After Beniel Dariush has pulled out of his match against Islam Makhachev scheduled at UFC Vegas 49, Islam has issued his statement over it.
Amid an ankle injury, Beniel Dariush was forced to opt-out of the fight. Consequently, UFC asked Bobby Green to take his place at UFC Fight Night 201. To which, Bobby gave a “green” signal. So, Green is now scheduled to face the Dagestani fighter at the main event of the event.
But, many fight fans weren’t happy with Dariush’s decision. Following this, they started badmouthing against the fighter over social media and the internet.
Nevertheless, Islam dealt with the issue quite differently and to be specific in a more mature way. Makhachev posted a picture of him against Bobby Green on the photo-sharing platform Instagram where he captioned:
“Different opponent, same goal. Also, I just wanna wish Beneil a speedy recovery and best of luck. I truly believe we will face each other in the future.”
View this post on Instagram
Islam wished Dariush a speedy recovery and asserts a potential fight between them in the future. It seems like, for Islam, nothing has changed. As his goal is having that belt around his waist, it doesn’t matter who he has to defeat in order to achieve that. However, will Beneil’s withdrawal prolong Islam’s hunt for the belt?
What’s next for Islam Makhachev if he beats Bobby Green at UFC Vegas 49?
While the title shot was sort of assured for the winner between Makhachev and Dariush, now it seems uncertain.
Even though Bobby Green is on a decent two-fight winning streak he is yet to make it into the top 15 as far as ranking is concerned. Hence, a win for Islam might not be as rewarding as it would have to be in the case of Beneil.
Nevertheless, the only thing that Makhachev can do now is going out and beat Green dominantly. Because, if he finishes Green in the first round then that will send a statement to the whole MMA community.
However, this won’t be enough to get the title shot and he has to wait for the fight between Oliveira vs Gaethje and see how it goes. If Gaethje manages to win, Makhachev has to face Oliveira or wait for their rematch.