Islam Makhachev has been de-throned as the UFC Lightweight champion. The change in pound-for-pound No. 1 ranking occurred after Topuria defeated Charles Oliveira in an impressive knockout at UFC 317.
The fight took place for the lightweight title, which had been vacated by Islam Makhachev after he held it for almost 3 years. Topuria became the first unbeaten two-division champion in UFC history.
Speaking to UFC Eurasia in Abu Dhabi, the Dagestani fighter called the rise of Ilia Topuria to the No. 1 ranking a marketing tactic.
“Well, it’s marketing. They do it on purpose to hype up this fight that people were already interested in. This means they’re doing the right thing. We will fight for first place,” the UFC star said.
Islam left this place vacant to pursue the welterweight division and expected to fight Jack Della Maddalena for the title.
The fight is not officially confirmed yet, but the Russian mixed martial artist revealed some details. “Well, we already have 90 per cent of the agreement.” The fight will be held “probably in November.”
Makhachev was expected to defend his lightweight title if his training partner, Belal Muhammad, had won the welterweight title against Jack Della Maddalena in May.
Muhammad’s loss against Maddalena created an opportunity for Islam to move to 170 pounds and become a two-division champion.
Still, there are chances that the Russian fighter might defend his title against Topuria, but he is looking forward to stepping into the octagon with the current welterweight champion, Jack Della Maddalena.
Islam Makhachev is a 33-year-old mixed martial artist from Dagestan, Russia. He won 16 fights in UFC and holds a record of 27-1 in MMA. He defeated Charles Oliveira and became UFC lightweight champion in 2022. The fighter defended this title four times and left vacant in 2025 to fight for welterweight gold. Currently, he is hoping to become a two-division UFC champion.
The UFC 322 is expected between Makhachev and Jack Della Maddalena in November 2025, either in Abu Dhabi or at Madison Square Garden (NYC), not officially confirmed.
Makhachev lost to Adriano Martins via knockout in the first round in 2015.
