Islam Makhachev made his MMA debut when he fought at the Tsumada Fighting Championship in Russia when he was 19 years old. At the age of 23, Islam took his talents to the UFC and worked his way to the top of the rankings.
Two years ago, a 30-year old Makhachev captured the UFC lightweight title and has held the belt for nearly two years now.
Makchachev was born on October 27, 1991 in Dagestan. That means that the reigning UFC lightweight champion is now 32 years old and has been fighting for over ten years now. Despite fighting for a long time now, Makhachev doesn’t look beat up and that’s because he has good defense and doesn’t take too much damage in his fights.
Last October, Makhachev’s mother called upon his son to retire from MMA, wanting him to follow in the footsteps of his mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov who quit the sport when he was 33 years old.
“My mother doesn’t watch fights. Not just my fights – fights in general. She doesn’t like seeing people hit each other. When I came home, there were a lot of people there. She said, ‘you’re champion now. Wrap it up. Khabib listened to his mother. When will you listen to yours?” said Makhachev in an interview.
Islam will turn 33 later this year, that means he is about at the same as Khabib when the latter walked away from combat sports. It remains to be seen whether Makhachev will actually follow in Nurmagomedov’s footsteps. He is currently linked to a fight with 35-year old Dustin Poirier although nothing is still official right now.