UFC welterweights beware, Islam Makhachev coming to steal your title after ‘clearing out’ lightweight division

UFC light-weight champion Islam Makhachev has but to make a single title protection at 155 kilos, however coach Javier Mendez is already planning for an eventual journey to welterweight the place he expects his star pupil to dominate and seize a second strap.

I suppose we ought to be used to this sort of longterm planning by now.

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CHAMPION VS. CHAMPION SUPER FIGHT! Final Preventing Championship (UFC) heads again “Down Below” on Sat., Feb. 11, 2023, with newly-minted Light-weight champion, Islam Makhachev, defending his belt in opposition to dominant Featherweight kingpin, Alexander Volkanovski, in a particular 155-pound pay-per-view (PPV) attraction. In UFC 284’s co-main occasion, top-ranked Featherweight contenders Yair Rodriguez (No. 2) and Josh Emmett (No. 5) will collide for UFC’s interim 145-pound title, with the winner battling Volkanovski at a later date to unify the Featherweight crown.

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“I can one hundred pc see that,” Mendez instructed Submission Radio. “And the rationale why I see that’s as a result of Islam needs that. And when he needs that, he’s going to will it to occur. So he’s going to coach, he’s going to filter out the division like he desires to do, after which he’s going to go for the welterweight title, and whoever that individual at that specific time goes to be, I really feel he’s going to beat.”

Earlier than Makhachev (23-1) can cope with any of the top lightweights, he’ll first should rid himself of reigning featherweight champion Alex Volkanovski, who will combat Makhachev within the UFC 284 pay-per-view (PPV) main event this weekend in Perth, Western Australia.

Seems Makhachev’s welterweight goals have been already within the works since late 2021.

“He was like, ‘Yeah, what do you assume?’” Mendez continued. “I stated yeah, and it’s identical to with Khabib (Nurmagomedov). I by no means heard Khabib discuss something about apart from light-weight. That’s it. Khabib by no means stated welterweight, middleweight. However in my eyes, what I’ve seen in my eyes within the gymnasium for all of the years I’ve had Khabib, Khabib might’ve been the light-weight, the welterweight and the middleweight champion, in my eyes.”

We virtually had the possibility to search out out … however alas, it was not meant to be.