Islam Makhachev’s coach teases possibility of going for middleweight title to become champ-champ

Javier Mendez, the coach of Islam Makhachev believes his fighter could have a unique path to becoming a champ-champ.

Makhachev is the current UFC lightweight champion, but he is good friends with the welterweight champ Belal Muhammad, as the two have also trained with one another in the past. With that, Makhachev has said he won’t fight Muhammad, but instead, Mendez thinks Makhachev is good enough to jump all the way to middleweight and win that belt.

“That’s a good reason to fight Arman [Tsarukyan] or anybody else [at lightweight] and you get the most defenses in the lightweight history,” Mendez told Red Corner MMA (via MMAFighting). “I can’t believe three is the record (laughs). That’s just amazing how it turns over. So many fighters have won titles there but they never kept it more than three title defenses so Islam will break a record, and I want to see him go down as one of the greatest of all time and I believe he’s on track to do that. So, him defending that lightweight title is on track for that. Then after that, let’s see what happens.

“Maybe Islam gains weight and goes 185. I mean, he’d have to gain weight, obviously, because that’s a little big for him. You never know. He’s that good. Pound-for-pound No. 1 for a reason,” Mendez added about Makhachev.

If Islam Makhachev went up to middleweight and won the belt 30 pounds heavier than lightweight it would no doubt cement himself as the No. 1 pound-f0r-pound. But, it does seem unlikely that Makhachev would get a title shot at 185lbs, especially with Sean Strickland and Robert Whittaker both deserving of a title shot.

So, for now, the focus is on the lightweight title and defending his belt. Although Islam Makhachev is dealing with an injury, the plan is to face Arman Tsarukyan next time out in his fourth defense of his UFC lightweight title.

Islam Makhachev is 26-1 as a pro and is coming off a submission win over Dustin Poirier in June.