Islam Makhachev threw in the towel for his teammate at PFL Tampa
Just a week after UFC 330, Islam Makhachev made the trip to PFL Tampa to corner a training partner of his, but the fight ended in disappointment.
Islam Makhachev made an appearance at PFL Tampa in support of his training partner Magomed Magomedov, who faced Daniel Marcos at bantamweight in the second-last fight of the preliminary card. Unfortunately, the matchup ended in disaster, forcing Makhachev to throw in the towel to spare Magomedov from unnecessary damage.
Islam Makhachev called for a corner stoppage
Magomed Magomedov had a tall order in front of him at PFL Tampa. He was booked to fight ex-UFC bantamweight Daniel Marcos, who entered the bout with an impressive 18-1 (1) record. However, in what must have been a frustrating and excruciating twist, Magomedov dislocated his shoulder in round two. In the corner before round three, Islam Makhachev did his best to pop his training partner's shoulder back into place, but found himself unable to do so. Despite Magomedov's willingness to continue fighting, Makhachev wasted no time in throwing in the towel after Magomedov ended up pressed against the fence in the clinch in the round's opening seconds.
In the end, Magomedov lost via corner stoppage, and has, once again, failed to put together a win streak, which would have been his first since 2021, as he is 4-5 in his last 9 fights, with every win followed by a loss. While things didn't work out for Makhachev on the cornering end, he is coming off one of the most definitive wins of his own MMA career. At UFC 330, he successfully defended his welterweight title against Ian Machado Garry, defeating him via unanimous decision in a trickier bout than many had expected. The win extended his current run to 17 consecutive wins, surpassing the great Anderson Silva's 16-fight win streak, which was the longest in UFC history until Makhachev worked his magic. The win also led to many hailing Makhachev as the greatest fighter of all time, much to the displeasure of another GOAT claimant in Jon Jones.
Regardless, he will continue aiming higher in the sport, and is expected to face welterweight knockout artist Carlos Prates in his next title defense. That, though, will likely take place next year, but before Ramadan based on Makhachev's own words.
