"It's crazy lineage" - Michael Chiesa claims Dagestani fighters coached by Khabib Nurmagomedov will rule the UFC lightweight division "for the next 10 years"
The prophecy made by Khabib Nurmagomedov's father Abdulmanap came true when Islam Makhachev took the lightweight strap back to Dagestan with a dominant win over Charles Oliveira in the main event at UFC 280.
UFC welterweight Michael Chiesa was happy to see Nurmagomedov pass down the strap to his protégé, whom 'The Eagle' deemed the rightful owner. The former UFC lightweight champ had always insisted that Charles Oliveira only borrowed the belt for a short while after his retirement, which Makhachev would reclaim.
According to Chiesa, Makhachev's victory marks the beginning of a decade-long Dagestani rule at the top of the lightweight division. The 34-year-old said in a recent appearance on the UFC's Round-Up w/ Paul Felder & Michael Chiesa:
"It's really cool to see Khabib in this position, not only as a coach but just to be there to see him hand the title over. He even said it himself. Charles wasn't the true champion then, because Khabib stepped down. And Khabib said like, 'Now, Now I'm passing my title down, I'm passing it on to the rightful champion', which is, Islam Makhachev. It's crazy lineage. You know, the 155 pounds division is gonna be ran by the Dagestanis for the next 10 years."
Watch Chiesa's comments at the 10:55 mark of the video below:
Khabib Nurmagomedov claims Dana White acknowledged the lightweight strap as the Dagestani belt
Having trained together since childhood, Khabib Nurmagomedov certainly must have felt proud handing down the belt to Islam Makhachev at UFC 280. 'The Eagle' claims to have insisted on it as he considered himself to be the rightful owner of the belt until the moment Makhachev took over. Nurmagomedov said in an interview with ESPN MMA's Brett Okamoto:
"I told Dana ‘Brother, I have to give him this belt because I don’t lose belt’. Because I know, I’m the champion… till this day before Islam become champion.”
The which, the UFC president seemingly replied:
"No problem. This is yours. This is Dagestani belt.”
Watch Khabib Nurmagomedov's comments at the 3:05 mark of the video below:
The quality of fighters coming from Dagestani has certainly put that part of the world on the map over the last few years. Speaking of promising fighters from his team ahead of UFC 280, Nurmagomedov named Renat Khavalov, Amru Magomedov, and Shaken Alkhasov and mentioned having a total of eight to 10 fighters on his radar.