Islam Makhachev offered HUGE route to second title charge by UFC star at welterweight
Current lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev’s plans for a future welterweight title charge have just received a massive boost, with current titleholder, Belal Muhammad revealing he would vacate his strap in order to allow the Russian to freely compete for it.
Makhachev, the current undisputed lightweight champion and pound-for-pound number one fighter on the promotion’s books, has been linked with an imminent return to action as soon as April — in a potential UFC 314 return against current featherweight kingpin, Ilia Topuria in a massive super fight with the unbeaten finisher.
And most recently headlining UFC 311 back in January, Makhachev took on short-notice foe, Renato Moicano on just a single day’s notice, successfully retaining his belt in a dominant first round D’Arce choke submission win over the Brasilia fan-favorite.
Belal Muhammad offers to vacate title to allow Islam Makhachev to compete for it
In the time since, as well as lofty ambitions to lift not just two titles — but three, in fact, Makhachev has been linked to an eventual move to the welterweight division, made more difficult by his friendship with training partner, Muhammad.
However, this week, ahead of his own expected return against the undefeated, Shavkat Rakhmonov, incumbent 170lbs gold holder, Muhammad has revealed he would vacate his crown in a heartbeat rather than fight Islam Makhachev.
“I would never fight Islam Makhachev because that’s different for me and him,” Belal Muhammad said in an interview with Barstool Sports Chicago. “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. It wouldn’t be about the money for me or for him, I would assume.
“I would never want to do that, and they’ve helped me so much,” Muhammad explained. So for me, I would rather go up to 185 pounds and let him just take 170 if that is the case. Since I’ve already had to fight my way up to 170, and I’ve beaten five of the top 10 guys, like I’m two fights away from being able to challenge at 185 and saying, ‘Yeah I want to be double champ.’”
