Ahead of his UFC 311 title defense on Saturday, Islam Makhachev has been hit with an unwanted stat following the unfortunate withdrawal of Arman Tsarukyan.
Islam Makhachev was scheduled to take on Arman Tsaruykan in a rematch six years in the making but unfortunately, Tsarukyan withdrew from the fight moments before the weigh-ins due to an injury.
Fortunately for the Russian champion, Renato Moicano was upgraded and handed a title shot as he was already scheduled to fight at UFC 311 against Beneil Dariush.
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Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Not only was the UFC 311 main event fight between Makhachev and Tsarukyan highly anticipated because of the fact it was an extremely high-level matchup but also because it was set to be Makhachev’s first defense against an out-and-out lightweight.
For several years, the Russian champion has been labeled as a ‘weight bully’ by the likes of welterweight star, Colby Covington, as Covington has claimed that Makhachev and his team all cut extreme amounts of weight to fight in a less natural weight class for them.
The 33-year-old’s argument against that hasn’t really been helped since he became champion as his three title defenses so far have come against current or former featherweight fighters.
After winning the vacant title against Charles Oliveira (who also fought at 145lbs), the Russian’s first title defense came against then-featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski.
The two fought over an incredible five rounds and were then booked to fight each other again eight months later after Oliveira withdrew from his scheduled rematch against Makhachev.
Makhachev put a stamp on that rivalry with a huge KO and then defended his title against Dustin Poirier who fought several UFC fights at featherweight.
Moicano’s first eight fights of his UFC tenure were competed at featherweight after he joined the promotion as the Jungle Fight featherweight champion.
Although the Russian champion’s reign has been relatively criticized because of this, at UFC 311 on Saturday, he has the chance to break a UFC record that has stood for over 15 years.
With a win over Moicano in the main event, Makhachev will break the record for the most amount of title defenses in UFC lightweight history.
He is currently tied with four other fighters, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Frankie Edgar, Benson Henderson, and BJ Penn with three title defenses each.