Islam Makhachev's manager makes his pick for the pound-for-pound best referee in MMA
UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev's MMA manager Ali Abdelaziz has made his pick for the best referee in MMA.
Referee Marc Goddard uploaded a picture of himself on social media. Abdelaziz responded to the post by hailing Goddard as pound-for-pound the best referee in MMA.
Ali Abdelaziz's client Islam Makhachev is currently on an incredible run in the UFC. The Dagestani is currently on a 12-fight win streak in the multi-billion dollar promotion. This includes victories of prominent names like Charles Oliveira, Alexander Volkanovski, Bobby Green, Dan Hooker, Thiago Moises, Arman Tsarukyan and Drew Dober.
Makhachev was last seen in action in February 2023 when he locked horns against Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284. The fight was a thrilling back-and-forth affair that ended with the Dagestani emerging victorious via unanimous decision. But despite beating Volkanovski, who was the number one on the pound-for-pound list at the time, Makhachev stayed at the second position on the list.
The 31-year-old later dropped down to the third position as Jon Jones took the top spot by defeating Ciryl Gane for the heavyweight title at UFC 285.
This did not sit well with Abdelaziz who recently took to Twitter to criticize the UFC rankings.
Makhachev is now scheduled to face Charles Oliveira in a rematch at UFC 294. The event will be held on October 21 at the Eithad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
If Makhachev manages to defeat 'Do Bronx' in impressive fashion, there is a possibility of him scoring the top spot on the pound-for-pound list.
Ali Abdelaziz reacts to Colby Covington's comments about Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov
Colby Covington recently did an interview with James Lynch where he fired shots at Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
'Chaos' claimed that both Dagestani fighters were afraid of fighting him at welterweight.
"He’s [Islam Makhachev] a big-little guy that cuts all that weight to get the advantage 'cause he’s scared to fight real men like me... He’s tried to ride the coattails of Khabib [Nurmagomedov’s] success and what he was able to accomplish and he’s not Khabib. It’s not the same thing. Khabib was scared of me. He didn’t want to come up to welterweight because of me. So, even his daddy knows it’s not smart to come up to welterweight.”
Ali Abdelaziz reacted to Covington's comments by telling journalists to be careful while interviewing 'Chaos'.