Former UFC champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, does not want Islam Makhachev to fight Belal Muhammad for the UFC welterweight title.
Khabib Nurmagomedov Warns Islam Makhachev Away From Belal Muhammad Fight
The current UFC lightweight champion is currently trained by the former UFC lightweight champion, with Makhachev making his intentions about becoming a multi-weight champion.
Moving up to welterweight would cause some conflict, as the 170-pound champion is Belal Muhammad who also strains with Khabib.
Before Makhachev can decide on his long-term future, the 33-year-old has to defend his belt at UFC 311 as he faces Arman Tsarukyan in a highly-anticipated rematch.
Makhachev won the initial bout via unanimous decision, which could be why the champion is a heavy favourite on UK betting sites.
Khabib is fully supportive of any choice made by Makhachev being teammates for so long and representing Dagestan – but the lightweight GOAT has revealed his concerns over a fight against the welterweight champion.
Muhammad secure the UFC gold by defeating Leon Edwards at UFC 304 in July, which came after a camp with Khabib’s team.
In a recent podcast with Henry Cejudo, Khabib revealed that he would have issues over a future bout between Makhachev and Muhammad.
This means that Nurmagomedov could be left in an awkward position, should both men with their next fight.
He said (Via Pound 4 Pound with Kamaru & Henry): “If they asked me to fight Belal when I was an active fighter, I would’ve said no.
“For Belal and Islam, OK, you have to talk with them. In my heart, it’s not OK. It would be hard to prepare Islam to beat Belal. He is close to me. But I don’t think it’s ever going to happen.”
Following his father’s passing, Khabib retired from MMA after beating Justin Gaethje to retain his lightweight gold at UFC 254 in October 2020
Since then, the Dagestani star has taken a coaching role and has played a huge part in Makhachev’s rise to UFC stardom – while also being full of praise for Muhammad.
He said: “For me it’s very hard to prepare someone to beat Belal. If you want to beat someone like Belal, I think you have to stop him. Without getting a stoppage, what’re you going to do?
“If you take him down it’s very hard to control him over 25 minutes, first of all. And second, it’s very hard to dominate him in the striking game in all 25 minutes, because he mixes it up.
“He doesn’t stay with you all 25 minutes, he wrestles and slips, wrestles and slips. He’s good.”
