Islam Makhachev shares his frustration over Michael Chandler's quick UFC title shot: "I had a long way"

Islam Makhachev seemed to take umbrage with the timeline it took Michael Chandler to achieve his UFC title shot compared to the lengthy journey to gold that he had to persevere through. The reigning UFC lightweight champion spoke with Demetrious Johnson on his YouTube channel Mighty with the former UFC and ONE Championship titleholder getting into several subjects with Makhachev.

When conversing with 'DJ' about his ten-fight win streak before securing his 155-pound title shot and why it sometimes takes people like himself and Khabib Nurmagomedov so long to secure a title shot, Islam Makhachev said:

"We don't have some easy way. Somebody can jump from like; like Michael Chandler, he jump from Bellator, one fight, he beat Dan Hooker, fight for the title... For me, it's not working... Like ok of course, it makes me upset you know when somebody jump and fight for the belt before me."

He continued:

"I had a long way. I fought like how many years but somebody come and beat one guy who is not like top."

Check out Makhachev discussing Chandler's path to a UFC title shot [at the 23:18 mark] below:

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Islam Makhachev, his next opponent, and the lack of a backup

Islam Makhachev faces stiff competition on his path to making history in the UFC lightweight division. As Makhachev pursues unprecedented territory for a lightweight champion in the promotion by notching four straight title defenses, he must get past Arman Tsarukyan for a second time.

Makhachev vs. Tsarukyan II headlines UFC 311 on Jan. 18 but there is an interesting footnote associated with this pay-per-view main event. Damon Martin of MMA Fighting reported, after confirming with sources close to the situation, that there will be no backup fighter for the Islam Makhachev versus Arman Tsarukyan sequel.

The same can also be said for the UFC 311 co-main event as the report also stated that Merab Dvalishvili and Umar Nurmagomedov's bantamweight title bout will not have a backup fighter weighing in for the contest.

UFC 309 featured interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall as a backup for the Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic lineal title bout. But the UFC 310 card in December featured no defined backup combatant for the flyweight title clash between Kai Asakura and Alexandre Pantoja.