Islam Makhachev makes eye-opening remark about his condition ahead of Alexander Volkanovski fight at UFC 284: "It's crazy"

Islam Makhachev was able to defend his lightweight title for the third time when he defeated Dustin Poirier via fifth-round submission at UFC 302. Ahead of his attempted divisional record breaking fourth title defense against Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 311 next weekend, the lightweight champion looked back at his first defense.

Speaking to Demetrious Johnson of the Mighty podcast, Makhachev revealed that he had a bad recovery ahead of his UFC 284 clash with Alexander Volkanovski, stating:

"If you ask me, with this fight, we have very bad recovery after the weigh-in. Like, everything in this first fight because we traveled to Australia. They make the beginning [of] this event [at] five in the morning. They make this show for US time."

Makhachev continued:

"It's crazy. They didn't give me a chance for the recovery because Volk, he don't need. He fights at 145. But usually, what we have? We go to the arena [at] ten in the night time. That's why that day, it's a bad day. I'm not recovering much."

Check out Islam Makhachev's comments on facing Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284 below:

Despite the lack of recovery, Makhachev was able to win the bout via. unanimous decision. It marked the only one of his four title bouts where he was unable to finish his opponent.

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Islam Makhachev believes Nate Diaz thought his teammate was Khabib Nurmagomedov

Islam Makhachev and his team were involved in an altercation with Nate Diaz at the UFC 311 promotional presser. He discussed the incident during his appearance on Demetrious Johnson's Mighty podcast, stating:

"I have press conference then fighters have official weigh-in. We sit and Diaz start to show them [his middle finger], for what? Maybe for someone, it's good, it's no problem, but it's not our style. Because one of the guys, he wears the mask, you know? Maybe he's sick a little bit, he wear the mask and maybe Diaz is thinking, 'Oh, it's Khabib [Nurmagomedov]' and show him, but that day Khabib not in Vegas, he's in some other country."

Check out Islam Makhachev's full comments on Nate Diaz below:

Makhachev added that he saw Diaz in the elevator at the Wynn hotel earlier in the year. He revealed that the former UFC lightweight title challenger simply told him 'respect' before walking away. He noted that the two do not have any issues and suggested that the incident could have been due to the presence of cameras.