Islam Makhachev succeeded in defending his lightweight championship belt against Renato Moicano at UFC 311, with an impressive D’Arce choke in the very first round. This marked the Dagestani lightweight’s 4th consecutive and successful title defense. He wasted no time to bounce back and began training 2 days after competing. While the fighting community wondered about the reason, Makhachev came forth with a hint. And it was indeed linked to his next fight in the lightweight division. 

Well, Makhachev was initially slated to fight Arman Tsarukyan at the Intuit Dome, California. But ‘Ahalkalakets’ was forced to pull out of the bout on 1 day’s notice because of his back injury. And netizens believed that he would be the one to fight Makhachev in the future. Even Charles Oliveira was in the lightweight title picture. But the lightweight champion wasn’t a fan of fighting the same guy twice and had another name in his mind. 

During a recent conversation on Ushatayka TV, the Dagestani champion revealed his desire to go up against the former BMF champion, Justin Gaethje, and put Dana White on alert. He said, “I like this idea because I haven’t fought Justin yet… I’ve already fought [Oliveira and Arman], and preparing for the same opponent is not such a big motivation. But if Gaethje shows himself well in the next fight, we can meet.”

This emotion was also shared by Islam Makhachev’s coach at the American Kickboxing Academy, Javier Mendez. Let’s see what the AKA head honcho had to say about the UFC lightweight champion’s next challenge. 

Javier Mendez names Justin Gaethje as the next opponent for Islam Makhachev

Talking to the Submission Radio, after Makhachev’s UFC 311 win, Mendez said, “Justin Gaethje because he hasn’t fought him.” But before this matchup becomes a reality, Justin Gaethje has to face Dan Hooker at UFC 313. Needless to say, Mendez claimed that he was rooting for the former interim lightweight champion in the five-rounder announced for March. Of course, Mendez had a tiny bit of vengeance hidden in his words. Well, the “Hangman’ was the one who accused Makhachev of using IV fluids to rehydrate before UFC 284 and caused quite a ruckus in the fighting world. 

Mendez continued, “I’m pulling for him [Justin] I’m not pulling for Dan Hooker. I’m not gonna pull for a guy that’s always against us no way. And Justin Gaethje is a cool a– dude. And, I’ll tell you this um Dan Hooker has recently, I’m enjoying his talks too in his fighting night. He’s a stud but he hates us so I’m against Hooker.”

Besides, Makhachev has already fought Hooker. He made short work of the Kiwi at UFC 267 and like we said before, he does not want to repeat opponents. However, the doors aren’t completely shut for Arman Tsarukyan either.

Even though the Armenian wasn’t his choice of opponent, he was the one that Dana White wanted him to fight. And the champion wouldn’t back away from complying to the big guys’ requests. On top of that, he also dreams of going up in the weight category to become a double champion. After all, that’s something that Khabib Nurmagomedov never achieved. But first, let’s see if he can defend his LW belt for a 5th time.

What do you think of the matchup between Gaethje and Makhachev? Do you think it would be a better matchup than Tsarukyan vs. Makhachev? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.