Islam Makhachev is just two fights into his run as the UFC welterweight champion, but some have noticed a stark difference in how he fights at 170 pounds compared to how he fought at 155 pounds. Among them is UFC commentator Joe Rogan, who recently pointed out that Makhachev isn’t as dominant in his new weight class as he was in his old one. In fact, Rogan thinks Makhachev should relinquish the welterweight belt and go back down to lightweight and continue bullying fighters into defeat instead of pulling out decision wins in a higher weight class.
I understand what he wants to do, but man, if I was in his corner, I’d be like ‘maybe [you should move back down to lightweight.]’” While fighters have held two UFC belts simultaneously, the company has moved to a more strict policy that requires them to vacate their current belt if they switch weight classes. If Makhachev went back down to 155 pounds, he'd have to do the same. In his two welterweight title fights, Makhachev beat both Jack Della Maddalen and Ian Machado Garry via unanimous decision.
However, in his previous 15 fights — all wins, and all at lightweight — Makhachev ended 10 of them by knockout, TKO, or submission. And he wasn’t beating scrubs either, Mahachev was finishing world-class fighters and former world champions like Alexander Volkaovski, Charles Oliveria, Dustin Poirier, Dan Hooker, and Arman Tsarukyan. Few would argue that Makhachev looked more dominant at 155 pounds than 170, but others might make the case it’ll take him a few fights to settle into his new weight class.
Four of Makhachev’s first six wins at lightweight came via decision before he went on a run of seven finishes in eight fights, including submission or TKO wins in five straight.
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