Morning Report: Coach likes Conor McGregor fight for Islam Makhachev: ‘I want to see him get beat by Islam’

Islam Makhachev is looking borderline unstoppable as the UFC lightweight champion.

UFC 302 was another successful night at the office for Makhachev. In hot pursuit of history, the champion tied the record for divisional title defenses at three when he scored a fifth-round d’arce choke over Dustin Poirier. Despite his consistent dominance, Makhachev has also been sneakily entertaining on his ascent to MMA supremacy, earning him a Performance and Fight of the Night bonus.

The jury remains out on whether or not Poirier’s career continues after the loss, but what’s next for Makhachev will likely be Poirier’s American Top Team (ATT) teammate, Arman Tsarukyan. UFC CEO Dana White indicated that the Tsarukyan rematch was the fight to make for the next UFC lightweight title bid. However, Makhachev’s longtime coach Javier Mendez likes the idea of a Conor McGregor matchup after the Irishman berated Makhachev last week for having a staph infection.

“Conor starts and goes on a rant, starting to create drama with Islam,” Mendez told Red Corner MMA of the staph infection speculation. “Which is kind of good because Conor’s the kind of guy you want to root against or root for. Regardless, everybody wants to see him. Me, I want to see him get beat by Islam. So, for me, him doing what he’s doing is causing a lot of attention so there wouldn’t be nothing better for me and Khabib [Nurmagomedov] than to have Islam have a fight with him somewhere down the line.

“He (McGregor) brought that staph up, which is very observant on his part, to be honest with you. The only thing is that like he observed it way too late. At the time he mentioned it, it was already three weeks past.”

Makhachev confirmed the speculation after his Poirier victory. Ultimately, it had no noticeable hindrance to his performance. Meanwhile, McGregor is in training camp for his return fight against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 on June 29.

Coincidentally, Poirier was also the last opponent of McGregor’s when the pair fought in July 2021, resulting in a TKO loss and a broken leg for the latter. The win led Poirier to his second career shot at gold later that year when he came up short via a third-round rear-naked choke against Charles Oliveira.

Poirier treated the Makhachev opportunity as his last chance and it showed. “The Diamond” cut Makhachev in the bout and thwarted off more takedowns than most surely expected. Even Mendez was impressed by the challenger.

“It was one of those rollercoasters, you know?” Mendez said. “The first round went perfect. Exactly like we worked on. Everything Islam did was exactly what we worked on. Khabib and I gave him the gameplan and he followed it to a T in the very first round.

“I was definitely 100 percent impressed with Dustin and how well prepared he came to defend the takedowns because that’s exactly what he did. After the first round, it was completely dominant for us. The second round Dustin adjusted and we were having a little tougher time looking to take him down. So, it was one of those situations where we have to readjust and as a matter of fact, that was one of the closest rounds and if it didn’t go our way that round, I can understand why. It was a very close round.”

Bizarre. Dana White rejects Islam Makhachev as No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter after UFC 302, Jon Jones responds

Redo. Frustrated Paulo Costa vows to bring back old style after UFC 302 loss: ‘F*ck points or conserving energy’

Onward. Dustin Poirier explains what went wrong against Islam Makhachev and where he goes from here

Fantasy. Alexander Volkanovski calls for ‘massive fight’ with Dustin Poirier after UFC 302

Goal. Islam Makhachev shrugs off UFC 302 title defense record: ‘If you want a great legacy, you have to get second belt’

Patience. Sean Strickland vows to wait ‘as long as it takes’ for title shot after UFC 302, slams inactive fighters

Critique. Dana White rips judge scoring fight for Paulo Costa at UFC 302: ‘It was f*cking nuts’

Reaction. Khabib Nurmagomedov: Islam Makhachev ‘grew a lot’ in UFC 302 win over Dustin Poirier

Next. Jailton Almeida explains UFC Paris callout, predicts finish of Ciryl Gane

War. ‘That hurt’: Pros react to Dustin Poirier losing to Islam Makhachev in grueling UFC 302 war

Submission. Kevin Holland ‘heard the pop’ during nasty arm break on Michal Oleksiejczuk at UFC 302

$$$. UFC 302 bonuses: Islam Makhachev doubles up for extra $100K

UFC 302 Post Show.

On To the Next One.

UFC 302 Post-Fight Presser.

Glove reactions.

Paddy The Daddy.

Typhoon surfing.

Wrestle-up from S-guard.

Go to Twitter, use the #MorningReport hashtag, or find one of my tweets with it, and drop me a jam you’re currently really into. I’ll pick the best one alongside my daily choice and give you a shoutout! You can also share in the comments below — those are just harder to sift through sometimes!

Upset.

Rack ‘em up, Shlemy.

Shlap.

On weigh-in day.

Huntsman.

Callout.

Afterward.

“Best fight of the night”

Lol.

Sauce boss.

Pain.

Paulo.

The dastardly duo is back.

Ikram Aliskerov (15-1) vs. Antonio Trócoli (12-3); UFC Vegas 93, June 15

Santiago Ponzinibbio (29-7) vs. Muslim Salikhov (19-5); UFC Denver, July 13

Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady (15-4) vs. Guram Kutateladze (12-4); UFC Abu Dhabi, Aug. 3

Understandable from Javier, but not logical.

Thanks for reading!

Last Week’s Results:

Friday: 47% of 391 total votes answered “1” when asked, “If he beats Paulo Costa at UFC 302, how many more wins will Sean Strickland need to get back to a title fight?” Strickland defeated Costa via split decision in UFC 302’s co-main event.

Thursday: 43% of 402 total votes answered “No” when asked, “Are you excited to see Nick Diaz fight again?”

Wednesday: 50% of 428 total votes answered “They should allow them for everyone” when asked, “Should the UFC continue to do custom shorts for title fights?”

Tuesday: 54% of 535 total votes answered “Only if he loses” when asked, “Will Dustin Poirier retire at UFC 302?”

Monday: 40% of 481 total votes answered “Islam Makhachev and Sean Strickland” when asked, “Who wins this weekend?” Strickland defeated Costa via split decision in UFC 302’s co-main event and Makhachev defeated Poirier via fifth-round brabo choke at 2:42 in UFC 302’s main event.

Today’s exit poll:

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