A UFC legend announces the retirement date for Islam Makhachev, Topuria's "eternal" rival.

Former UFC lightweight (70.3 kg) champion Islam Makhachev has relinquished his belt to pursue a bigger opportunity: a fight for Australian champion Jack Della Maddalena's welterweight (77.1 kg) title. The fight, if negotiations go well, will take place in November of this year at Madison Square Garden in New York.

However, relinquishing his belt meant fans were left without the biggest fight currently on the cards : the clash between Makhachev himself and Ilia Topuria, who became the lightweight champion after knocking out Charles Oliveira in Las Vegas last June. Although the outcome of the welterweight fight between the Russian and the Australian remains to be seen, fans are holding out hope for the ultimate superfight between Topuria and Makhachev.

However, the latest statements from Khabib Nurmagomedov, former UFC champion and Makhachev's coach , have raised some alarm bells. In a video from Ushatayka, Khabib claims that the Russian has at most two years of competition left, something that coincides with what his other coach, Javier Méndez, has said, who said he would have a maximum of three more fights.

"In my honest opinion, Islam has maybe a year and a half or two left, because he'll be 34 in October. No one is going to be the same as you get older. When the time comes, they don't ask you what your name is anymore... When you turn 35, you have to leave it because you have to leave this sport for the young people," Khabib explained in an interview.

" When you turn 35 and you're not done, someone's going to finish you. Why? It's better to finish. After 35, you'll never be the same. People can say what they want, but when you're past your prime, you're only going to fight for money," declared The Russian Eagle. These words leave one conclusion: either the UFC rushes to finalize the Topuria-Makhachev fight, or we could be left without it.