UFC’s matchmaking slammed by Islam Makhachev following Dana White’s recent comments about his old rival

UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev has defended his old rival following Dana White’s comments this past Saturday.

After successfully capturing the vacant lightweight title earlier this 12 months following Islam Makhachev‘s title vacation, Ilia Topuria recently announced he takes a break from the game to concentrate on personal matters.

And with that, the promotion put together an interim lightweight title fight, which the vast majority of the fanbase believed should include longtime primary contender Arman Tsarukyan, nonetheless, he was snubbed.

As a substitute, the interim title fight will likely be contested between Paddy Pimblett and Justin Gaethje, which doesn’t sit well with Makhachev, who has slammed the UFC matchmaking in a recent interview with Red Corner MMA.

Makhachev slams UFC’s matchmaking and defends Tsarukyan

‘Ahalkalakets’ is seemingly still paying for withdrawing from his lightweight title fight against Makhachev earlier this 12 months, despite having picked up a powerful win over Dan Hooker since.

And even this past weekend within the UFC 323 post-fight press conference, Dana White stated that Tsarukyan still has some ways to go before re-earning a title shot.

“That’s the best way it played out within the war room. I wouldn’t say (Tsarukyan) is the odd man out. You realize, he had a chance and also you guys know the way that played out. I don’t give a s— what the (rankings) say, he’s gonna should work his way back,” White continued to say.

Nevertheless, Makhachev believes Tsarukyan is being hard-done by, and despite having somewhat of a past feud with him, he’s supporting his old rival.

“The organization may not prefer it but they make an increasing number of fights that I don’t understand. In fact, I feel Arman should’ve gotten the title shot.

“Let’s be honest, Arman shouldn’t be going to fight any time soon, it’s Pimblett vs Gaethje, whoever wins, he gets a shot against Topuria meaning yet one more 12 months layoff for Arman, it’s tough.

“I’ve had the identical period in my profession, I had a ten-fight win streak before getting a title shot, so Arman should probably wait a bit and be patient,” he continued.

As a substitute of sitting out inactive, the Armenian is ensuring that he stays lively, even when it’s not contained in the UFC Octagon.

This Wednesday afternoon, it was announced that Tsarukyan will tackle UFC middleweight Shara Magomedov in a grappling match.

Makhachev’s comments come satirically after he picked his next opponent

Although the Russian champion has criticized the recent matchmaking within the promotion, he himself has been under scrutiny from the fanbase after picking who he would really like to defend his welterweight title against next.

Following his win at UFC 322, Makhachev stated that he would really like to fight Kamaru Usman next, despite the indisputable fact that the previous champion is 1-3 in his last 4 fights.

And the 34-year-old even doubled down on it this Wednesday, outlining why he desires to fight the previous King next.