Makhachev: "I was ready to fight in March"

UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev said he planned to fight in March.

The Dagestani will return to the octagon on June 1 in the main event of UFC 302 in Newark. Opposing him will be former interim belt holder American Dustin Puryear.

"After my previous fight in Abu Dhabi in October, I told the UFC that I would be ready to fight in March before Ramadan. And I was ready. However, no one was able to accept the fight. In the lightweight division, all the top fighters have already fought each other, I need a new challenge. I'm not underestimating Puryear. I need to finish him and then fight him again. I think Tsarukyan will be next. And then I want to win a second belt," Makhachev told the New York Post.