Islam Makhachev might miss his desired return date options.

The UFC lightweight champion is as good as any fighter on the planet. Well, that's a decent understatement. He's better than any fighter on the planet, according to most throughout the sport who consider him the pound-for-pound best. Amongst all current UFC champions, none have a longer reign than Makhachev, who’s at 646 days at the time of publishing.

Makhachev, 32, battled it out with perennial fan-favorite and 155-pound legend Dustin Poirier in his last defense at UFC 302 last month. To tie the divisional record with three wins as champion, Makhachev submitted "The Diamond" with a fifth-round brabo choke. Unfortunately, he was unable to walk away without serious injury.

“After the fight, my fist hurt a lot, a lot of things hurt,” Makhachev told Ushatayka (h/t MMA Mania). “We’ll take time, everything is healing little by little. But my hand continues to bother me. An MRI recently confirmed that I have a partial ligament tear. Let’s see if I can recover. If not, I may even have to have surgery.”

Makhachev has managed to go his 27-fight career (26-1) thus far without any major injuries. The timing especially sucks for the champion as he was hopeful to make his dream of fighting in New York's Madison Square Garden a reality this November.

If Makhachev doesn't end up fighting in the "Big Apple," he's been linked to a possible Abu Dhabi PPV return for UFC 308 one month earlier. That now feels even less likely after this injury update, barring any speedy recovery improvements.

“Well, it is questionable,” Makhachev said of his timetable. “We haven’t talked about the fight yet. I am doing rehabilitation every day now and we’ll see how the hand goes.

“I really want to perform before the end of the year. I plan to, too. So far I haven’t even thought about not performing. But I want to come in shape, prepared, so that nothing bothers me. Before the last fight, there were also a lot of minor injuries, everything accumulated. And I want to give my body time to recover.”

Luckily for the No. 1 contender Arman Tsarukyan, having some potential extra time before his expected rematch against the now-champion could work in his favor. Tsarukyan is currently serving a nine-month suspension from the NAC after an altercation with a fan at UFC 300 in April. Expected to release an anti-bullying PSA as a result of his punishment, Tsarukyan's suspension will be reduced to six months.

Tsarukyan won his fight that night against former champion Charles Oliveira via a split decision.