Reigning UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev responded to a question about whether he plans to follow the example of his friend and compatriot Khabib Nurmagomedov, who ended his professional career after three defenses of the championship belt.
“I’m not thinking about ending my career because I still have things to do,” the Russian said on another edition of the WEIGHING IN podcast. “I want to win a second belt, defend it and then defend my lightweight title one more time.”
“I’m still feeling good. As soon as I feel like I’ve lost something and I’m not what I used to be, I’ll think about retirement, but at the moment I’m still young, still hungry, and still want to be number one.”
In October 2022, Islam Makhachev won the vacant UFC lightweight championship belt by finishing Charles Oliveira with an arm-triangle choke in the second round before defending the title twice against Alexander Volkanovski, winning by unanimous decision in the first fight and knocking out the Australian in the rematch.
The Russian fighter will make his third title defense on June 1 at UFC 302 in Newark against American Dustin Puryear, ranked fourth in the lightweight division.
Source: https://fighttime.ru/news/item/34754-islam-makhachev-vyskazalsya-o-zavershenii-karery.html?rand=19907
