UFC legends react after Islam Makhachev tells them to change ‘Pound for Pound’ podcast name

With UFC 311: Makhachev vs Tsarukyan coming up and over the immediate horizon, the lightweight champion has been on a whistle-stop press tour of late.

Yet Islam Makhachev isn’t just UFC lightweight champion, he’s also the reigning pound-for-pound king and in a recent viral clip, told two MMA legends that they needed to change their ‘Pound 4 Pound’ podcast name.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLCIslam Makhachev says UFC legends need his ‘permission’ over podcastHenry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman represent two of the greatest champions in UFC history, with both athletes having formerly laid claim to the pound-for-pound moniker, ergo; their podcast is understandably named ‘Pound 4 Pound’.

However, with Islam Makhachev now reigning as the dominant pound-for-pound king, the 155lb champion hilariously laid into both ‘Triple C’ and ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ during a fascinating conversation with Demetrious Johnson.

“Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman, they call their podcast ‘Pound for Pound’. We do not agree with this. You don’t have our guys’ permission. You have to call us, [and] we give you permission.”

The consensus flyweight GOAT giggled as he argued that ‘pound-for-pound’ was “copyrighted” courtesy of Makhachev and Johnson, circa 2024.

Thankfully, Makhachev offered an alternative: “Maybe we forgive them if they put our podcast on their channel… We have the same manager, call Ali [Abdelaziz] and we have to discuss this.”

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Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman react to Makhachev’s teaseIt didn’t take long for that clip to reach Cejudo and Usman, with the pair of UFC legends taking the opportunity to clap for and then clap back at Makhachev during their most recent podcast episode.

Usman couldn’t believe what he was hearing, “Islam, why do me like that?!” laughed the former welterweight champion.

“Ey, listen, it is what it is – Islam is pound-for-pound king right now of course, he makes certain decisions about that.”

The former flyweight and bantamweight champion chuckled as he teased Islam was ‘greedy’ since the Russian “wants all the pound-for-pound for himself, as he should.”

This was all in good jest, with Cejudo also acknowledging that it’s been fun watching Makhachev’s personality coming out more and more over recent years.

“The biggest thing is that Islam has come out of his shell; we all know that Khabib is very charismatic, and it feels like we’re getting a lot more of that now from Islam Makhachev.”

“But that being said, we are pound-4-pound, call it what you want [but] Kamaru Usman and Triple C have done some amazing things in combat sport, and nobody should be able to take that.”

UFC 311: Makhachev vs Tsarukyan goes down on January 18, with Henry Cejudo’s return to MMA action having also just been confirmed.

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