According to Islam Makhachev’s trainer, Javier Mendez, the UFC lightweight champion and pound-for-pound No. 1 fighter in the world will likely not be ready to defend his title against Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 310 on December 7.
If that’s the case, Dana White and the UFC may have to get creative to find a viable headliner for the final PPV of the year.
Mendez was asked about Makhachev’s readiness in an interview posted by Islam Babadzhanov of Ushatayka.
“I’m still waiting to find out on whether Islam’s healed,” Mendez said. “I don’t think his arm’s still healed. I think his ligament’s still… he’s not training from what I know. So I don’t foresee December happening. It could, but I don’t see it. It could happen, but I don’t see it. January seems more likely. January, February, but I don’t see December only because I know his hands still not healthy.”
Here is a look at the clip:
Other Options to Headline UFC 310
When you look at the current landscape of champions, when they last fought, and if they have their next fight scheduled, this is what the UFC has:
- Heavyweight – Jon Jones will defend his title against Stipe Miocic on November 16 at UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
- Light Heavyweight – Alex Pereira will defend his title against Khalil Rountree on October 5 at UFC 307 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah
- Middleweight – Dricus Du Plessis just defended his title against Israel Adesanya on August 17 at UFC 304.
- Welterweight – Belal Muhammad just won the title with a win over Leon Edwards on July 27 at UFC 304.
- Lightweight – Islam Makhachev is likely out for December, per Mendez.
- Featherweight – Ilia Topuria is defending his title against Max Holloway (also the BMF champion) on October 26 at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi.
- Men’s Bantamweight – Sean O’Malley is defending his title against Merab Dvalishvili on September 14 at Noche UFC in the Las Vegas Sphere.
- Women’s Bantamweight – Raquel Pennington is defending his title against Julianna Perez at UFC 307.
- Men’s Flyweight – Alexandre Pantoja doesn’t have a fight scheduled, and he hasn’t fought since UFC 301 in May.
- Women’s Flyweight – Alexa Grasso is defending her title against Valentina Shevchenko at Noche UFC.
- Strawweight – Weili Zhang doesn’t have a fight scheduled, and she last fought in April at UFC 300.
Based on the status of the current champions, Du Plessis could defend his title against Sean Strickland in December, just under four months after his last defense.
Muhammad could defend his title against anyone from Shavkat Rakhmonov to Kamaru Usman. He’d have more than four months between his title-winning performance and the UFC 310 date.
Pantoja and Weili will have a fight announced in the coming weeks because they’ve had the most extended layoffs of any current champion. It seems like one of them will likely co-main event UFC 309. There is a chance the other could land as the co-main event to UFC 310.
While both fighters are top-notch champions, they don’t figure to have enough needle-moving influence to be a part of the featured bout. There’s also the chance that Conor McGregor could return in December, which would give the UFC its biggest needle-mover in the main event spot for the final PPV of the year. In that case, Pantoja or Weili could be in the co-main event spot, or perhaps the discussed addition of a female BMF title fight.
There aren’t many possibilities for the final PPV show of the year, but it’ll be fun watching the pieces fall into place. Stay tuned.
