Dana White Comments on Islam Makhachev’s Middleweight Move For Triple UFC Gold
Islam Makhachev may have to tuck away his dreams of holding middleweight gold.
Following his fourth successful defense of the lightweight championship at UFC 311 in Los Angeles, the ‘Dagestani Destroyer’ made waves during his post-fight interview, claiming that he could jump up from 155 to 185 in a bid to take Dricus Du Plessis’ middleweight gold.
While a move to welterweight, the next weight class up from where he currently fights, has always been in the cards for Makhachev, moving up 30 pounds is a pretty tall order and one that UFC CEO Dana White isn’t exactly willing to fulfill.
“He—he would move up to middleweight? Middle? Yeah, I don’t know about that,” White said during the Power Slap 11 post-fight press event in Riyadh. “Look, he wants to move up to 170—we can talk. Uh, moving up to 185 is a whole other level.”
Of course, you can never say never in the UFC. Perhaps if Makhachev moves up to 170 and absolutely decimates the top five, White could be convinced to give him a crack at middleweight. But as White said, 185 is a whole other level with some big competition — literally.
‘DDP’ puts his middleweight gold on the line against Sean Strickland in The Land Down Under
Next up for middleweight titleholder Dricus Du Plessis is a rematch with the man he took the title from around this same time last year, Sean Strickland. The two will run it back on February 8 when the promotion heads back to Sydney, Australia for UFC 312.
‘Stillknocks’ remains unbeaten under the UFC banner, going 8-0 including wins over Strickland to claim the middleweight crown and a successful title defense against former two-time champ Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 in August.
