UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev on Match TV described training and sparring as a job he enjoys.
The Russian knocked out Australian Alexander Volkanovski in the first round at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi in October and defended his lightweight championship belt.
The 32-year-old Islam Makhachev then topped the UFC rankings regardless of weight classes, surpassing heavyweight champion Jon Jones of the United States.
– Are you resting now?
– I have a rest, I’m in the gym. For me, coming to the gym and sparring without tension is also a kind of rest. This is what I’ve been doing all my life. Now I come here and I don’t aim to win. I just want to work in the stand, to move carefully. It’s a kind of moral satisfaction.
– Is this now a job or a pleasure?
– This is my job, which I enjoy. If it is different, I have nothing to do here. If I come here through “I don’t want to” and I don’t like it, I don’t enjoy it, I won’t get any results.
– Have you ever come through “don’t want to”?
– Of course. When you are in the last stage of training, when you are at a weighing race, and there are heavy loads, and simply no matter how much you sleep, you don’t get enough sleep. It’s not because you don’t sleep enough, but because you don’t eat enough, your body doesn’t recover from the loads. That’s when you want to skip training and have a rest,” Islam Makhachev told Match TV.
32-year-old Islam Makhachev had 26 fights in MMA and won 25 victories. In October, he knocked out Australian Alexander Volkanovski and defended the UFC title for the second time.
Islam Makhachev still hasn’t done enough for top spot, according to one of his peers.
It’s been a long time coming for him, but UFC Lightweight Champion Islam Makhachev finally occupies the pound-for-pound throne — undeservedly so, according to one of his former opponents.
The topic of Makhachev’s P4P conquest was a prominent one earlier this year, after he failed to take the crown from Alexander Volkanovski despite his narrow decision victory over him at UFC 284 this past February.
The debate was ultimately rendered null and void a few weeks later, when all-time great Jon Jones returned to top spot following his successful, championship-winning debut in the heavyweight division at UFC 285.
But opinions sparked again seven months later, when Makhachev’s second, more definitive victory over “Alexander the Great” was only good enough for the penultimate step of the podium.
Things changed when Jones was forced to pull out of this month’s pay-per-view at Madison Square Garden through injury, however, with Makhachev finally adding P4P status to his legacy.
But according to a 155-pound fighter who he’s familiar with, the Dagestani doesn’t deserve to be ahead of Jones or Volkanovski.
That included the always prevalent pound-for-pound debate, which largely surrounded Makhachev’s failure to usurp Volkanovski last year despite his win in Perth.
Although the Dagestani’s second triumph over the Australian achieved the feat and eventually secured him the P4P throne, Green doesn’t think Makhachev should even be above Volkanovski, let alone Jones.
“No, I think that’s Jon Jones,” Green said when asked whether or not Makhachev is deserving of top spot.” Jon Jones has put his body of work in. Nobody can do what that guy’s done. Until Islam is starting to fight in other divisions and show that he’s taking on a different caliber like that, then he can be the pound-for-pound.
“I could give him number two, but even then I still would say Volk would be number two and then he’d be number three,” Green continued. “I still put Volk at number two. That guy has beaten everybody, fighting everybody, signing up. Islam’s fighting once a blue moon. Volk will say, ‘I’ll fight this time! I’ll fight again! I’ll go up a weight!’ That’s a true pound-for-pound. So I would say Jon Jones, Volk, maybe then Islam.”
Nevertheless, while not in the immediate aftermath of Makhachev’s first-round knockout of Volkanovski at the Etihad Arena, the rankings panel eventually saw things differently to Green.
#13-ranked “King” knows Makhachev’s talents firsthand, having fallen to a quick TKO loss to the now-champion in their short-notice main event at Las Vegas’ Apex in February 2022.