Islam Makhachev’s future in the UFC is a matter of hot debate, and speculation, at the moment. With dominant performances in the lightweight division, including his most recent victory over Renato Moicano at UFC 311, the Dagestani champion has run through nearly all of his competition. So it’s time for him to contemplate his next move.
There has been a lot of noise regarding featherweight champion Ilia Topuria moving up in weight to fight Islam. But the Dagestani doesn’t seem too keen on fighting smaller guys anymore. This leaves him with one option — move to 170 lbs and gun for the welterweight title.
Or by some miracle, someone in the 155 lbs starts to step up and drop some bodies to get Islam’s attention. UFC veteran Chael Sonnen believes that’s not going to happen. He stated that Makhachev is looking for “new blood” and an exit from the 155-pound division is imminent.
“Islam Makhachev is in a tough spot, the only thing he doesn’t want to be is a 155-pounder… Islam does not like to do rematches… Islam would like some new blood,” said Sonnen. That said, the lightweight division has one high-profile candidate who could offer a challenge for Makhachev.
Paddy Pimblett, who is ranked in the top 15. Everyone else — from Charles Oliveira at #2 rank to Moicano at #10 — has had a fair few losses, some of them to Islam himself. Another choice for Islam would be Arman Tsarukyan, who was supposed to fight him at UFC 311.
But Arman will need to win a title contention fight again before he can challenge Islam. Justin Gaethje could come up too, that is if he finds it in himself to go on another generational run, starting with a win over Dan Hooker at UFC 313 next month.
As of now, there are some very big ‘ifs’. So yes, it does seem a move in weight class is the only plausible option for the lightweight champion.
But even moving up poses a unique problem for Islam. The welterweight champion, Belal Muhammad, and Islam often train together and have refused to fight each other.
No amount of money would persuade Belal to fight Islam
Belal’s connection with the Dagestani camp runs deep. He has been on good terms with Islam’s mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov since before either of them were champions. This is why Khabib never fought Belal. Khabib has even claimed that he doesn’t want to see Islam fight Belal either because, in his heart, it doesn’t feel right.
But with Islam’s move to 170 lbs seemingly inevitable, Belal has a plan. The Palestinian-American fighter is happy to move up to middleweight rather than fight Islam.
“I would never fight Islam because that’s different for me and him. We’ve trained together, and when you’re sweating with somebody, and you’re bleeding with somebody, and you train with somebody like that, it’s just a different relationship,” Belal told Barstool Sports Chicago.
Belal reiterated that money will not make him change either his or Islam’s mind. Instead of facing Makhachev, Muhammad sees challenging Dricus Du Plessis for the 185 lbs as a better option.
Belal has beaten pretty much everyone at 170 lbs during his title campaign. He is only a couple of wins away from being without a challenge. As far as the step up in body weight is concerned, Belal walks around at 190 lbs. So gaining muscle for the higher division won’t be too much of a problem for him.
So, it looks like the landscape of at least two divisions is about to change within the span of a year.
