Islam Makhachev and Jon Jones defended from ducking allegations by ex-UFC veteran

A former UFC competitor recently shared his thoughts on why Islam Makhachev and Jon Jones shouldn't be criticized after they were both bombarded with ducking allegations. The defense of Makhachev and Jones comes in light of the promotion's latest announcements for upcoming pay-per-view events, including International Fight Week.

Makhachev decided to vacate his lightweight championship and move up to 170 pounds in favor of a title shot against Jack Della Maddalena over a bout against Ilia Topuria. Meanwhile, Jones has been criticized by many, including Aspinall, for stalling negotiations for their long-awaited bout.

In the latest episode of his WEIGHING IN podcast, former UFC lightweight Josh Thomson came to the defense of Makhachev and Jones by saying that the ducking allegations are unfair due to what they have accomplished. He mentioned that both competitors have achieved everything and aren't afraid of Topuria and Aspinall, respectively:

"[Makhachev] has nothing to gain at [lightweight]. I just want to put that to rest. Everyone's like, 'Oh, he's ducking Ilia,' he's never ducked anybody in his life. And so, it just kind of gets to the point, there's going to always be that one more guy for you to fight.

"And I said that about Jon Jones when he was like, he doesn't want to fight [Aspinall]. There's always going to be one more guy for you to beat. Doesn't matter who it is. It's always going to happen."

Check out the full episode featuring Josh Thomson's comments regarding Islam Makhachev and Jon Jones [11:58] below:

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Josh Thomson says Jack Della Maddalena is a dangerous opponent for Islam Makhachev

Former UFC competitor Josh Thomson also said that Jack Della Maddalena is a dangerous opponent for Islam Makhachev and showed what he's capable of against the Dagestani's friend Belal Muhammad.

In the aforementioned episode, Thomson dismissed the idea that Makhachev sought out the easier matchup against Della Maddalena and highlighted areas in which the Dagestani can utilize his wrestling:

"This is a very dangerous fight for Islam... Belal didn't have success getting the takedowns and controlling the takedowns. Now, different styles of takedowns for this fight, completely different styles. Now, Islam will be able to get to the legs a little bit more I think in this fight, but he'll hit a lot more single legs, snap downs, dumps, lift a little bit, those kind of things." [12:30]

Check out Dana White's announcement regarding Islam Makhachev's welterweight move below: