Makhachev Suspiciously Back In Training Ahead Of Schedule Following Ongoing Hand Injury

UFC Welterweight champion Islam Makhachev’s recent training video is going viral as the hand injury that apparently kept him from a super fight with Ilia Topuria at the White House seems to be fine.

Despite claims from Makhachev that things hit a wall in financial negotiations, UFC CEO Dana White stated earlier this month that the reason for the bout’s omission from the card was that the Russian was dealing with an ongoing hand injury. Following the statement, it didn’t take long for Topuria to hop on social media and give Makhachev grief for ‘ducking’.

With the release of Makhachev’s recent training footage, many are now feeling that it is possible that the hand injury was not as bad as initially presented, or it wasn’t the sole reason for the bout not coming to fruition. It is also possible that the injury is healing faster than the 170-pound titleholder’s team thought it would in the first place, as these things are often hard to predict.

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