{"id":294038,"date":"2025-11-19T21:03:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T21:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/294038\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T21:03:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T21:03:08","slug":"javier-mendez-islam-makhachev-proved-that-he-belongs-as-no-1-pound-for-pound-at-ufc-322","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/294038\/","title":{"rendered":"Javier Mendez: Islam Makhachev \u2018proved that he belongs as No. 1 pound-for-pound\u2019 at UFC 322"},"content":{"rendered":"

Islam Makhachev delivered the statement victory his coach was hoping for at UFC 322.<\/p>\n

This past Saturday, Makhachev became the 11th two-division champion in UFC history, dominating Jack Della Madalenna to claim the welterweight title in the main event of UFC 322 in New York City. The performance was completely one-sided and, according to his coach Javier Mendez, should firmly reestablish Makhachev as the best fighter in the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel good. I feel that Islam proved that he belongs as No. 1 pound-for-pound,\u201d Mendez told Submission Radio<\/a> on Sunday. \u201cI think a lot of people thought he was, but now he\u2019s solidified that. I don\u2019t think there should be any question on who the pound-for-pound greatest right now is, and that\u2019s him. And at the rate he\u2019s going, if he continues to go, he may very well end up being the pound-for-pound greatest of all time. But let\u2019s wait to see how we do in our next few fights before we jump that gun.\u201d<\/p>\n

In all likelihood, Makhachev will retake the top spot in the UFC pound-for-pound rankings this week, especially given the ease with which he beat Della Maddalena. In fact, it was so one-sided that afterward, several fighters were critical of Della Maddalena\u2019s performance, but Mendez believes that\u2019s the wrong lesson to take from Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cMake no mistake about it, I told you guys that if we make the fight look easy, it\u2019s because we train hard for it,\u201d Mendez said. \u201cIt\u2019s not that Jack isn\u2019t a great champion. He is. It\u2019s just I feel Islam\u2019s at another level out of anybody right now. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI noticed that the speed difference between Islam and him was night and day, and I just said right then and there, \u2018Matador style.\u2019 It means evade, stay on the outside, and maintain that distance, because Jack, a lot of people aren\u2019t giving him the credit he deserves, because he\u2019s a great fighter. Wait and see what the next person that fights with him \u2014 they think they\u2019re going to do what Islam did to him? Good luck.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for what\u2019s next for Makhachev, that\u2019s very much up in the air. There is no shortage of possible contenders for the new welterweight champion, including the new lightweight champion Ilia Topuria, who already chirped at Makhachev. And if that is ultimately the fight the UFC wants to make, Mendez is ready for that.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s see what happens. If the UFC offers [Topuria], no problem,\u201d Mendez said. \u201cI can\u2019t answer for Islam, but I\u2019m saying no problem. \u2026. Let\u2019s face it, we\u2019re going to meet him eventually, whether it\u2019s the White House or whether it\u2019s another time, let the UFC decide that. But we\u2019re going to meet him eventually if he wants to continue to come up, but I seriously doubt Islam will want to come down. And for him, it\u2019s the first time anybody will ever go for a triple [champion]. He would be the first triple challenger, so that would be a monster fight for the whole world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Islam Makhachev delivered the statement victory his coach was hoping for at UFC 322. This past Saturday, Makhachev…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,701,638,82,640,702],"class_list":{"0":"post-294038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-ufc","15":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}