The UFC has finalized a big matchup in the lightweight division pitting two top prospects against each other. Brazil’s Thiago Moises (15-4) will try to stop the hype train of Islam Makhachev (19-1).
ESPN’s Brett Okamoto confirmed the fight last night with UFC President Dana White. The matchup will take place at a UFC Fight Night on July 17th. This is a massive opportunity for Thiago Moises.
Moises is not currently ranked in the lightweight division. However, he has won his last three fights. His wins include victories over Michael Johnson, Bobby Green, and Alexander Hernandez.
While he doesn’t have a spot in the UFC rankings, these wins have him knocking on the door. His opponent is being looked at as a future UFC champion and if Moises can pull off the upset, it will say a lot about him as a prospect.
UFC return for Makhachev
Islam Makhachev just looks like he’s going to be a UFC lightweight champion. He fights very similar to his training partner turned coach Khabib Nurmagomedov. Of course, Nurmagomedov retired undefeated as the undisputed UFC lightweight champion.
Makhachev has great striking and of course he has his Dagestani wrestling. The last time we saw Makhachev was at UFC 259 when he took on Drew Dober. Makhachev completed dominated the fight and submitted Dober in the third round.
With that win, Makhachev has now won seven fights in a row. To be honest, I’m a little surprised this is the direction the promotion decided to go. I figured Makhachev would be in to fight someone in the UFC’s top ten.
In terms of rankings, this is actually a step back as Dober is still ranked in the top fifteen and Moises is not ranked. This almost has the feel of a tune-up fight just to keep Islam Makhachev active.
Whatever the UFC’s reason was, it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day. Makhachev will be back in July and he should be a massive favorite to pick up his eighth straight victory.