Islam Makhachev issues statement after being forced out of fight with Rafael dos Anjos

UFC lightweight Islam Makhachev has released a statement after being forced out of his proposed main event against Rafael dos Anjos.

After their bout at UFC 254 was called off due to dos Anjos testing positive for COVID-19, the two men were paired together in the main event of UFC Vegas 14. That fight was set to take place this Saturday night at the UFC APEX but now, Makhachev will have to once again wait for a new date – and potentially a new opponent – as he continues his road to recovery.

During a post on Instagram, Makhachev went into more detail about the issue at hand.

View this post on Instagram

Успокаивает только одно, что от предписанного нам никуда не деться ☝️ ⠀ Много сил и времени потрачено были к этому бою, находился на пике формы но как только начал сбрасывать вес и иммунитет начал слабеть я подхватил инфекцию которая выведет меня из строя минимум на месяц в этом лагере наша команда уже не раз сталкивалась с этой инфекцией и многим пришлось отменить свои бои. Этот год был тяжелым для моей карьеры очень много боев отменилось но обещаю вам я буду идти до конца к этому поясу чего бы мне это не стоило Inshaalah

A post shared by Islam_Makhachev (@islam_makhachev) on Nov 8, 2020 at 6:36pm PST

“The only thing that calms down is that we cannot get away from what has been prescribed,” Makhachev wrote. “A lot of time and effort was spent on this fight, I was in peak shape, but as soon as I started to lose weight and the immune system began to weaken, I caught an infection that would incapacitate me for at least a month in this camp, our team had already encountered this infection more than once and many had to cancel your fights. This year was difficult for my career, a lot of fights were canceled but I promise you I will go all the way to this belt no matter what it takes”.

The 29-year-old Makhachev hasn’t fought since his unanimous decision win over Davi Ramos at UFC 242 last September, but with an 18-1 record to his name, it’ll be hard for the promotion to deny him a shot at someone in the top 15 once he is finally able to return to the Octagon.

What do you think is next for Islam Makhachev?