Islam Makhachev has no shortage of potential opponents awaiting him at welterweight, and the list grew even longer at UFC Qatar.
With Michael Morales and Carlos Prates both getting highlight reel victories at UFC 322, Makhachev already had his eyes on them and now Ian Machado Garry is staking his claim after beating former champion Belal Muhammad on Saturday. Immediately after the win, Garry called out Makhachev and claimed he was the most deserving person for a title shot.
“Yeah, that will be interesting,” Makhachev said about Garry in a media scrum posted by Ushatayka. “He’s also a good fighter. He’s on a good winning streak and he’s young. I think it’ll be interesting.
“We’ll see. He didn’t surprise me yesterday. If he surprised the UFC, then maybe he will be next.”
Of course, Garry is currently riding a two-fight win streak after suffering the first loss of his career when he fell to Shavkat Rakhmonov in late 2024. That fight was supposed to crown a new No. 1 contender at welterweight and Rakhmonov’s win put him in a position to challenge Muhammad, who was champion at the time.
Unfortunately, Rakhmonov suffered an injury and he was replaced by Jack Della Maddalena, who went onto claim the title back in May.
Since then, Rakhmonov has remained sidelined with designs on potentially returning to action in early 2026, but Makhachev believes he has some work to do before getting a title shot.
“[Shavkat] hasn’t fought for over a year,” Makhachev said. “A contender can’t sit out for a year with injuries and then come fight for the belt. We said hello, he congratulated me. We just shook hands. If he recovers, and the UFC decides he’s next, why not?”
One other name that got brought up to Makhachev was UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria, who has long been gunning for a fight between them.
If Muhammad had defeated Della Maddalena, the plan was for Makhachev to then defend his lightweight title against Topuria. As a friend and frequent training partner, Makhachev didn’t want to go after Muhammad as champion.
But once Della Maddalena won the title, Makhachev relinquished his 155-pound belt to pursue the gold at welterweight.
For his part, Makhachev isn’t disinterested in fighting Topuria, but he’s not excited about potentially cutting down to lightweight again.
“It would have to be a very good offer for me to start cutting back to 155,” Makhachev said. “Because I’m not young in this sport anymore and every weight cut takes years off your health. It’s not as easy as before to cut weight.”
Right now, Makhachev is still just days removed from becoming a two-division champion with his lopsided win over Della Maddalena but he expects to get some news about his next opponent in the near future.
“I think the UFC will decide soon,” Makhachev said. “Yesterday, there was a good fight. A former champion fought a young guy. I think we have at least three or four contenders now, and soon, probably in about two weeks, it will be clear who the next challenger will be.”
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