Michael Bisping went on his YouTube channel this week and pitched the kind of idea I usually have to beg for: Islam Makhachev, already a two-division champion, walking up to 185 pounds to chase a third UFC belt. The Count’s logic is simple, and I’m fully on board. If you’ve stacked title defenses in two weight classes and you’re openly telling people the end is close, why spend your final fights mopping up at 170?
Start with the résumé, because it’s absurd. Makhachev holds the record for most successful title defenses at lightweight with four. He’s currently the welterweight champion with two more defenses on top of that. He’s riding a 17-fight win streak, the latest entry being a win over Ian Machado Garry at UFC 330, and MMA Fighting has him as its No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter. He turned 35 in October, and he tweeted, “My next fight is one of the last in my career.”
That tweet is the whole ballgame for me. A guy who’s almost out the door should be swinging for the fences, and Bisping put it in plain terms.
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“So then he’s got two defenses at welterweight, four defenses at lightweight, that moving up to 185 and trying to become the triple champ? I like the sound of that,” Bisping said.
Same, Mike. Same.
The Pereira Door Is Already Open
The sharpest part of Bisping’s argument is the precedent. The UFC just gave Alex Pereira a heavyweight opportunity against Ciryl Gane, and Bisping went straight there.
“And if anyone deserves it, it is Islam Makhachev. Remember, Alex Pereira was just granted that opportunity to go up to heavyweight and fight Ciryl Gane.”
You can’t approve one legacy swing and then get precious about the next one. If the promotion is in the business of letting decorated champions chase history in a heavier division, the guy with the lightweight defense record and a welterweight belt around his waist goes to the front of that line. Telling Makhachev no after saying yes to Pereira would be the UFC picking favorites based on vibes.
Who’s Actually Left at 170
Makhachev’s next opponent is the winner of Carlos Prates vs. Michael Morales, the interim welterweight title fight in the UFC 337 co-main event. Beat that guy and the cupboard gets thin fast. Bisping named Shavkat Rakhmonov as the one other obvious welterweight name, while adding that Rakhmonov “may or may not ever fight again.” Bisping also said he keeps seeing rumors that Rakhmonov will be booked soon, so file that firmly under rumor until somebody signs something.
Outside of that, Bisping’s read is that Makhachev has cleared the division. “Other than moving up to 185, Islam Makhachev would have really done it all,” he said.
I hate boring champions who sit on a belt and defend it against whoever’s convenient. Going up a weight class at 35, with the clock ticking on your own career, is about the furthest thing from playing it safe.
Strickland and the Gas Tank Question
Here’s where Bisping gets specific. If Sean Strickland still holds the middleweight title, that’s the fight he wants.
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“I’m not saying he beats Sean, Khamzat [Chimaev] couldn’t beat Sean, but Islam wouldn’t get tired at 185, because that’s what Khamzat did,” Bisping said.
I love that he hedged on the result and still committed to the stylistic point. That’s the honest version of a fantasy pitch. Bisping’s theory is that Chimaev faded against Strickland at middleweight, and that Makhachev’s conditioning would survive the jump in a way Khamzat’s didn’t. Whether you buy it or not, it’s a real hook. You’ve got a champion everybody else apparently can’t break, against a grappler whose whole case rests on still being there in the championship rounds. That’s a fight people would argue about for months before it happened, which is exactly what a big fight should do.
Chimaev, for his part, is busy with a submission-only grappling match against Jorge Masvidal at ALF League on Dec. 4, so he’s not exactly standing in line.
About That Ducking Accusation
Makhachev has taken some heat for not fighting sooner, with critics saying he could have faced Prates and Morales separately next year instead of just the survivor. Normally I’m the first guy yelling duck. Bisping, though, defended him with an Enter the Dragon reference, recalling the scene where Bruce Lee describes his style as “the art of fighting without fighting” and strands a guy out at sea on a boat.
“The man has earned the right to do that,” Bisping said. “He does have the ability and has earned the right to pick and choose his opponents and take a little bit of time.”
I’ll allow it. A duck avoids the best available challenger. Makhachev is waiting for the best available challenger to be decided in a cage, then fighting him. That’s efficient, and a 35-year-old with one foot out the door is allowed to be efficient.
So here’s the order of operations. Prates and Morales settle the interim belt at UFC 337. Makhachev beats the winner. Then, if Strickland is still the middleweight champion, the UFC books the triple-champ fight and stops pretending it needs to think about it.
