Islam Makhachev might as well be capable enough to defeat Alex Pereira at light heavyweight but if you ask UFC veteran Chael Sonnen, he will never become a double champ no matter what he does. Makhachev, despite all the cutesy little moments with Daniel Cormier on camera simply doesn’t have the charisma to climb those ladders. Or so Uncle Chael claims.
Sonnen believes Islam lacks the personality that the UFC looks for in a champion before marketing them into the stratosphere. Despite having won almost every fight on his way to greatness, Makhachev has no memorable rivalries in the lightweight division, where he holds the title, let alone in the division above him.
Makhachev is a wrestler at heart. Even if it is not his primary sport, he operates like one. He walks into the octagon, wins the fight, shakes a few hands, smiles for the camera, and goes home. He doesn’t call anyone out, nor does he disparage his opponents, which is something he needs to do for that double championship to happen for him.
Without a rivalry with Belal Muhammad or Shavkat Rakhmonov at welterweight, Sonnen doesn’t believe there’s a compelling storyline for the UFC to sell the fight.
He said as much on an episode of the Good Guy/Bad Guy show when his co-host Daniel Cormier supported Islam’s chances of picking up another title.
Sonnen gave DC a reality check and claimed there was absolutely zero chance of that ever happening.
“There is none and I will tell you why… Simply, Islam won’t be given the opportunity. He is the champion of the hardest weight class we have, he should be recognised as the pound-for-pound goat right now which most rankings say that he is, but as far as even getting an opportunity for another belt, I don’t believe that will happen for him.”
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Belal and Islam’s mentor Khabib go a long way back. At this point, Belal is an unofficial member of the Dagestanni camp. So, bound by the brotherhood of the mat, Islam doesn’t want to fight Belal. Khabib has even claimed that he doesn’t see Islam ever changing his mind on the matter.
Unfortunately, if Islam wants a second belt, his only move is to get to the 170 lbs. He already weighs about 190 lbs before cutting weight, so it will actually be a far easier process for him.
Even though the idea of a move to middleweight has been thrown around, Islam will be foolish to try his hands at bigger, far stronger grapplers like Khamzat Chimaev at 185 lbs, which leaves us with the light heavyweight division.
Abdelaziz claims Islam beats Poatan
According to Islam’s manager Ali Abdelaziz, there’s not a single fighter from 155 to 185 pounds who could take down Makhachev. But he’s not stopping there. His ambitions extend to UFC light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira. Abdelaziz thinks if they ever fought, Makhachev would simply take Pereira down and submit him, no question!
While it is true that Pereira has never faced a grappler, let alone one of Islam’s caliber, there is a huge size difference to consider here. Despite his hesitance to take on grapplers, Pereira is about 30-40 lbs heavier than Islam.
He has to cut weight to make 205 lbs on fight night. Besides, Pereira is also confident that he can get even bigger and fight UFC undisputed champion Jon Jones at heavyweight.
Needless to say, Islam might take Pereira down if the two were to tango, but keeping him there and manipulating him with power is simply too much of a gamble.
Now, there have been tales about Islam taking on bigger fighters in camp and in training but none of them are UFC world champions. So, perhaps Sonnen does have a point!
