Months on from his fourth successful defence of the lightweight title, Islam Makhachev’s time in the 155-pound division is set to come to an end as he looks to pursue a long sought-after goal.
In contrast to his mentor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Makhachev has made his desire to achieve two-weight glory on mixed martial arts’ biggest stage known.
Following a lightweight crowning at the expense of Charles Oliveira and subsequent victories over Alexander Volkanovski, Dustin Poirier, and Renato Moicano, the Dagestani will now bid farewell to his usual stomping ground.
With that, his sights will immediately turn to the newly crowned welterweight champ, Jack Della Maddalena. But the Australian is far from the only prominent figure at 170 pounds assessing Makhachev’s pending arrival.
Kamaru Usman open to fighting Islam Makhachev following welterweight switch
Before Belal Muhammad was thrust off the throne by Della Maddalena in Saturday’s UFC 315 headliner, ‘Remember the Name’ had pushed aside any talk of facing Makhachev inside the cage owing to their relationship and history training together.
While Kamaru Usman also shares a bond with his fellow Dominance MMA-managed fighter, he would seemingly have a different view should the UFC propose a clash with Makhachev down the line.
“It’s one of those things that we’d have to talk about,” Usman said during an episode of his Pound 4 Pound podcast alongside Henry Cejudo. “Obviously that’s a blockbuster fight; former pound-for-pound [number one] and the current pound-for-pound champion.
“Islam, I love those guys. Islam, Khabib; I love them all. … Friends make friends rich. Hey, if that’s the situation, obviously Islam and I are mature enough to have a conversation.
“I don’t see why not,” Usman concluded when asked if he’d be open to battling Makhachev inside the Octagon.
For now, Usman will need to focus on stalling the charge of Joaquin Buckley, against whom he’ll return in the main event of UFC Atlanta on June 14.
- READ MORE: Jack Della Maddalena provides a timeline for Islam Makhachev fight following shock title vacation
Kamaru Usman once pondered a division switch of his own, but not for the middleweight title
Like Makhachev — and a whole host of champions across recent years — Usman also saw his sights gaze to the weight classes above while he held UFC gold.
Amid a dominant welterweight reign, Usman’s potential move up to challenge for the middleweight belt was stalled by the presence of Israel Adesanya. Unlike with Makhachev, ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ said his friendship with the Nigerian-New Zealander was too strong for a fight to take place.
That didn’t completely stop Usman from discussing his options for achieving ‘champ-champ’ status, however. Instead, he entertained the idea of an unprecedented move up two divisions to challenge then-light heavyweight kingpin Jan Blachowicz.
Although that didn’t come to fruition, the former 170-pound titleholder has tested the waters of another weight class. He made a short-notice trip up to middleweight in a losing effort against Khamzat Chimaev last time out.