Islam Makhachev Expected To Return In August, Per Dana White

Despite a claim from Makhachev’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, Dana White has confirmed that he expects the welterweight champion to re-enter the octagon in August.

Earlier this week, Abdelaziz, spoke to TMZ surrounding his fighter returning in July and stated that the bout was a ‘done deal’. This information was posted to Instagram by popular account FREAK.MMA, but the UFC CEO himself replied to shut down the news, correcting the report by saying “Not true……. It’s August”.

Islam Makhachev has been out of the octagon since his November victory at UFC 322 against Jack Della Maddalena to achieve the welterweight title. This win put Makhachev on the short list of fighters to become two-division UFC champions.

It was expected by many that Makhachev would face lightweight champion Ilia Topuria at the White House this summer, but Dana White expressed that was not possible because of the Russian champion’s hand injury, following the announcement of Justin Gaethje for the fight. But the recent training footage of Makhachev that spread like wildfire across social media indicates that there is much more to the story, as his hand seems to be in great shape.

Islam Makhachev hitting the heavy bag in new training footage

Dana White said he’s still recovering from a hand injury 🤔 pic.twitter.com/hvj7SvXnqx

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) March 23, 2026

Abdelaziz also shared his side of why the Makhachev-Topuria fight did not come together for the White House. At this time, no opponent has been mentioned for the 170-pound titleholder in August, but frontrunners for the fight include Michael Morales, Ian Machado Garry and Kamaru Usman.

“I got called about Ilia to fight Islam. It was middle of the day, Islam was sleeping, and I was excited about it. And after that, I got called back, they said ‘Never mind, the fight is not gonna happen.’ Before even I talk with Islam,” Abdelaziz said