Sean Strickland Dismisses UFC Champ Islam Makhachev’s Division Jump: ‘Go Back to Dagestan, You Ain’t Going to Wrestle Me’

Sean Strickland is fighting next week, so this is going to be 10 days of some really out-of-pocket statements from the man. After asking DDP not to wrestle against him in their title fight since it was ‘gay’ and telling Khamzat Chimaev that he was not a man, Strickland has turned his attention to Islam Makhachev. Makhchev had earlier issued an interest in moving up to the middleweight division but Strickland wants him to just stay in his lane and go back to Dagestan.

Following his 4th successful title defense at UFC 311, Islam was asked about his ambitions of becoming a double champ. The lightweight champion had asserted that while he won’t call it a day before becoming one, as of right now, he wasn’t willing to move up to welterweight and fight his friends, like Belal Muhammad. This leaves middleweight as the choice choice on the card for him.

Islam believes he might not be able to finish the champion DDP but he knows how to and given enough time to bulk up, he could very well try. But this proposed move to 185 lbs isn’t sitting particularly well with Strickland, who said,

“You’re a little man, bro. You ain’t gonna wrestle me, dawg. You’re this f*cking big, dawg. It ain’t going to happen. Go back to—I don’t know, where is he from? Dagestan? Go back to f*cking Tudurkistan, dawg, calm down.”

It’s classic Strickland trash talk, completely dismissing Makhachev’s wrestling credentials and playing up the size difference between them.

Strickland is not alone in this view. Earlier yesterday, du Plessis had claimed that while Islam was a great champion, he would not be a threat to the bigger fighters in the division. He had also dismissed any possibility of a fight with the lightweight champion.

“Islam is an incredible fighter, an incredible champion, and deserving of that pound-for-pound #1 spot in my opinion. But as far as this talk goes about me and him fighting… It is definitely not in any near future there.” 

Makhachev is certainly up for the challenge though. He truly believes his time at lightweight may be drawing to an end. However, contrary to the media hype, he’s not that interested in the middleweight division.

How does Makhachev move to welterweight?

As Islam continues to dominate the lightweight division, he’s starting to acknowledge what many have already suspected, there aren’t many challenges left for him at 155 pounds. With an aversion towards rematches, he is simply running out of credible opponents at 155 lbs. Tsarukyan is now at the back of the line after pulling out of UFC 311.

Justin Gaethje is making a comeback against Dan Hooker but his title contention depends upon how he fares in that dogfight at UFC 313.

A potential fight against Ilia Topuria has been floated as an option, but Islam doesn’t want to fight with smaller guys anymore. Now, his manager believes he could move up 3 weight classes and defeat the light heavyweight champion as well but that is out of the realm of possibility. In fact, despite mentioning middleweight, Islam seems uncharacteristically under-confident about it.

This leaves welterweight as the only logical choice. Now, he won’t do it till Belal Muhammad competes in the division. However, Belal has also fought out almost all his competition at 170 lbs. This means, he only needs 2 or 3 title defenses to consider moving up to 185, something he seems happy to do in the future.

If and when that happens, Islam would make his move and he believes it will be a permanent one.

“I don’t see a lot of work to do in my division, I beat almost everybody. I think about moving up to 170, and I can stay there.”

Regardless of which path he chooses, Makhachev holds all the cards right now. He’s already proven he can handle the pressure against elite competition, and if he does decide to make the leap to welterweight, there’s little doubt he’ll bring the same dominance with him.