Islam Makhachev Has Put a Number on the End of His Career: Three
Ten days after breaking the record for the longest winning streak in UFC history, Islam Makhachev was asked how much longer he intends to do this. He did not deflect. Back home in Dagestan, the welterweight champion said he has at least three hard fights left in front of him before retirement becomes a question. It is a small sentence with large consequences, because it turns every remaining title defence into a countdown.
- Fight Hub
- 27 August 2026
Key takeaways
- Islam Makhachev says he has at least three more very tough fights ahead of him before he considers retirement, speaking to reporters on his return to Dagestan.
- He named Carlos Prates and Michael Morales among the contenders waiting, and Prates says the UFC has promised him the next shot.
- The comments follow UFC 330 on August 15 in Philadelphia, where Makhachev beat Ian Machado Garry by unanimous decision for a 17th straight win, passing Anderson Silva's record.
The number, and what prompted it
Rogan asked the question everyone was thinking
The subject did not come from nowhere. After Makhachev beat Ian Machado Garry at UFC 330, Joe Rogan floated the idea that this might be a natural place to stop: the record broken, two divisions conquered, nothing obvious left to prove. Makhachev dismissed it, and then, back home in Dagestan and talking to reporters, he put an actual figure on what remains.
At least three. Not a farewell tour, not a vague someday. A stated minimum, from a champion who does not usually deal in theatre.
Why a minimum is not a retirement plan
Read it carefully and the sentence is doing two things at once. It kills the immediate retirement story, which is what he wanted. It also, for the first time, puts a countable horizon on a career that had none. Three fights at his pace is roughly two years. That is a schedule, and schedules invite questions about who fills them.
It is worth resisting the urge to over-read it. Fighters revise these numbers constantly, and a minimum is the easiest kind of promise to keep. What makes this one interesting is not the figure itself but that he offered one at all, ten days after the single best result of his career.
Who Islam Makhachev's three would be
The queue is already forming
Makhachev named the men he sees in front of him: Carlos Prates and Michael Morales. Neither is a courtesy mention. Prates has been the loudest of the two, and he says the promotion has told him the next title shot is his, calling for the fight on November 14 at Madison Square Garden.
That last part deserves a caveat in plain sight: it is Prates’s account of a conversation, not a booking the UFC has announced. Nothing about the date or the venue is confirmed. The distinction matters, because a claimed title shot and a signed one behave very differently once the calendar tightens.
The immediate obstacle is medical, not sporting
Whoever is next, it is not imminent. Makhachev left Philadelphia with a 30-day medical suspension for a rib contusion, the residue of Garry’s body kicks in a fight the challenger lost but did not lose meekly. Thirty days is not a serious injury by the standards of this sport, and it does not derail a November date. It is simply a reminder that even a record-breaking win extracted a bill.
What he actually won at UFC 330
The scale of what he is counting down from is worth stating. On August 15 at the Xfinity Mobile Arena, Makhachev beat Ian Machado Garry on all three cards to make it seventeen wins in a row, moving him past the sixteen Anderson Silva strung together between 2006 and 2013. That is the longest streak in the history of the promotion, built across two weight classes.
I have at least three more spectacular and very tough fights for me.
Two arguments the champion is having on his way out
A wrestling call-out from someone who would know
Not everyone is impressed. Jordan Burroughs, the 2012 Olympic gold medallist and a six-time world champion, watched Makhachev’s wrestling at UFC 330 and offered a correction. Burroughs was careful to say he would wrestle Makhachev, not fight him, drawing a line between MMA wrestling and the real thing.
Makhachev, unsurprisingly, did not concede the point, and said he would simply defend the double-leg. Daniel Cormier, who has credibility in both rooms, called that idea crazy. It is an argument with no scheduled venue and no way to settle it, which is exactly why it will run.
The flag row, and where it lands
The second dispute is sharper. At UFC 330 a member of Makhachev’s team wrapped a Russian flag around him during the celebration. Merab Dvalishvili objected, saying he is not allowed to raise the Georgian flag after his own wins, and pointing to the Russian flag being barred from most international sport over the war in Ukraine.
Makhachev’s reply was to tell Dvalishvili to stay quiet, and to back Petr Yan to do the silencing for him when the two meet in their trilogy fight at UFC 333 on October 24 in Abu Dhabi. Both men have said their piece; the promotion has not publicly set out its own rule.
Count it down with the numbers
Makhachev’s full record, his streak fight by fight, his takedown and control-time numbers, and the profiles of Carlos Prates and Michael Morales are in the FightHub app, updated after every event. If he really has three left, this is the place to watch them come off the board.
