“Islam in June!” the American wrote on social media.
The Russian fighter, who holds the UFC lightweight title, expressed agreement with his potential opponent’s words by responding with two emoji depicting a handshake and crossed swords.
This past weekend at UFC 299 in Miami, Dustin Porier, the UFC’s third-ranked lightweight, put his career back on track with a second-round knockout of French prospect Benoit Saint-Denis, who was riding an impressive streak of five early wins.
In doing so, “The Diamond” closed out a loss to Justin Gaethje, to whom he lost by knockout in a contender’s bout last July.
Islam Makhachev made two successful defenses of his championship belt last year, defeating Alexander Volkanovski by unanimous decision in February and knocking out the Australian in a rematch in October.
The UFC has two numbered events on its June schedule – UFC 302, which takes place June 1 in Newark, and UFC 303, which takes place June 29 in Las Vegas and is part of the annual International Fight Week event.