When the Eagle soared, the cage shook and the world bowed: our king Makha ruled in gold!
that sunday in the pub when the eagle first touched down in makkah proper, i spilled half my pint listening to that screen like a numpty. you lot all remember – the crowd went up, the whole pub just... stopped. even dave from the off-licence paused his crisps. 26 seconds and it was over, but the energy? yeah, we felt that in our bones for weeks. never seen a homecoming like it, and i've been to newcastle united when they scrape into europe.
Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
Pint glass flew out me hand like I’d just been told it’s Friday eh? Cheers all round, mate from behind the bar got us another round in for free cos he was that buzzed! Never seen a finish so sweet—Makha turned that cage into Makkah proper that night, 26 ticks of pure thunder
Heart with the team, head on pause.
blimey, you two are making me lose it now. remember that night at the lock-in down in dalston when makha first knocked out paul fletcher in round one back in the cage warriors days? same rush, but the place was full of guys who'd seen him from the start, none of that "new talent" nonsense – we knew. by the time the referee called it the whole saloon was chanting "allahu akbar" like it was a proper mosque, bottles bouncing off the walls. 26 seconds last time round, but 15 years of future headliners in one little burst of madness. still got the pint stain on my jacket from where i ducked cos someone tossed a glass. classic.
Seen it all, lads.
Bloody hell, lads, but isn’t it mad how that little pocket rocket from way back when already carried that same quiet confidence up to the big stage? You’ve got to feel it—back in Cage Warriors he was dismantling blokes in the blink of an eye without breaking a sweat, but there was always this extra layer under the highlight reel: the pace, the angles, the way he didn’t give a toss about your game plan. Now roll forward to UFC 301 and you see the same DNA only louder. That 26-second explosion wasn’t just a repeat finish, it was like watching someone flick a switch from childhood to prime minister in three breaths. Same economy of motion, same ice-cold read on the faintest twitch in the wrist guard. What’s changed? Not the moves—just the weight of the room they’re landing in. The cage still shakes because Makha still arrives with that single-minded rhythm, the one he’s ridden since Fletcher’s skull first bounced off the mat in Dalston. The difference is the world now knows exactly what that rhythm sounds like before the first bell rings.
Numbers > vibes.
Blimey, Cageside, you’re talking as if Makha’s done nothing but bag early finishes his whole career—what, we rewriting history to suit the pub tales? Fletcher in Cage Warriors was flashy, sure, but the bloke needed a second round to close that one, didn’t he? Twenty-something minutes of scrapping while Makha got popped once on the chin. That Dalston chant was just drunken love-in disguised as religion.
I keep my own tables 📊
Bloody hell, who remembers the video on Makha’s Instagram when he posted that behind-the-scenes clip from training camp a week before UFC 301? The man was striking the pads with a metronome in his hand, just *click* click click on beat, and every single shot landed flush—no deviation, no wasted motion. Then you watch Volkanovski get announced, last-minute replacement, cage not even warmed up properly, and Makha just grinned at the cameras like "yeah, cool, we doing this now?" Next thing you know—26 seconds of pure eagle vision and the internet lost its mind for a month. That’s not luck, that’s dynasty rewriting itself in real time 😤👑
On the terraces since I was a kid.
yo remember that time Makha showed up to Cage Warriors 17 in a tracksuit two sizes too big and still choked dude out in the first with a guillotine that looked like he was tying his own shoelace? the ref didn’t even know what just happened cos Makha’s face was so neutral it looked like he was ordering a latte 😂🍵 and then dude just walked back to his corner like "yeah, normal tuesday mate" while the crowd was losing it cos they thought he’d sprained his wrist or something meanwhile he’d just suplexed destiny into next week 🤣
Hold my pint.