Before UFC 304 in Manchester, lightweight champion Islam Makhachev was teasing the idea of moving to 170lbs in the hopes of capturing a second title.
Yet with friend and teammate Belal Muhammad now holding that shiny welterweight title, Islam Makhachev has said that he’s open to the idea of skipping 170lbs and going straight to middleweight – ‘Stillknocks’ disagrees.
- Who is Dricus Du Plessis? Meet the UFC brawler putting South Africa on the MMA map
Dricus Du Plessis laughs off Islam Makhachev’s idea to move to 185lbs
Ironically, it was Muhammad himself who advocated for Makhachev to skip welterweight prior to his title success in Manchester, telling MMAFighting in June how “Honestly, he could go up to 185 and beat Du Plessis right now.
“I think he’s that good, really. I think he could go up there and be that two-division champ.”
Well, speaking this week the iconic Kevin Iole, middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis was asked what he thought about the possibility of the lightweight king moving up to 185lbs in the hope of challenging for a second UFC title.
Unsurprisingly, ‘Stillknocks’ couldn’t even make it to the end of Iole’s question without bursting out into laughter as he explained that whilst every UFC fighter has dreams of becoming a two-weight champion, there’s still a sizable line in the sand.
“Yeah, I mean, what can I say… Everybody can dream, I always say never cap your dreams and dream big, but he’s dreaming real big and I’m very big.
“Of course, in this sport, everybody wants that I mean especially after it’s been done [so many times], I completely understand going up to another division and fighting for a belt because there comes a stage where it makes sense.”
Du Plessis acknowledged that with the likes of Arman Tsarukyan waiting patiently in the wings, “there are people still left [for him] to fight” at 155, but also that it’s only a matter of time before a divisional change makes sense for the Dagestani wrecking ball.
“I’m not the one who’s going to say no. I’m saying you have to at the least, at the very least, defend your belt three maybe four times before ever considering going up – unless there are special circumstances that make sense.
“People win a belt, and they immediately go ‘I want to be double [champion]’ but you’re not Conor McGregor… He was the first to do it and he did it in spectacular fashion. He was the trendsetter, the pioneer in doing that and everyone tries to be like that – that’s not the case [here].”
‘Stillknocks’ says that Whittaker vs Chimaev is no. 1 contender’s fight
Should Du Plessis defeat former champion Israel Adesanya next weekend at UFC 305, the global conversation will quickly move on to who’s next for the 185lb title – with the South African brawler now stating that his next opponent will be decided in October.
Specifically, when Robert ‘The Reaper’ Whittaker faces undefeated phenom Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi, with Du Plessis telling SHAK MMA’s Shakiel Mahjouri how that bout will determine the rightful number one contender.
“Whittaker does have the two wins, and Strickland shouldn’t have been in there in the first place, he got it by default but then proved that he deserves it – which is amazing.
“But the winner of Khamzat and Whittaker is going to get the title shot [next], that’s going to happen… Strickland says he’s going to wait to get his title shot, he’s going to be waiting for quite a while.”
‘The Reaper’ faces Chimaev for the second time of asking at UFC 308, scheduled for October 26, and will be the supporting act to Ilia Topuria vs Max Holloway for the featherweight title.
“If Whittaker beats Khamzat, he’s 100% getting a title shot,” Du Plessis reiterated.