Makhachev has been nearly perfect in the Octagon, winning 15 of his 16 UFC fights. His lone loss was against Adriano Martins at UFC 192 in October 2015. Most recently, Makhachev beat Dustin Poirier by fifth-round submission to retain the belt at UFC 302 last June. Moicano took the fight on late notice, after Arman Tsarukyan withdrew due to injury.

Standing in Makhachev’s way of winning a second UFC title is welterweight champion Belal Muhammad, who has trained with Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov’s team on numerous occasions. So how far away is Makhachev from his pursuit? The lightweight champion isn’t sure, but knows it’s something he needs to achieve in his career.