Islam Makhachev Reveals Shocking UFC Career News

UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev revealed shocking career news on a social media post on Friday afternoon.

Makhachev, the UFC welterweight champ and the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, was supposed to defend his title against Carlos Prates in the main event of UFC 336 in January, but he declined to fight Prates on that date, and instead, the UFC booked an interim welterweight title bout between Prates and Michael Morales.

We haven’t heard much from Makhachev other than he wants those two to fight to determine the next No. 1 contender — or, in this case, crown an interim champ — for his belt, and he will fight them next.

That fight, he now says, will be the final fight of his MMA career.

Islam Makhachev Will Retire After 1 More Fight

Taking to his social media on Friday afternoon, Makhachev dropped a bombshell by announcing his next fight will be his last.

“My next fight is one of the last in my career. They say Prates is too dangerous for me and Morales is too good for me. So I want to face the best of them and prove to the world once again who is the best in world,” Makhachev wrote on his X.

Islam Makhachev Following in Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Footsteps

Makhachev is the best P4P fighter in the world right now, so he doesn’t need to retire. Even if he lost his next fight against the winner of Prates vs. Morales, no one would be asking him to hang up his gloves.

Instead, he is choosing to go out on his own terms and follow the lead of his long-time friend and teammate, Khabib Nurmagomedov, who also retired at the height of his mixed martial arts career.

In Nurmagomedov’s case, it was a promise to his family that he would retire from fighting, while in Makhachev’s case, we don’t know his exact motivations.

All we know is that he says he will fight once more and then hang up his gloves for good, which will be the final time we see one of the greatest fighters of all time compete.

This article was originally published on HEAVY

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