Islam Makhachev might must tuck away his goals of holding middleweight gold.
Whereas a transfer to welterweight, the subsequent weight class up from the place he at present fights, has at all times been within the playing cards for Makhachev, transferring up 30 kilos is a reasonably tall order and one which UFC CEO Dana White isn’t precisely keen to meet.
“He—he would move up to middleweight? Middle? Yeah, I don’t know about that,” White stated through the Energy Slap 11 post-fight press occasion in Riyadh. “Look, he wants to move up to 170—we can talk. Uh, moving up to 185 is a whole other level.”
After all, you’ll be able to by no means say by no means within the UFC. Maybe if Makhachev strikes as much as 170 and completely decimates the highest 5, White could possibly be satisfied to present him a crack at middleweight. However as White stated, 185 is a complete different degree with some large competitors — actually.
‘DDP’ places his middleweight gold on the road towards Sean Strickland in The Land Down Beneath
Subsequent up for middleweight titleholder Dricus Du Plessis is a rematch with the person he took the title from round this similar time final 12 months, Sean Strickland. The 2 will run it again on February 8 when the promotion heads again to Sydney, Australia for UFC 312.
‘Stillknocks’ stays unbeaten below the UFC banner, going 8-0 together with wins over Strickland to assert the middleweight crown and a profitable title protection towards former two-time champ Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 in August.
