{"id":289954,"date":"2025-11-17T07:58:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T07:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/289954\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T07:58:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T07:58:19","slug":"sorry-kids-usman-still-makhachevs-first-choice-for-next-title-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/289954\/","title":{"rendered":"Sorry, kids! Usman still Makhachev\u2019s first choice for next title shot"},"content":{"rendered":"

With his one sided win<\/a> over Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 322,<\/a> Islam Makhachev is now the new welterweight champion. The 170 pound division is hotter than it\u2019s been in years, full to the brim with new young challengers<\/a> hungry to get their shot at gold.<\/p>\n

But before that can happen, Makhachev wants to fight an old guard legend in Kamaru Usman.<\/a><\/p>\n

Usman was welterweight champion from 2019 to 2022, but he\u2019s 1-3 over the past four years. Is a competitive loss to now-middleweight champ Khamzat Chimaev two years ago and a win over Joaquin Buckley in June enough to put him at the front of the contender\u2019s line? If Makhachev has his way, it will.<\/p>\n

\u201dToday\u2019s two fighters did very, very well, Morales<\/a> and Prates,\u201c<\/a> Makhachev admitted following UFC 322. \u201cBut I still think Kamaru Usman can beat both. And Kamaru is the biggest [fight]. Yeah, young fighters are hungry, but Kamaru is still dangerous and one of the best in this game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you give me the choice and ask me who I want to fight, I will take Kamaru. But it\u2019s not my job. Anyone, I will be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Makhachev\u2019s manager Ali Abdelaziz was asked about a fight with Usman, and he\u2019s all in as well — and not just because he\u2019d be double dipping on manager\u2019s fees for a major UFC title fight.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Islam] said it. He said he wants to fight Kamaru Usman,\u201d Abdelaziz said. \u201cUsman is 15 fight winning streak, five title defenses, greatest welterweight of all time. Beating all these young guys, what does that do for [Islam\u2019s] legacy, it don\u2019t do nothing for his legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKamaru Usman is a very tough opponent and I represent him too, and it\u2019s not an easy night for anybody. Kamaru is the real deal. And [Islam] wants to fight the real deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the field wasn\u2019t crowded with so many red hot contenders, we\u2019d say Makhachev and Abdelaziz\u2019s logic makes sense. But we\u2019re getting sick of seeing older names sitting on the sidelines getting the nod while the most dangerous fighters aren\u2019t rewarded for actually fighting.<\/p>\n

If Usman can supposedly beat Morales or Prates, let\u2019s see it. And let that decide whether he gets that shot at Islam Makhachev.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With his one sided win over Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 322, Islam Makhachev is now the new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,162126,785,139415,85,162125,1396],"class_list":{"0":"post-289954","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-jack-della-vs-islam-start-time","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-preview-and-live-results","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-ufc-322-fight-card","16":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}