Wrestle World - Javier Mendez has surprise pick for UFC champion Islam Makhachev's toughest fight

Many people might disagree with Javier Mendez’s pick for UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev’s toughest fight.

Makhachev (26-1 MMA, 15-1 UFC) has been dominant for the most part, but a few fighters have given him competitive fights during his career. Outside of his knockout loss to Adriano Martins in 2015, Makhachev has never lost.

Arman Tsarukyan impressed in his short-notice UFC debut against Makhachev in April 2019, and Alexander Volkanovski pushed Makhachev to the brink in their title fight at UFC 284.

But neither were Mendez’s pick. Instead, Mendez pointed to Makhachev’s most recent title defense – a fifth-round submission of Dustin Poirier at UFC 302.

“Dustin was the biggest challenge,” Mendez told Submission Radio. “Dustin brought it, man. That was a Dustin I’d never seen before. That was an unbelievable Dustin so, for me, it’s Dustin. I don’t know about Arman because it hasn’t happened yet. But right at this particular juncture, it’s Dustin. Dustin was the biggest challenge.”

Makhachev rematches Tsarukyan (22-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) on Saturday in the UFC 311 main event from Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. The fight streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNews and ESPN+.

Mendez’s thoughts on Khabib coaching at UFC 311

Mendez and Khabib Nurmagomedov will be cornering three fighters on the night: Tagir Ulanbekov, who opens up the card against Clayton Carpenter; Umar Nurmagomedov, who challenges bantamweight champ Merab Dvalishvili in the co-main event; and Makhachev in the main event.

“In the past, I’ve tried to calm Khabib down, but it doesn’t work,” Mendez said. “I’m not going to try at all. I’m just going to be me. I’m going to take care of myself and make sure I’m there to give my fighters the advice they need. I’ll just stay calm. If Khabib is going to be a ball of nerves everywhere, let him. That’s who he is, so I’m going to leave him alone. Whatever we do, we are going to make it right.

“So, if we need to be there walking out with both fighters, then that’s what we will do. If we need to stay in the corner while Islam comes to us after Umar’s fight’s done, then that’s what we’ll do. We’ll handle it. We’ve been in this situation many times, but we’ve never been in the situation where it’s a champion fight followed by a champion fight. Never been in that situation with one team, but we’ve been in the situation where it’s co-main event and then main event.”