Randy Brown says Islam Makhachev 'doesn't fight a lot' and should fight more
The UFC welterweight, who fights at UFC Vegas 123 on Saturday, named Anderson Silva, Israel Adesanya and Kamaru Usman as the 'real active champions'.
Randy Brown has said Islam Makhachev should fight more often, after the UFC put an interim welterweight title on the line at UFC 336.
Brown was asked by MMA Junkie at a UFC media event ahead of UFC Vegas 123 where he stood on Makhachev not fighting. He said: “I mean, he doesn't fight a lot. He doesn't fight a lot. I think he should fight more.”
He pointed to former champions he saw as the example to follow. He said: “You look at the real active champions, if you, you know, you want to be the greatest, right? You got to look at the guys like Anderson Silva, the guys like Israel Adesanya, those guys were really active. Usman, Usman is really active, right?”
Brown said he understood that some fighters want to be strategic, but said: “In this game, I think you need to fight as much as possible.” He added: “If you're better than everyone, you're only gonna be better than everyone for so long. Go out there and fight everybody...”
Makhachev turned down a title defence against Carlos Prates at UFC 336, and Prates will now face Michael Morales for the interim welterweight title on that card instead. Makhachev has said he rejected the fight because Prates had recently lost to Ian Machado Garry, a fighter he has already beaten. Former UFC welterweight Matt Brown has taken the opposite view, saying Makhachev has earned the right to pick when he fights.
Randy Brown, 20-8, fights on the UFC Fight Night at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas on 31 October, where Jacobe Smith is reportedly replacing the injured Carlos Leal as his opponent. Brown has lost his last two fights, to Gabriel Bonfim and Kevin Holland.
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