Earlier in January this year, Islam Makhachev weighed in on his retirement plans. He told Demetrious Johnson that he’d retire when he fulfills one condition. “When I understand I cannot stop the people, I cannot, like, compete with the young guys, then I’m thinking about retired,” the soon-be-former lightweight champion told ‘Mighty Mouse’. But the question that the fighting community keeps asking is: How close is the soon-to-be former lightweight champion to retirement? Well, Javier Mendez has an answer to that.
For now, Makhachev is focusing on doing everything to beat Jack Della Maddalena and claim the welterweight championship throne. After all, that’s the legacy that the Dagestani team has been striving for for a while now, according to the AKA coach. Following that, Makhachev may return to the lightweight division to reclaim his lightweight title.
Umar Nurmagomedov recently weighed in, saying, “Islam doesn’t want to vacate. He had no plans to vacate the title. He still wants to fight at 155.” So, does that mean we’ll get to witness a few more fights out of the Dagestani champ prior to his retirement? It’s one of the questions that Denis Shkuratov asked Mendez during their conversation on the recent episode of Submission Radio.
The AKA coach and founder replied, “I’m anticipating we’ll see him for maybe, hopefully, maybe another three fights, total, you know. Let’s see who’s in the works on that.” But first, they’d have to seal the deal with Della Maddalena. With an 18-fight win streak, the welterweight champion has come in hot, having dismantled all his UFC opponents. But while Maddalena has an 18-fight winning streak overall, Islam Makhachev has won 15 straight fights in the UFC alone..
Nevertheless, Mendez continued, “And let’s say if we get by JDM, which is, I don’t wanna really say we’re going to get by him, because this guy’s, he’s a tough customer. And I’m gonna be positive in the fact that we’re gonna win. But it’s kind of hard to overlook JDM, you know.”
Per Javier Mendez, he’s anticipating Islam Makhachev to compete in three more fights in the UFC before potentially retiring.
“I’m anticipating we’ll see [Islam] for hopefully maybe three more fights total.”
(via @SubmissionRadio) pic.twitter.com/8iGXjQgUSV
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) June 16, 2025
Soon, Mendez’s anticipation about Makhachev’s retirement after three more bouts found its way to X through a post by Home of Fight. The caption of the post read, “Islam Makhachev may only have three more fights before retirement.” And soon after the post went live, fight fans took control of the comments section. Let’s see what the fans had to say.
Fans ask for one thing out of Islam Makhachev before his retirement
While the drama over vacating belts and moving weight classes has been hot, lately, another fighter has entered the mix involving Islam Makhachev. The latest person to throw their name into the mix is Kamaru Usman, who had a dominant win over Joaquin Buckley at UFC Atlanta, this past weekend. One fan thinks Makhachev would make light work of all these challengers, “Thier plan is prolly JDM, Usman, Topruia all at 170. 3 easiest fights without fighting the Hungary contenders at 170.” Another fan claimed that the Dagestani only had tough competitions against Alexander Volkanovski and Charles Oliveira. What they want to see is Makhachev vs. Topuria.
The comment read, “Dude is a beast, a damn beast, but has he really been battle tested? I say outside of Oliveira and Volk 1 he hasn’t really faced prime adversity. Would love one of those 3 fights to be Topuria to see him go out on top.” One more fan added, “win the belt and 2 title defences at WW would be the perfect way to go out, 6 title defences in two divisions, two weight champ with an 18 fight win streak. ”
However, some fans stood against Makhachev in his quest to become a double champion. Reflecting on the chances of Della Maddalena defeating Makhachev, one comment read, “Probably just 1 more when JDM retires him. ” Meanwhile, another fan named ‘El Matador’ as the reason for the Dagestani’s retirement. The fan wrote, “Ilia got him thinking about retiring already.” On the other hand, one fan pointed out how Khabib Nurmagomedov’s early retirement affected his legacy. He commented, “Hopefully not. Kahab retired waaaaay to early it effects his legacy big time. Hopefully Islam doesn’t make the same mistake.”
Nevertheless, the retirement talks seemed to make sense to many others. One fan commented, “That makes sense, JDM obviously, probably a title defense at Welterweight, then a move back down to lightweight to face the champ there.” Another fan wrote, “Makes sense, he said years ago he wants to be done around 34-35.” But who do you want to see compete against the soon-to-be former lightweight champion before he retires? Let us know in the comments down below.
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