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Islam Makhachev revealed his reason for pulling out of his scheduled bout at UFC Vegas 14 this weekend at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Makhachev (18-1) was scheduled to face former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos, but shared that a staph infection ultimately forced him to withdraw from what would have been the biggest test of his career so far.
The Russian lightweight took to Instagram to break the news:
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Translated into English, part of Makhachev post read:
“A lot of time and effort was spent in this fight, I was at my peak, but as soon as I started to lose weight and immunity began to weaken, I caught an infection that would incapacitate me for at least a month in this camp, our team had already faced this infection more than once and many had to cancel fights.”
A staph infection is also what forced Makhachev teammate Umar Nurmagomedov - cousin of UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov - to pull out of his scheduled UFC debut at UFC 254 back in October.
This is already the second time that the bout between Makhachev and dos Anjos has been shelved this year. Originally scheduled for UFC 254 as well, the bout was scratched after dos Anjos tested positive for COVID-19.
Now, it is unclear whether the UFC will once again re-schedule the bout or if they decided to come up with a last-minute opponent for dos Anjos.
The Brazilian veteran meanwhile, is trying to do some matchmaking of his own, calling new UFC lightweight Michael Chandler out.
Islam Makhachev's stellar UFC run put on hold
With the staph infection, Islam Makhachev will have to wait a bit longer to be able to continue his impressive run in the UFC.
Makhachev is currently one of the hottest lightweights in the UFC today. The Dagestan-native is 7-1 in his UFC career and is currently on a six-fight winning streak.
In that stretch, he has beaten the likes of Chris Wade, Nik Lentz, Gleison Tibau, Kajan Johnson, Arman Tsarukyan, and Davi Ramos.
Currently, Makhachev is the number 12-ranked contender at 155-pounds.
