UFC lightweight Islam Makhachev was completely amazed by Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema’s heroic performance

Karim Benzema scripted one of the most momentous and mettlesome performances of modern-day football last night. He single-handedly carried Real Madrid to victory against the star-studded PSG squad, scripting an epic comeback.

Real Madrid were 2-0 behind going into the second half of the second leg. Benzema produced a performance that was one for the history books, and the world took notice.

The veteran Frenchman scored thrice in the second half alone to punish a hapless and listless Paris Saint-Germain.

Longtime fan of Real Madrid, UFC lightweight title contender Islam Makhachev praised Karim Benzema on his Instagram stories. Khabib and Islam both have been fans of the club since childhood, and have visited the Bernabeu before.

Islam Makhachev denies claims that he asked for a million dollars to step in as last minute replacement to fight Rafael Dos Anjos

Dana White sat down with Barstool Sports ahead of UFC 272, and spoke about the co-main event being in jeopardy. Renato Moicano stepped in last minute to save the co-main event after Rafael Fiziev was forced to pull out of the fight. White even said later that Makhchev made some bold stipulations in terms of money for his fight, and he will not receive an immediate title shot henceforth.

Makhachev sat down with ESPN MMA to discuss this issue in length and said,

“I don’t want to talk about this, very small. Nothing big,” Makhachev said of his requests to fill in. “Not million dollars, 100 percent not million dollars.”

“Dana [White] said I turned down this fight but Monday morning when I wake up, I just saw some news like Fiziev had COVID, the fight is canceled and I’d been in California on vacation and I wake up and call my manager,” he added. “‘Hey, Ali [Abdelaziz]. I saw some news. Please call UFC and say I’m ready for take this fight.’ I asked about some conditions but very small conditions, nothing big that wasn’t possible to do. UFC [didn’t] call me, not Ali call me, I wake up and I call Ali and I tell him talk with UFC please, I want this fight. But UFC not do it. That’s why the fight didn’t happen and that’s it.”

Despite an impressive 10 fight win streak, Islam might have to go through Dariush to claim his title shot, and this does not sit well with him. He added,“…Now Dana says, ‘Islam has to fight vs. Dariush.’ I have no problem fighting him,” Makhachev revealed. “But who has to fight for the title next? I don’t know. [Dustin] Poirier? He lost many times. [Michael] Chandler lost. [Dan] Hooker, Tony Ferguson, everybody—RDA has four fights, just two wins. [Gregor] Gillespie has fought one time in three years. Who has to fight for the title? I don’t know.”

More MMA news

• Conor McGregor calls Khabib Nurmagomedov “homophobic” in crazy deleted rant
• Kamaru Usman open to Middleweight move after UFC 261 but on one condition
• Jiri Prochazka says Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor and others inspired him

Follow our dedicated MMA page for instant MMA news and updates