The man who manages Justin Gaethje, Islam Makhachev, and Beniel Dariush has some grand plans for his clients in 2022, and that includes two of the three facing off in the Octagon.
Gaethje (23-3), Makhachev (21-1), and Dariush (21-4-1) are ranked three, four, and five in the MixedMartialArts.com UFC lightweight rankings. All three have strong cases for consideration as the next challenger for the lightweight title, and oddly enough, all of them are represented by the same management agency.
Dominance MMA and its CEO Ali Abdelaziz will decide who faces the winner of the UFC 269 lightweight title fight between division king Charles Oliveira and Dustin Poirier. There is no doubt about that. However, what is unclear is who gets the championship nod first, and what happens with the other two contenders.
Dominance MMA has a grand plan for the Justin Gaethje, Islam Makhachev and Beniel Dariush’s next fights
Well, it seems Abdelaziz has that all figured out. And despite another client in retired former lightweight king Khabib Nurmagomedov pushing hard for his friend and protege Makhachev to get the title shot, Gaethje is being tabbed as first in line. And it seems his other two clients will put their winning streaks on the line against each other to decide the second man on the contender waiting list.
“Justin Gaethje is going to be next [for a title fight]. Probably, Beneil Dariush is going to fight Islam Makhachev,” Abdelaziz told TMZ Sports [h/t MMAJunkie]. Probably, you are going to see Beneil Dariush fight Islam Makhachev and Justin Gaethje is going to fight for the title probably in May.”
Gaethje returned to the winner’s circle for the first time in 18 months as part of a “fight of the year” candidate bout against Michael Chandler at UFC 268 two weeks ago. He has lost just twice in his last five fights, with those setbacks coming against division GOAT Nurmagomedov, and current #1 contender Poirier.
Makhachev is in the midst of a nine-fight win streak and has not tasted defeat in over five years. He capped off his recent run of Octagon dominance last month at UFC 267 with a first-round submission victory over top-15talent Dan Hooker.
Lightweight veteran Dariush has quietly had a career renaissance and has an impressive seven-fight win streak to show for it. His most recent Octagon appearance came in May at UFC 262, when he scored a dominant unanimous decision win over former division champion Tony Ferguson.
Do you agree with the Dominance MMA boss’s plans for his UFC lightweight contenders?
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