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Islam Makhachev could surpass the UFC titleholder legacy of Khabib Nurmagomedov in the eyes of one of the promotion's most tenured fighters. Speaking to Mike Owens with Inside Fighting, Clay Guida touched on several subjects in the lead-up to his UFC 310 fight against Chase Hooper.
One of the topics he was asked about was who the all-time great UFC lightweights are. This is something Guida has a lot of anecdotal experience with, considering he has largely fought at 155 pounds in the octagon since his promotional debut at UFC 64 over 18 years ago.
Guida has also fought five fighters who have been UFC lightweight champions. Those combatants in question are Charles Oliveira, Benson Henderson, Anthony Pettis, BJ Penn, and Rafael Dos Anjos. After getting clarification on how many UFC title defenses Makhachev has had so far, Guida said:
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"Here's the deal, if he [Islam Makhachev] can get past Arman Tsarukyan, chances are he's going to be the greatest lightweight of all time because I don't see anyone getting in his way for a while. But I also base it on time as the champion, you know, different opponents."
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Check out Guida's assessment of the top all-time UFC lightweights below(13:17):
Islam Makhachev and the tale of the undelivered contract
The Islam Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan rematch has been discussed quite a bit but there still is not an officially confirmed date and location for the rumored lightweight title bout. The rumblings have been that the sequel clash for the 155-pound belt is something the promotion is targeting for UFC 311.
The 33-year-old reigning champion is ready for the Jan. 18 card if that does end up being the date for this fight but Makhachev's manager has also stated that no contract has been sent their way.
The manager in question Rizvan Magomedov has said they are prepared to fight at the UFC's first pay-per-view of 2025 but despite stating the promotion has discussed this date since September, there is no official confirmation this will transpire as we are weeks out from the event.
This was recently revealed in an interview with Russian outlet, Ushatayka. Interestingly, Magomedov stated that there was no specific confirmation of an opponent for Islam Makhachev but that there was an assumption it would be Arman Tsarukyan.
Speaking of Khabib Nurmagomedov, it was also confirmed in the interview linked below that the former lightweight champ would be cornering the current titleholder for this next matchup.
