Outside Source
Makhachev vacated the lightweight title and moved up to welterweight to challenge Maddalena for the title at UFC 322 this past November. There were high expectations from Maddalena after he dethroned Belal Muhammad to win the title in a massive upset at UFC 315. However, Makhachev completely dominated Maddalena on the canvas for five rounds to earn a lopsided unanimous decision win.
Advertisement
While an immediate rematch was unlikely for Maddalena, UFC 322 also saw Michael Morales and Carlos Prates emerge as fresh contenders. Meanwhile, Ian Garry defeated Muhammad a week later at UFC Qatar to make a claim for title contention. While Maddalena wants a rematch against Makhachev, the Australian knows that he will have to get past at least one hungry contender first.
No Shortcuts
“My goal is obviously to go back,” Maddalena told FightWave. “I want to get the world title back and also to challenge myself against these guys, all those new contenders and really find out who the best is. I believe I can reign supreme. I’d love to get a shot at Islam again; that’d be the dream. But obviously, he is at a different part of his career. Hopefully, I can get to a point where he grants me the rematch… It’s gonna be tough competition in the Top 5, we’re all gonna have to bring our A-game come fight night. Because there’s a lot of people working hard to get the belt.”
Maddalena (18-3) was riding an 18-fight winning streak with eight UFC victories before his loss against Makhachev. Makhachev (28-1) has since been calling for a spot on the UFC White House card in June. While fans were hoping for a matchup between Makhachev and Ilia Topuria, that ship has seemingly sailed for the time being. Lightweight champion Topuria will reportedly fight interim champ Justin Gaethje in a title unifier. Meanwhile, Garry is reportedly the frontrunner for a welterweight title shot against Makhachev at a later date.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
Help support MMACrazies.com when you shop Amazon by starting your online Amazon shopping at MMACrazies.com/recommends/amazon. You are not charged extra, but we receive a small and very helpful commission on everything you purchase. Thanks for thinking of us every time you shop at Amazon.
