Daniel Cormier is a friend and supporter of UFC welterweight champion Islam Makhachev, but he’s now admitted that a move up to middleweight would be a step too far for the star.
“Islam, 170 (pounds) is as high as he can go,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel.
“There was talk a while ago of Islam going to 185. He can’t go to 185, he’s too small. Islam used 100 percent of what he was in that last fight to beat Ian Garry, because Ian Garry is so big.
“The next guy he’s gonna fight, he’s gonna have to use 100 percent of who he is to beat that person, because they’re just big, and size does matter in any combat sport.”
There had been a time when the 34-year-old Makhachev appeared to be eager to eventually challenge for the middleweight title, and that’s understandable given his past accomplishments, having already won two belts, while going on a record-breaking 17-fight winning streak.
However, while that run remains intact, the vast majority of his wins were at 155lbs, and there’s no doubt that it’s become much more challenging for him up at 170lbs, as the fight against Garry showed.
As such, while last year Makhachev was openly floating the idea of fighting the middleweight champion at the time, Dricus du Plessis, now he appears to have readjusted his sights to focus on leading 170lb contenders instead, naming Carlos Prates, Shavkat Rakhmonov and Michael Morales as his current targets.
