Khabib Nurmagomedov thinks Islam Makhachev nonetheless holds pole place on the subject of placing collectively the largest MMA struggle doable.
This Saturday, Makhachev challenges Jack Della Maddalena for the welterweight title in the primary occasion of UFC 322 at Madison Sq. Backyard in New York. Makhachev needed to vacate the light-weight championship—a title he efficiently defended a 4 consecutive instances—to arrange this matchup, leaving the door open for rival Ilia Topuria to seize the vacant belt with a spectacular knockout of Charles Oliveira this previous June.
For now, Makhachev and Topuria are on completely different paths, however the opportunity of a future struggle nonetheless looms, whether or not it’s at 155 or 170 kilos. Ought to it happen, Nurmagomedov believes the pairing would surpass the magnitude of the often-discussed Jon Jones vs. Alex Pereira matchup.
“I believe proper now, yeah, I believe Topuria-Islam might be the largest struggle,” Nurmagomedov informed Josh Thomson on YouTube when requested to check the fights. “Not Jon Jones and Pereira.”
Jones is extensively considered one of many best fighters in MMA historical past, having received 28 of 30 bouts, together with his lone blemishes being a disqualification loss and a knockout of Daniel Cormier that was overturned to a no-contest when Jones later examined constructive for banned substances. The 38-year-old retired this previous June, however shortly introduced an curiosity in combating once more on the proposed UFC White Home occasion in 2026 with Pereira incessantly talked about as a doable opponent.
Pereira, 38, is at the moment in his second reign as UFC mild heavyweight champion, a title Jones efficiently defended 11 instances in whole, and likewise briefly held the UFC middleweight championship. He’s on the identical web page as Jones so far as eager to ebook what could be a historic matchup.
“Nonetheless a giant struggle, however not on that stage,” Nurmagomedov stated of Jones vs. Pereira. “I don’t suppose it’s identical stage.”
Requested about how the UFC White Home card must be constructed, Nurmagomedov hinted that the Jones-Pereira struggle could be extra appropriate as a showcase bout than the rest, given the situation.
“I believe for those who’re making a White Home struggle, it must be extra American fighters,” Nurmagomedov stated. “It’s very attention-grabbing. If a Georgian fighter fights towards a Russian fighter, it’s not attention-grabbing in entrance of White Home. It must be American fighters representing their nation and so they struggle towards different guys. It looks as if it must be like this, the best way how I see it.”
