{"id":474388,"date":"2026-02-12T05:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T05:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/474388\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T05:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T05:14:08","slug":"islam-makhachev-targeting-thrilling-june-134return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/474388\/","title":{"rendered":"Islam Makhachev Targeting Thrilling June 134Return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Islam Makhachev<\/a> (28-1 MMA, 17-1 UFC) is about three months removed from his most recent trek to the Octagon on a night where the stakes were at their highest. In mid-November, Makhachev traveled to Madison Square Garden<\/a> in New York City.<\/p>\n

That night, UFC 322 was held inside The World\u2019s Most Famous Arena in The Big Apple, with the main event of the evening serving as Islam Makhachev\u2019s first fight since vacating the UFC Lightweight Championship to devote time to fighting at welterweight. This vacancy would be official as of June 28.<\/p>\n

In June of last year, Ilia Topuria<\/a> (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) finished<\/a> Charles Oliveira (36-11, 1 NC MMA, 24-11, 1 NC UFC) with a first-round knockout to take the UFC Lightweight Championship, and it\u2019s looking like an Ilia Topuria vs. Islam Makhachev fight could very well be on the UFC\u2019s schedule<\/a> for the second quarter of the year.<\/p>\n

Islam Makhachev Aiming for June 14 Fight vs. Ilia Topuria<\/p>\n

On June 14, The White House grounds in Washington, DC will serve as the setting for the UFC White House card. While no concrete plans for the one-off event in the nation\u2019s capital are set as of now, Islam Makhachev wants to be on the show.<\/p>\n

Ari Emmanuel, CEO of UFC parent company TKO Group, mentioned that UFC White House will feature a trimmed-down fight card with six or seven contests happening the weekend before Father\u2019s Day. Matchmaking<\/a> for this one-off show started to take shape at the Tuesday meeting in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

Ever since the UFC first announced that it was targeting a show in Washington on The White House grounds, a host of fighters have advocated for a spot on the card at one time or another, including Islam Makhachev. He recently spoke to Telegraf about the possibility of fighting Ilia Topuria.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like this idea,\u201d Makhachev said of squaring off against Ilia Topuria in his next fight. \u201cIf the UFC wants it, and I know a lot of MMA fans want this fight, I\u2019m ready.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Makhachev Game About Fighting on White House Card<\/p>\n

As previously mentioned, the UFC White House event in June has become a tantalizing show for the promotion\u2019s top fighters to appear on. With a more finite number of slots than what\u2019s usually available for this particular card, it\u2019s probable that more than one elite name is going to be on the outside looking in when the calendar hits June.<\/p>\n

Islam Makhachev is hopeful that he isn\u2019t going to be one of the names left out of the running for the White House card.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is also one of the arenas where I\u2019m maybe going to fight next,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have the Ramadan month, so I will not train for a month, and after that, I will slowly begin my training camp, and I will be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Father Time on Islam Makhachev\u2019s Side for Possible UFC White House Appearance<\/p>\n

Timing won\u2019t be an issue for Islam Makhachev as he gears up for a possible contest vs. Ilia Topuria at The White House. Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, begins on the night of Feb. 17 and continues through March 19.<\/p>\n

In Ramadan, adults are required to fast, barring those with medical issues, from the morning\u2019s first light to sundown each day. Given the calendar, Islam Makhachev would not have an issue with preparing for his upcoming fight.<\/p>\n

Still, the mandatory hiatus for Ramadan not interfering with training camp wouldn\u2019t necessarily mean that he\u2019d be getting the call to fight in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/p>\n

Islam Makhachev is eager to fight Ilia Topuria in one venue or another. To be honest, a Makhachev vs. Topuria fight, whether it\u2019s on the card at The White House or not, is one that\u2019ll move the needle.<\/p>\n

While the fights taking place in Washington in the middle of June will no doubt be appealing contests on paper, so is the Islam Makhachev vs. Ilia Topuria tilt. Think about it:<\/p>\n

The pre-fight promotional material practically writes itself. You\u2019d have a champ battling another champ in what could be a main event scrap. Regardless of where it\u2019s placed on which card, this has fireworks written all over it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Islam Makhachev (28-1 MMA, 17-1 UFC) is about three months removed from his most recent trek to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474389,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":["post-474388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474388","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=474388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}