Islam Makhachev’s criticisms of UFC’s promotion effort for UFC 284 does not hold up, according to UFC President Dana White. The lightweight belt he won last October at UFC 280 will be defended for the first time this Saturday when he faces UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski.
Makhachev is days away from the biggest fight of his career and feels he and Volkanovski should’ve been allowed to have a global media tour leading up to the bout that could settle the pound-for-pound argument.
The UFC 284 event is expected to rival Conor McGregor’s pay-per-view record this weekend. After hearing Makhachev’s comments, White responded.
Dana White responded to Islam Makhachev’s recent comments about the marketing for #UFC284
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— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) February 8, 2023
“Yeah, that’s not true,” White replied. “First of all, I’ve talked to Islam. First of all, who interviewed him? Who translated for him? I mean, the guy speaks Russian. Taken out of context.
“First of all, he lives in Dagestan. What does he know about what’s going on for the promotion of the fight? He doesn’t know anything,” White continued on Makhachev. “It’s going to be one of the top-five biggest fights of all time. First of all, the event sold out. Right? You couldn’t get a ticket if you wanted to get a ticket in Perth.
“And this thing is trending right now to be the biggest pay-per-view event in Australia, which, it’s like six percent behind Conor McGregor [vs. Dustin] Poirier 3 fight. It’s probably going to break the record. So to say that the fight hasn’t been [promoted], that’s just ridiculous. That’s what you call some internet B.S.”