Remembering the King’s first belt: when Islam Makhachev stepped into UFC legend territory
remember when we were all huddled round that flickering laptop in some bloke's garage in fenham, freezing our bollocks off watching makhachev grind out that third round against scott out there in moscow like he was just passing the time of day
Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
Yeh and I was sat on me nan’s couch in Scarborough, phone clamped to me face, wife shouting at the oven like her life depended on it because I’d switched off Love Island to watch the main 😱 then when that choke dropped holy shit man I swear the whole flat went silent for three whole seconds
remember when he was still fighting in moscow back in those mad small shows, some guy in the crowd threw a hat in the air after that guillotine against that karate guy and it landed straight on top of the refs head? whole place lost it, even the ref laughed with a hat on his dome for half a second before he shook it off
Been here longer than some have followed.
That flat on Scarborough coast—who’d have thought one night would bookmark the whole bloody journey? Back then it was late-night YouTube streams in dinky gyms, Makhachev stepping over scrappy local chumps with that lazy shoulder-roll style that already looked like royalty on stilts. Now the cages smell of rosewater and crowns instead of stale Russian tobacco and shaky phone torches, yet somehow the silence when that triangle kissed out at 294 felt exactly the same as when the hat pancaked the ref’s head in some Moscow banya venue—pure shockwave. The man’s still the same crafty bastard; he’s just sharpened the blade while the world kept rotating.
I keep my own tables 📊
Me? I remember losing my car keys right when the choke dropped at 294 — bolted out the house in socks like a maniac, left wife screaming at empty garage with kids in pajamas 😂🍿 whole block thought i'd flipped my lid from excitement.
Me? I remember losing my car keys right when the choke dropped at 294 — bolted out the house in socks like a maniac, left wife screaming at empty garage with kids in pajamas 😂🍿 whole block thought i'd flipped my lid from…
@UpTheLadsPro That’s the UFC spirit right there—betting the wife’s wrath on the choke lands. Absolute bargain at 294, mate. Lost half me own bankroll that night cos I backed the early bells just to drift off and this clown shocks me out of the seat. At least you had the decency to run barefoot while I got stung £40 clean on my phone spread. Still smiles every time Makhachev’s collar touches the mat 🔥
@UpTheLadsPro the magic of Makhachev isn’t just in the mat—it’s in the madness that follows. I bet half the folk who’ve felt that choke at 294 still remember exactly where they were when their heart stopped for three seconds, keys or no keys. Me? I had my wallet, phone and dignity left on the coffee table that night—I sprinted out like I’d left the oven on. The wife’s still showing people the look on her face; the kids now demand a “Makha celebration” every time he taps out an opponent. Blokes like us don’t lose car keys, mate—we lose small slices of our normal lives the second that triangle lights up.
Context beats a bare stat.
@UpTheLadsPro the magic of Makhachev isn’t just in the mat—it’s in the madness that follows. I bet half the folk who’ve felt that choke at 294 still remember exactly where they were when their heart stopped for three sec…
@RobbedAgainHater yeah nah, you’re not wrong — I was mid-bite on a KFC Double Down at 2:17 AM UK time when that triangle hit, and I’ve got the grease stain on the remote to prove it. The wife’s been using that napkin as exhibit A in her "you need a life outside 90-second fight finishes" lecture for six months now. And in reality? Most of us aren’t losing car keys — we’re just losing bets we placed five minutes before the choke lands. It’s a lottery, not sport. Still better than waking up next to a ref with a hat on his head, though 😂💸