The American has no doubt that the Russian will take the title away from the Briton, after which he will be able to come out to defend the belt against the undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov.
“You can take the greatest arena in UFC history, Madison Square Garden, and set up Islam for a title defense, because he’s going to be the champion, against Rakhmonov,” “American Gangster” said on another edition of his podcast. “So that gives you an incredible business reason to let him move up to welterweight. If you don’t give Belal a title fight, it’s hard to organize something cooler.”
Reigning UFC lightweight champion and the organization’s best fighter regardless of weight class, Islam Makhachev, has indicated a desire to share the octagon with Leon Edwards after the Brit successfully defended his welterweight championship belt last weekend at UFC 296 in Las Vegas, defeating Colby Covington by unanimous decision.
Undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov picked up his sixth consecutive early victory under the UFC banner at the numbered event, finishing Stephen Thompson with a second-round rear-naked choke to move up to No. 3 in the organization’s welterweight rankings.