Islam Makhachev plans permanent move in division as UFC has 'no one to fight' at lightweight
01/27/2025 09:54 AM
Islam Makhachev has always made his intention to become a UFC double champion clear and he may be on the verge of finally moving up in weight.
Islam Makhachev recently defended his lightweight title for a record-breaking fourth time when he submitted Renato Moicano in the first round of their UFC 311 main event.
Following the fight, Makhachev once again outlined his desire to fight for a second belt but also audaciously called for a fight against middleweight champion, Dricus Du Plessis in a triple champ plea.
Despite that, with the dust now settled on his recent win and the champion already back in training, he is considering what could possibly come next.
Islam Makhachev planning permanent move up to welterweight
Recently, Makhachev’s manager teased that he and the UFC are already discussing big plans for Makhachev’s next fight, ruling out fights against Charles Oliveira, Arman Tsarukyan, and Ilia Topuria.
However, the champion has recently stated that he would consider a title defense against Justin Gaethje next, depending on Gaethje’s UFC 313 fight against Dan Hooker.
With that said, the 33-year-old has also claimed that he is planning a permanent move up a weight class as lightweight has no contenders left for him to defend his belt against.
“I don’t see a lot of work to do in my division, I beat almost everybody,” Makhachev began to explain to Ushatayka.
“I think about moving up to 170 and I can stay there. I don’t want to make any statements (about Belal Muhammad or Shavkat Rakhmonov), we will see how the fight goes, I have not spoken to the UFC since my last fight, we need to sit and talk about these moments,” he continued.
Could Islam Makhachev fight his teammate next?
When Makhachev has spoken about potentially moving up in weight before, he hasn’t fully declared whether he would or wouldn’t because of the fact that his teammate, Belal Muhammad is currently the champion.
Not only that but his head coach, Khabib Nurmagomedov has stated that he would ‘not be okay’ with Makhachev fighting Muhammad.
Despite that, as Makhachev has stated several times, he has goals of becoming a double champion himself and wants to do it for his legacy.
With the lightweight champion targeting a July return to the Octagon, he will likely wait for the culmination of Muhammad vs Rakhmonov before he declares his move up to welterweight.
