UFC 293’s John Makdessi ‘Haunted’ by Close Decision Losses

If it were up to him, John Makdessi would rematch Nasrat Haqparast and Lando Vannata before calling it a career.

Makdessi (18-8, 11-8 UFC) is a navigated fighter who knows the ups and downs of an Ultimate Fighting Championship career very well. In his next assignment, Makdessi will take on Jamie Mullarkey in a 155-pound clash that will go down at UFC 293 on Sept. 10. While talking with Sherdog, Makdessi discussed his new training camp at Fight Ready and how it has rejuvenated his fighting spirit. While the upcoming bout is the last fight Makdessi has on his current UFC contract, he felt confident about his renewal and emphasized his commitment to delivering exciting fights for the fans. When asked about potential opponents, the 38-year-old fighter mentioned his interest in rematches with Nasrat Haqparast and Lando Vannata, to whom Makdessi lost via decision at UFC Fight Night 209 and via knockout at UFC 206, respectively.

“In the back of my mind, when I'm alone, I always like to have rematches of my decision losses. When I sometimes lose by decision, sometimes it can haunt you. My last defeats were… they can haunt you sometimes. In the back of my mind, I ideally would like to have rematches from my past opponents, to rematch them, but it's just something that's not up to me to decide. I would love to redo the fight with Nasrat and Lando, talking about it right now.”

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro
(00:09) His flight to Australia
(00:55) Enjoying Sydney
(01:32) The current situation in Lebanon
(03:31) Training at Fight Ready
(05:30) His loss to Haqparast
(06:53) Recovering from the hand injury
(07:20) His take on the current UFC hand wrappers
(08:13) Signing with Iridium Sports Agency
(09:40) His UFC contract
(10:19) Looking for rematches
(11:25) Picking Israel Adesanya vs. Sean Strickland
(12:45) The prediction for his fight
(13:09) Outro