Islam Makhachev seeks to become the 11th fighter in UFC history to capture titles in two different divisions when he faces Jack Della Maddalena for the welterweight title on Saturday in the UFC 322 main event.
Currently riding a 15-fight winning streak, Makhachev already holds the record for the most title defenses at lightweight with four in a row, and he’s constantly maintained a spot among the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport over the past few years. But what does a win over Della Maddalena
do for his standing among the all-time greats in the sport?
UFC legend Matt Brown argues there’s some labels that Makhachev has already earned during his illustrious career but capturing welterweight gold doesn’t necessarily place him near the top of the GOAT list.
“He’s the greatest lightweight of all-time,” Brown said about Makhachev on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “I think that’s pretty much set in stone. I think that’s done. I don’t know what this does for him in terms of greatest of all-time type thing or pound-for-pound or anything. Because he’s already up there with all of that. He’s still got a long way to go to be one of the all-time greats when you’re talking about the Anderson Silva’s and the Jon Jones and people like that. He’s got a long way to go for that so you can’t just put him there yet.
“The idea of being double champ accelerates that. You’ve got to keep the winning streak going because that’s what the other guys did. I think that’s the only issue there really. You’ve got to have more time in the game. So really it just kind of solidifies where he’s at right now is where he belongs. He’s got to be top three pound-for-pound right? It’s not moving him up a ton in my book [among the all-time greats], right or wrong.”
As dominant as Makhachev was at lightweight, many of his biggest wins came before he was champion or he could have already racked up a remarkable number of title defenses. But Makhachev laid in wait while his friend and mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov was champion so he didn’t get the chance to claim the title until 2022.
Meanwhile, Jon Jones, who is most widely regarded as the greatest of all-time in MMA, has won 16 title fights during his career — a mark that he holds all on his own. Georges St-Pierre, another name frequently mentioned as an all-time great, defended his welterweight title nine consecutive times before becoming a two-division champion after capturing middleweight gold.
Anderson Silva held the record for most consecutive title defenses in the UFC with 10 straight until Demetrious Johnson broke that with 11 in a row during his career.
The key factor in all of those cases comes down to longevity and the ability to showcase dominance across several years combined with numerous title defenses. Right now, Makhachev hasn’t achieved that same measure of success but Brown knows there’s a path where he gets there and it all starts with beating Della Maddalena on Saturday.
“He has a serious murderer’s row ahead of him,” Brown said. “When you talk about Shavkat [Rakhmonov] and the Sean Brady’s, I mean he’s got a lot of work to do. I think the type of guys he’s got to do it against really solidifies the all-time great thing, if he can go on that run.
“Hindsight’s always 20/20, but I think the era that we’re talking about with Anderson and GSP and Jon, fighters are evolving, the sport’s evolving, it’s growing, the matchups are getting tougher, the opponents are getting tougher. Islam’s going to have a harder time to do a run like that than those guys did. That’s just a matter of fact, unfortunately for him.”
Brown doesn’t buy that just becoming a two-division champion automatically places anybody near the top of the GOAT list.
That’s why beating Della Maddalena and becoming welterweight champion matters but Brown feels like Makhachev needs to do more at 170 pounds to prove he deserves to be mentioned alongside Jones, St-Pierre, Silva and others.
“If Islam does a four-fight win streak at welterweight, I think that is a strong case to be the greatest,” Brown said. “He needs more numbers, higher numbers, just hasn’t done it long enough yet. The fact that it’s a double champ thing, that’s not enough I don’t think for much of anybody to be like OK, you’re the greatest of all-time, you did it in two divisions. He goes on a four-fight win streak at welterweight, because that would be something new. Jon Jones did it at light heavyweight and realistically his heavyweight run has been meaningless for the most part.
“Same with Demetrious [Johnson], it was all at one weight and [Georges St-Pierre], all at one weight except for the final fight with [Michael] Bisping. For Islam to go out and go on a streak like that across two weight divisions, that would add something then. To do a streak at two divisions, not to do a single fight at a higher division.”
The path to becoming the GOAT is still ahead of him and Makhachev has that opportunity but Brown won’t put the crown on his head just yet.
“Islam’s got some work to do, but he’s got some huge obstacles to overcome,” Brown said. “He’s got a very, very tough division in front of him, but first, he’s got Jack Della Maddalena in front of him. We’re going to find out a lot this weekend, I think.”
