Islam Makhachev Challenges UFC History with 17-Fight Streak

Islam Makhachev isn’t backing down from history. He’s challenging it.

Fresh off defending his welterweight title against Ian Machado Garry at UFC 330 in August, Makhachev pushed his winning streak under the UFC banner to 17. That number matters. It nudged him past Anderson Silva, whose 16-fight run once felt untouchable, a gold standard for dominance that stood for more than a decade.

Now Makhachev stands alone at the top of that list. At least, officially.

But any conversation about the greatest UFC runs eventually runs into one name: Jon Jones. On paper, the former light heavyweight and heavyweight champion has gone 20 straight fights without a loss since December 2009. The lone interruption is that notorious no contest against Daniel Cormier at UFC 214 in 2017, a fight Jones initially won by knockout before the result was overturned after a failed drug test.

That’s where Makhachev draws a hard line.

“I’m not denying that Jon Jones is one of the greatest athletes in history,” Makhachev told Ushatayka in Russian. “But he was caught doping twice, and I think that’s why his streak isn’t considered valid.

“Because he went into a fight while on PEDs and won. That’s where a new count should have started.”

For Makhachev, the issue isn’t just numbers. It’s legitimacy. Jones’ resume, in his eyes, carries an asterisk that can’t be ignored when the sport starts tallying streaks and crowning the most dominant champion of all time.

The backlash will be immediate and predictable. Critics will point straight back at Makhachev’s own record and his failed anti-doping test in 2016. They’ll call the comments hypocritical, question his moral high ground, and drag the debate into familiar, messy territory.

But the UFC’s own anti-doping chief has already weighed in on that chapter. UFC senior vice president of anti-doping compliance Jeff Novitzky, speaking in May 2024 as he handed Makhachev a jacket recognizing 50 clean tests in the program, labeled that 2016 result “one of the greatest, colossal mistakes in anti-doping.”

Those are strong words from the man tasked with policing the system. They’ve helped reshape how many inside the sport view Makhachev’s record and his place in the conversation.

So the argument sharpens. On one side, Jones: 20 straight without a loss, but with a no contest born from a failed test sitting in the middle of his run. On the other, Makhachev: 17 consecutive wins officially recognized by the promotion, with the UFC’s anti-doping arm publicly defending his name after a past error.

This isn’t just about who has the better streak. It’s about what counts.

Makhachev has made his stance clear. Wins earned while using performance-enhancing drugs, he says, should reset the clock. Clean or not at the time, those nights can’t live in the same column as the rest.

The debate over the greatest run in UFC history will rage on, fueled by numbers, nostalgia, and loyalties. Makhachev has thrown another log on that fire, and he did it knowing exactly whose legacy he was poking.

For now, he turns back toward the cage. After turning away Garry at UFC 330 to keep his 170-pound belt, Makhachev is targeting a return in January or even earlier, depending on how his recent MRI scans come back.

If the results go his way, the next chapter in his streak won’t be written in a press room or a podcast studio.

It will be written under the lights.