The White House card – also known as UFC Freedom 250 – did not quite get the reception that the promotion would have hoped, after fans lamented the fact that it did not live up to the high expectations set by Dana White and President Trump himself.
One of the things that could have totally changed the reaction to the announcement would have been the creation of the super-fight between UFC Lightweight Champion Ilia Topuria and UFC Welterweight Champion Islam Makhachev.
According to the Topuria and his representatives, the Georgian accepted a fight against Makhachev at 170 lbs – two weight classes above his original class that saw him dominate the featherweight division. But Makhachev declined due to what he and UFC officials say is a hand injury.
However, per a video of him that was re-shared on his Instagram story, the two-division champion appears to be hitting the heavy boxing bag with both hands without compromise.
Islam Makhachev Seen Punching Despite Alleged Hand Injury
In the video, Makhachev hits the heavy bag hard with multiple straight punches, something that would be difficult to accomplish, and certainly not desirable to do in training if he does indeed have a severe enough hand injury to keep him out of the White House card in just under three months time.
And other accounts on social media have also questioned the legitimacy of the 34-year old’s injury.
“Despite Dana White claiming Islam Makhachev is recovering from a hand injury, Islam shares new video hitting the heavy bag.” The MMA Uncensored page captioned over the same clip of the champion training. “Was Islam ever really injured?”
One of Makhachev’s possible title challengers for his next fight, Ian Machado Garry, shared his potential future opponent’s instagram story with the caption, “âWTF. Hand injury or time wasting?â, per MMA Orbit.
Will Islam and Ilia Ever Fight Each Other?
“Once again Islam comes up with an excuse. This time itâs an injury.” Topuria wrote on March 10.
“When they finally told me I would be on the White House card, they mentioned Islam and I didnât hesitate for a second to accept the fight. Even though the fight hadnât been officially confirmed yet, the White House card was going to be announced the next day. And when I woke, I found out that Islam had gotten injured…Once again, someone else who will pay for Islamâs escape.”
Makhachev then responded to the current 155 lb champion claiming it was Topuria who backed out of the matchup.
“We both know who chickened out here  you can cover your cowardice with nasty tweets, but donât worry, one day you will get what you asked for!”
If both Topuria and Makhachev win their subsequent fights – or even if Makhachev loses, the UFC could try to finally make this fight happen at the end of 2026 or early/mid 2027.
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