaziz. This was likely the reason why Makhachev left the matchup as an open-ended question. But the UFC CEO was against the Dagestani notion. Let’s see what he had to say about it.
Dana White wouldn’t like Belal Muhammad and Islam Makhachev refusing to fight each other
During the post-fight press conference for DWCS season 8, one of the reporters asked the UFC boss to weigh in on the situation with Merab Dvalishvili and Aljamain Sterling. That was a time when the Sterling was the champion of the bantamweight division, and both of them refused to fight each other. White said, “Everybody in this room and everybody that watches this video knows how I feel about this s—. Yeah, I hate it and if that’s — why did you even get into this sport if that’s your mentality in the way that you think? ‘I don’t even want the title, I don’t want the championship. We’re friends, we’re this, we’re that.”
The UFC head honcho pointed out that by not fighting each other, Dvalishvili and Sterling disrespected the agenda of the MMA promotion. After all, the UFC intended to find out the best fighter in each category. White continued, “It’s about finding out who the best in the world is. And if you don’t want to find out who the best in the world is this is not the place for you.”
Now, it’s the same situation with Belal Muhammad and Islam Makhachev. ‘Remember The Name’ even claimed that he would be ready to vacate the belt and move to the middleweight division when his Dagestani training partner would make the move to the welterweight realm. While the mindset was praiseworthy for keeping friendship at such a high level, it did fail to treat the fight fans with the match-up that they wanted.
What are your thoughts on the possible fight between Muhammad and Makhachev? Do you think the duo should make the clash happen for the sake of their UFC careers? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.
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