Islam Makhachev will fight against Justin Gaethje

Russian Islam Makhachev will hold his first fight as the best mixed martial arts fighter (MMA) on June 8 against American Justin Gaethje. It was with a beautiful victory over Gaethje, who was considered an extremely dangerous opponent, that Makhachev’s friend and mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov ended his career in 2020.

The fact that he will meet with Justin Gaethje, Islam Makhachev, champion of the UFC, the main mixed martial arts promotion, in the lightweight category (up to 70 kg), announced on his account on the X network (formerly Twitter). Essentially, the post is a response to the challenge that an American fighter threw at Makhachev in December. “This is exactly what the fans need,” Gaethje said, explaining his intentions.

For Islam Makhachev, the fight with him will be the first in a special status. In October he was already at the very beginning of the fight knocked out famous Australian Alexander Volkanovski. This was Makhachev’s second consecutive victory over Volkanovski in 2023, and it forced the UFC management to finally do what many mixed martial arts fans have been demanding of them for quite some time.

Islam Makhachev, who with his success in a re-fight with Alexander Volkanovski extended his winning streak in the UFC to 13, found himself at the top of his prestigious ranking of the best fighters regardless of weight category, that is, in fact, he received the rank of the main star of the promotion.

Among the Russians, the only Russian who had the same status was the great Khabib Nurmagomedov, who competed in the same lightweight weight, and retired from the sport without allowing a single misfire. It is well known that Islam Makhachev has long had friendly relations with Nurmagomedov. Moreover, during Makhachev’s ascent to the champion title, Khabib Nurmagomedov constantly helped him in preparation and was a second during fights.

It is curious that it was against Geiji that Nurmagomedov fought his last fight, after which he unexpectedly ended his career at the peak of glory. It took place in October 2000 in Abu Dhabi. Before the match, Gaethje was rated quite highly. He looked like a fighter who could cause serious trouble for a living legend, as he perfectly combines striking techniques with advanced wrestling skills. And shortly before the collision with Nurmagomedov, Gaethje destroyed the famous compatriot Tony Ferguson. However, the American was unable to offer truly stubborn resistance to the Russian. In the second round, he fell for one of Nurmagomedov’s signature choke techniques and even managed to lose consciousness before the referee stopped the fight.

However, it cannot be said that this failure broke Justin Gaethje. After it, he confirmed that he remains a top-level fighter. True, after winning against the excellent fighter Michael Chandler, Gaethje lost – again by choke – to the Brazilian Charles Oliveira, but that breakdown seemed to have happened more likely due to the carelessness of the Brazilian who almost knocked out and the American who forgot to be careful.

After him, Justin Gaethje won twice. In 2022, he defeated, albeit in an almost equal fight, the extremely promising Azerbaijani Rafael Fiziev, and in July 2023 he spectacularly dealt with the American Dustin Poirier, the penultimate opponent of Khabib Nurmagomedov. He knocked out Poirier with a head kick in the second round.

At the same time, there is a feeling that Islam Makhachev still has no doubt that the fight with Justin Gaethje will be successful for him.

In any case, in the same post in which he announced the confrontation with him, Makhachev also informed about his future career plans. It turned out that in November he is going to fight in New York’s Madison Square Garden with the winner of the fight between Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan, representing Armenia and Russia. The UFC has already decided that this pair will determine the contender for the championship title. In February 2025, Islam Makhachev is “ready to fight anyone.”

Alexey Dospehov