UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev has defended his old rival following Dana White’s comments this past Saturday.
After successfully capturing the vacant lightweight title earlier this year following Islam Makhachev‘s title vacation, Ilia Topuria recently announced he is taking a break from the sport to focus on personal matters.
And with that, the promotion put together an interim lightweight title fight, which the majority of the fanbase believed should include longtime number one contender Arman Tsarukyan, however, he was snubbed.
Instead, the interim title fight will be contested between Paddy Pimblett and Justin Gaethje, which doesn’t sit well with Makhachev, who has slammed the UFC matchmaking in a recent interview with Red Corner MMA.
Makhachev slams UFC’s matchmaking and defends Tsarukyan
‘Ahalkalakets’ is seemingly still paying for withdrawing from his lightweight title fight against Makhachev earlier this year, despite having picked up an impressive win over Dan Hooker since.
And even this past weekend in the UFC 323 post-fight press conference, Dana White stated that Tsarukyan still has some ways to go before re-earning a title shot.
“That’s the way it played out in the war room. I wouldn’t say (Tsarukyan) is the odd man out. You know, he had an opportunity and you guys know how that played out. I don’t give a s— what the (rankings) say, he’s gonna have to work his way back,” White continued to claim.
However, Makhachev believes Tsarukyan is being hard-done by, and despite having somewhat of a past feud with him, he is supporting his old rival.
“The organization may not like it but they make more and more fights that I don’t understand. Of course, I think Arman should’ve gotten the title shot.
“Let’s be honest, Arman is not going to fight any time soon, it’s Pimblett vs Gaethje, whoever wins, he gets a shot against Topuria meaning one more year layoff for Arman, it’s tough.
“I’ve had the same period in my career, I had a ten-fight win streak before getting a title shot, so Arman should probably wait a bit and be patient,” he continued.
Instead of sitting out inactive, the Armenian is making sure that he stays active, even if it’s not inside the UFC Octagon.
This Wednesday afternoon, it was announced that Tsarukyan will take on UFC middleweight Shara Magomedov in a grappling match.
Makhachev’s comments come ironically after he picked his next opponent
Although the Russian champion has criticized the recent matchmaking in the promotion, he himself has been under scrutiny from the fanbase after picking who he would like to defend his welterweight title against next.
Following his win at UFC 322, Makhachev stated that he would like to fight Kamaru Usman next, despite the fact that the former champion is 1-3 in his last four fights.