Last June, Islam Makhachev (26-1) defeated Dustin Poirier (30-9-1) via D’arce choke in round 5 to retain the UFC Lightweight Championship at UFC 302. Makhachev, the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter, is reportedly set to return to the octagon against Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 308 in October. However, the fight may be postponed due to Makhachev’s injury.
In an interview with Ushatayka, Islam Makhachev said that he sustained a hand injury after the Lightweight Title fight against Poirier. Makhachev added that he will have to undergo surgery if the partial ligament tear does not heal.
“After the [UFC 302] fight, my fist hurt a lot; a lot of things hurt. We’ll take time; everything is healing little by little. But my hand continues to bother me. An MRI recently confirmed that I have a partial ligament tear. Let’s see if I can recover. If not, I may even have to have surgery.”
UFC Lightweight Champion also said that he hadn’t discussed UFC 308 fight yet.
“Well, it is questionable [if I will fight at UFC 308]. We haven’t talked about the fight yet. I am doing rehabilitation every day now, and we’ll see how the hand goes. I really want to perform before the end of the year. I plan to, too. So far, I haven’t even thought about not performing. But I want to come in shape, prepared, so that nothing bothers me. Before the last fight, there were also a lot of minor injuries; everything accumulated. And I want to give my body time to recover.”