Islam Makhachev reacts to Rafael dos Anjos’ win over Paul Felder: “Let’s finish our business in nearest future”

UFC lightweight Islam Makhachev reacted to Rafael dos Anjos’ win over Paul Felder, by saying “Let’s finish our business in nearest future.”

Makhachev was set to take on dos Anjos at UFC 254 in October, but RDA was forced to withdraw from the bout due to testing positive for COVID-19. The UFC then booked Makhachev and RDA in their own headliner on the UFC Vegas 14 card two weeks later, but Makhachev was forced out of the fight due to health issues. In turn, Paul Felder stepped in on five days’ notice and saved the card. The rest, as they say, is history.

On Saturday, dos Anjos was able to work over Felder with his grappling and take home a split decision in a competitive battle between two studs at lightweight. Following the fight, Makhachev, RDA’s original opponent, took to his social media to congratulate his rival on a great promenade and suggest that the UFC runs this matchup back. Check out below the message that Makhachev sent to RDA on Twitter following his win over Felder.

https://twitter.com/makhachevmma/status/1327850027876839424

Great fight @RdosAnjosMMA congrats! Let’s finish our business in nearest future

It still makes sense to book this fight. Even though Felder was ranked No. 7 and RDA looks poised to steal his rankings when they are updated this week, RDA vs. Makhachev is still a tremendous fight that would allow the winner of the bout to continue forward in the top-10. If the UFC decided to run this back, there’s no problem with that.

RDA just snapped a two-fight losing skid with the win over Felder, while Makhachev has won six straight fights and deserves to fight someone as respected as RDA is next. At the same time, though, perhaps RDA would rather wait to see if someone from the top-five of the division such as Tony Ferguson or Justin Gaethje becomes available instead.

Do you want to see the UFC re-book Islam Makhachev vs. Paul Felder?