Islam Makhachev's manager seemingly confirms Jack Della Maddalena title showdown, shares potential timeline

It appears Islam Makhachev is set to face Jack Della Maddalena in a welterweight title fight next. Makhachev's manager, Ali Abdelaziz, recently shared some updates on the former UFC lightweight champion's next title challenge and outlined a potential timeline for the showdown.

Soon after Della Maddalena defeated Belal Muhammad at UFC 315 in May to become the welterweight champion, Makhachev announced his intentions to move up a weight class and vacated the lightweight throne. Ilia Topuria later claimed the lightweight title after an incredible first-round KO victory over Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 in June.

While there's no official confirmation from the UFC, it appears Makhachev is gearing for an end-of-the-year title showdown against Della Maddalena. In an interview with Submission Radio, Abdelaziz addressed the situation and said:

"Listen, at the end of the day, the fight is done, but I am always respectful to the promotion. It's their job; they didn’t announce the fight. At the end of the year, Australia is gonna have no champion. I think Volk [Alexander Volkanovski] would remain the champion. I think Maddalena will lose... He is gonna be a very tough fight for Islam, but I believe Islam has all the tools to compete with him."

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Islam Makhachev addresses welterweight move ahead of potential Jack Della Maddalena fight

Earlier this year, Islam Makhachev opened up about his move to welterweight and admitted that he wasn't expecting things to be easy for him. The former lightweight champion outlined some of his struggles with his weight.

In an interview with MMA Junkie, Makhachev detailed how difficult it was to put on muscle after getting used to cutting weight for all these years and said:

"I will try to be big. It's not easy, man. All my life, I cut weight, but now when I want to be big, my weight stays in the same position. I try to lift more, we [did] some programs, and slowly, slowly we [gained] two [kilograms] right now. It's very hard. But I don't want to be big [because of] food, eating, and not training. I want to be [big] with muscles, I want to train, do the right lifting program, and [gain] some muscles."

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Edited by Nishant Zende.