Makhachev grew up poor in a remote Dagestani village with his older brother Kurban. Both wanted to fight. The family could only afford to send one boy to Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, the sambo and judo coach already shaping his son Khabib. Kurban stepped aside and took two jobs to fund Islam’s training, a sacrifice detailed in a Washington Post feature republished by DNYUZ in November 2025. Makhachev turned pro in the mid-2000s and joined the UFC in 2014. After Abdulmanap’s death in 2020 and Khabib’s retirement at 29-0, the torch passed exactly the way the elder Nurmagomedov had called it: Makhachev claimed the vacant lightweight title in October 2022.
Stylistically, he’s the purest expression of the Dagestani system. Chain wrestling, suffocating top control, relentless pressure on the back and the neck. His significant strike accuracy sits at 71.55%, a number that says less about his hands in space than about how often he’s hitting people from mount. Takedown defense and ground IQ are his floor. The standup, sharpened over years with Khabib in his corner, is a ceiling that keeps moving. Of his 28 wins, 13 come by submission and only five by knockout — but the head-kick finish of Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 294 made it clear the striking is no longer a hidden weapon.
The career-defining run is dense. He took the vacant lightweight belt by submitting Charles Oliveira at UFC 280 in October 2022. He outpointed Volkanovski over five rounds at UFC 284, then knocked him out in the first at UFC 294. He submitted Dustin Poirier in round five at UFC 302, then choked out Renato Moicano in under five minutes at UFC 311. Per UFC.com, that gave him five title-fight wins and four straight successful defenses — both lightweight records, ahead of Khabib’s own marks. In November 2025, moving up a division, he took a unanimous decision from Della Maddalena to add welterweight gold.
Makhachev now holds the UFC welterweight title and sits near the top of every pound-for-pound list. He vacated the lightweight belt this summer, telling UFC.com he had “done all my job” at 155 pounds. The questions now are who challenges him first at 170, and whether he goes for the rare two-belt run. After a decade framed as Khabib’s understudy, the résumé stands on its own.