Although he joined the UFC in 2015, Islam Makhachev missed fighting the promotion's lightweight legends.
On January 18 at UFC 311, Islam Makhachev will defend his lightweight title against Arman Tsarukyan in a rematch six years in the making.
If the Russian manages to get the win, he will break the record for most title defenses in the lightweight division, as he is currently tied with Khabib Nurmagomedov, BJ Penn, Frankie Edgar and Benson Henderson.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Islam Makhachev names Tony Ferguson as his dream opponent in UFC history
In addition to the lightweight names mentioned above, the division has historically been one of the strongest in the sport and has always been extremely competitive.
Nurmagomedov is considered by many to be the greatest lightweight fighter of all time, but BJ Penn also receives praise for his many years at the top of the division.
Despite this, Makhachev is quickly making a case for consideration in the conversation, having already defeated several future Hall of Famers in Dustin Poirier, Charles Oliveira and Alexander Volkanovski.
However, there is one lightweight fighter that the 33-year-old has dreamed of fighting and he has highlighted Tony Ferguson as his dream opponent in UFC history.
Of course, 'El Cucuy' has a long history with Makhachev's teammate and now coach, Khabib, as the two were booked to fight each other five times, but the fight never came to fruition due to ongoing injuries and even a global pandemic.
“In history, honestly, not many years ago, my brother Khabib had to fight Tony Ferguson five times. They both had injuries and the fights were canceled,” Makhachev began to explain in an interview with Adin Ross.
“My dream at that time was to fight this guy because I was always with Khabib when Khabib had injuries. I asked my manager, “Hey, can I step in and fight Tony?” and Tony at that time he was a very good athlete, a very good fighter, over 10 wins in the UFC and that was one of the fights I wanted to have 3 or 4 years ago.
“He is on an eight-fight losing streak, I wish him the best, a few years ago he was one of the high-level fighters of our division,” Makhachev admitted.
Ferguson has been begged to retire not only by a large majority of the UFC fanbase and boss Dana White, but also by his rival Khabib.
Islam Makhachev says beating Ilia Topuria would be 'easy' amid fight rumors
Ahead of his title defense at UFC 311, there have been talks of a possible fight between the Russian and current featherweight champion Ilia Topuria.
The two have been feuding online for several months and the feud came after 'El Matador' claimed he would beat Makhachev in a street fight and send him to hospital.
The rivalry appeared to intensify as the 27-year-old champion claimed he would move up to lightweight for his next fight in the hope of chasing a fight against Makhachev.
Makhachev recently claimed that he is more likely to move up to welterweight for his next fight, rather than fight Topuria, as he has dual championship aspirations himself.
Despite this, the 33-year-old has said that if White and the UFC want to make a fight between him and Topuria, he will make it easy.
“I've fought some guys who came from the minor leagues, but I'm not going to say no. If I clean up my division, and if people want it and Dana wants it, why not? I can do this very easily,” Makhachev said.
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