Islam Makhachev is done with his vacation as he heads back to fight camp for a bout ‘leaked’ by Khabib Nurmagomedov.

During a Q&A on Saturday in New York, Nurmagomedov confirmed that Makhachev will be headlining at Madison Square Garden later this year. He will face Jack Della Maddalena for the welterweight title after giving up his lightweight belt and allowing Ilia Topuria to win the vacant title against Charles Oliveira.

It was a night of leaked fights for the legendary former champion, who also let slip that in October, his cousin Usman Nurmagomedov will rematch his long-time rival Paul Hughes in the PFL’s long-awaited return to Dubai.

Islam Makhachev heads back to training camp after Khabib Nurmagomedov’s fight leak

In a new Instagram post, Islam Makhachev showed off the final moments of a holiday where he enjoyed horse riding among other activities. He also shared videos with teammates on his stories, where they all appeared to be enjoying time on the ranch.

However, the caption was telling, with Makhachev writing in a message translated by Instagram: “Finished the vacation with a horse ride. Let’s work.” If Makhachev were to start training this week, it would give him an almost three-month training camp for Della Maddalena.

The post came just hours after his next fight was leaked by Khabib Nurmagomedov, who told fans at a Q&A in New York: “This is his deal with UFC, I have no deal with UFC, this is his problem. But we have deal with UFC that he is going to fight in Madison Square Garden.”

Islam Makhachev is reportedly struggling to bulk for Jack Della Maddalena fight

One issue that appears to have arisen for Makhachev is that he is finding it hard to get up in weight for his 170lb debut. He has always made 155lb with relative ease, unlike his mentor Nurmagomedov who regularly missed, and his bulk to get to welterweight is apparently proving tougher than planned.

“I will try to be big and you know, it’s not easy man,” Makhachev told MMA Junkie earlier this year about his weight. “All my life I cut weight but now, when I want to be big, my weight stays in the same position. I try to lift more.

“We do some program and like slowly, slowly we bring some, maybe 2kg [roughly 4.4lb] right now and it’s very hard but I don’t want to be big by food, eating and not training. I want to be with muscles you know, I want to do training, a right lifting program and bring some muscles.”