The 5 Best Opponents for Islam Makhachev After UFC 284 Win

From the moment it was announced as the main event for Saturday's UFC 284 event in Perth, Australia, Alexander Volkanovski and Islam Makhachev's champion-versus-champion clash stood out as the biggest fight on the UFC's calendar.

To say it lived up to the gargantuan prefight expectations would be an understatement.

There were a million ways this fight could have gone, but in the end, what we got was a wild, five-round scrap that saw both men have success on their feet and the mat.

In the end, the featherweight champion Volkanovski failed to take the lightweight belt from Makhachev, losing in a unanimous decision. However, it was close enough that a win for either man would have been justifiable and that neither man would lose any ground in defeat.

Now that it's done, of course, it's time to begin weighing the options for the two pound-for-pound stars—and there is certainly no shortage of choices for either of them.

First up, we'll take a look at the possibilities for Makhachev, who will fly home to Dagestan with the lightweight belt still in his luggage and the respect of the entire combat sports community.

Makhachev and Volkanovski's fight was both competitive and exciting enough that a rematch is an obvious choice.

Both men had their moments in the fight, hurting each other on the feet and threatening each other on the mat, and it was a thrill for the crowd in Perth and everybody that tuned in on screens across the world.

Of course, the problem with a potential rematch between the two pound-for-pound stars is that there is a growing queue of contenders at both lightweight and featherweight. The latter division even has an interim champion now after Yair Rodriguez defeated Josh Emmett in the UFC 284 co-main event.

So perhaps, as tempting as it may be, it's better to wait on the do-over. Neither of these guys is going anywhere.

You'd be hard-pressed to find anybody who didn't love the idea of Saturday night's Makhachev vs. Volkanovski fight. Champion-versus-champion fights are always a big deal, and this one felt particularly special given the pound-for-pound stature of the two men.

The one drawback of the matchup was that it meant Beneil Dariush, who has long been worthy of a lightweight title shot, had to wait until Volkanovski got his crack at Makhachev.

Now that Makhachev and Volkanovski's business is settled, it's high time that Dariush gets his opportunity.

The Assyrian-American has won eight consecutive fights, including decision wins over former UFC interim lightweight champ Tony Ferguson and former KSW champ Mateusz Gamrot.

However, Dariush has reportedly been booked for a fight with former champion Charles Oliveira at UFC 288 on May 6, per an interview of Oliveria's manager and coach, Diego Lima, by Álvaro Colmenero of KO Imenero. That could temporarily derail his title dreams, but should that fight happen and he gets by the Brazilian, the next lightweight title shot is irrefutably his.

The No. 4-ranked contender would be a big underdog against Makhachev—that goes for just about everybody at this point—but nobody is more deserving of the opportunity to try to spring the upset.

While Dariush should clearly be the next man up for Makhachev and the lightweight belt, circumstances may again deprive him of the opportunity. It would be disappointing, but all it would take is his losing to Oliveira or suffering an injury in the training room.

The good news is that, in such an event, Makhachev has plenty of other options in terms of contenders.

Chief among them is former interim lightweight king Dustin Poirier.

Poirier has fought twice for the lightweight title and lost by submission both times—first against Makhachev's mentor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, then against Oliveira.

That makes him a bit of a tough sell for another title shot. However, he is riding an impressive submission win over Michael Chandler and remains one of the lightweight division's greatest fighters, so it wouldn't be a travesty.

Poirier is never in a boring fight, so we can count on this one being exciting for as long as it lasts. He's also arguably the hardest puncher in the division and very well-rounded, which makes him a credible foe for anybody—including the king.

At this point, Justin Gaethje is in a very similar boat to Poirier. The former interim lightweight champ remains one of the division's best fighters, but after losing title fights with Nurmagomedov and Oliveira, he doesn't exactly scream title shot.

That could change if he gets by once-beaten Azerbaijani knockout artist Rafael Fiziev, who he will meet in a fan-friendly showdown at UFC 286 on March 18.

The same will be true for Fiziev—arguably even truer.

While the striking specialist doesn't have as many marquee wins as Gaethje, he is on one heck of a hot streak, which includes recent wins over Rafael dos Anjos and Brad Riddell—both excellent fighters. That streak has earned him the No. 6 spot in the lightweight rankings, and a win over the No. 3-ranked Gaethje would send him rocketing up the list.

Again, the opportunity should probably be offered to Dariush first, but if he isn't ready, the Gaethje-Fiziev winner will make a great consolation prize.

I can already hear the groans, but hear me out.

I know Conor McGregor hasn't won a fight since he defeated a shopworn Donald Cerrone in 2020. I know the Irishman has to reenter the USADA testing pool before he can fight again. I know he's slated to coach The Ultimate Fighter against Michael Chandler in the coming months and that he's expected to fight the American thereafter.

However, he remains the biggest star in the UFC, and as anybody who has been following the sport for more than a few years knows, he has a heated rivalry with Makhachev's team.

McGregor challenged Khabib Nurmagomedov—Makhachev's friend and mentor—for the lightweight belt in 2018. He lost the fight by submission, and though he took a round from the Russian, it wasn't a close fight.

Yet UFC 229—the card that the fight headlined—remains the biggest pay-per-view in UFC history by a massive margin. It generated boatloads of money. In McGregor's case, yacht-loads.

A fight with Makhachev wouldn't do quite the same numbers, but McGregor's history with the Russian's team guarantees it would be a financial home run for everybody involved.

And if he beats Chandler later this year, the fight will suddenly be much more credible. Not as credible as a Makhachev vs. Dariush or Makhachev vs. Fiziev fight, but at least somewhat credible.