The day the throne changed hands
There are reigns that assert themselves through pain, others through clamor. And then there are those that settle in as an obviousness, almost with that quiet confidence of those who already know they were made for it. Islam Makhachev’s coronation belongs to the latter category. A shift without cries, without overblown gestures, just the icy demonstration of a man who understands better than anyone what it means to dominate a cage.
When Islam Makhachev grabbed the lightweight belt, it was the culmination of a long, rough path, paved with inner certainties and outward skepticism. Some saw in him the shadow of a mentor. Others accused him of having been propelled too quickly. No one, however, was able to deny what happened the night he seized the throne.
🙏 2015: Islam Makhachev losses via KO and falls in a prayer as his first reaction.
🏆 2025: Becomes the UFC double champion at the MSG arena.
Legendary. pic.twitter.com/GALBibMZYb
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) November 16, 2025
The heavyweight disguised as a lightweight
Islam Makhachev fights with a scent of inevitability. A kind of gravity. A quiet strength that gives the impression that every sequence is a gear already assembled in his head. One can talk about Dagestani wrestling, one can debate his controls, his angles, his transitions that seem to come from a manual that only he has the right to open.
But what really strikes is that compressed power, that feeling that he carries within him the physical volume of a weight class above. When he clings, you get the impression the air tightens. When he places his hands, he imposes an almost conceptual heaviness. And when he smothers his opponents’ hopes, it is clinical, methodical, almost surgical.
The duel that crowned him
The fight that crowned him will remain like a clash between two geometries. Opposite, an established champion, a man who had dictated his tempo for years. In the cage, a calm, controlled Makhachev, focused to the point of lowering the crowd’s tension. And then that moment when everything flips, when the challenger imposes his logic, when his style engulfs his opponent’s like a slow, unstoppable tide. Total control. A finish that falls like a signature. Not the howl of a pretender, but the whisper of a man who already knew.
From skepticism to pure respect
Islam Makhachev’s coronation was also that of a media and popular shift. The guy who was sometimes reduced to a system, to a heritage, to a name, transformed into a force in his own right. A legitimate champion, established, respected. No longer just the product of a school, but one of its most brutal and refined holders. Doubt disappeared. Respect settled in. And behind it, a clear message sent to the whole division: if you want the belt, you’ll have to enter his world, accept his rules, survive his density.
A reign that looks like a lock
The lightweight throne will not be easy to take back. Islam Makhachev fights like a safety lock, like a metal hinge screwed against the frame. He closes everything, neutralizes everything, breaks the certainties of those who thought they had a plan.
And the more time passes, the more this reign resembles a massive block. A reign built not on flashy style, but on a mental and structural domination that makes opponents waver even before the first contact.
On the day of his crowning, Islam Makhachev didn’t just win a belt. He redefined the way it is defended.
And since then, everyone moves forward with the same question in mind: who will truly be able to dislodge him?
Photo credit : Photo by ISHIKA SAMANT / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP
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