Makhachev responds to Dana White outing him for pulling out of Rafael Dos Anjos fight

Benny A. King

UFC has a special soft spot for the fighters willing to step in and fight any time, any opponent. And for a while there it appeared Khabib Nurmagomedov protage Islam Makhachev was one of them. As a reminder Makhachev headlined UFC Vegas 49 this past weekend. He was successful in TKOing Bobby Green in round 1. It would be fair to say he made it through the fight unscathed.

According to the official fight statistics Makhachev absorbed a total of 9 strikes. But making weight again on such short notice would definitely be an issue. This lead to extended negotiations.

“Pretty close – I thought we had it done,” White told Barstool Sports of Makhachev vs. dos Anjos. “When I went to bed one of the nights, I thought it was done. Woke up the next morning and found out they turned it down. Islam [turned it down]. No clue [why].”

Dos Anjos was first to call out Makhachev on the pull out. Oddly – he did so in Portuguese by using the following phrase:
“He bluffed… I played and he farted in the farofa.”

 

Makhachev first responded to the rumors saying:

Then he followed that up with:

And contrary to his actions, he tweeted:
“I don’t care who you will put in front of me, I’ll smash this whole division”

And finally after the Dana White offered insight into who backed out, Makhachev responded:
“Dana, you went to bed to early, you gotta stay up late to get things done”

This fake out will likely cost Makhachev the title shot. Makhachev made it very far on the UFC rankings of lightweight division without ever having fought ranked opponents. That was all altered when he fought Dan Hooker, the next logical step was for him to fight Beneil Dariush, but due to Dariush’s injury Bobby Green (unranked) stepped up. Now white believes that Dariush is the logical next fight for Makhacehev. Dariush previously defeated Tony Ferguson (now at #7) and Diego Fereira (now at #15). In spite of the move, Makhachev was moved to rank #3 on the lightweight division rankings ahead of Dariush.