Sean Strickland has warned Islam Makhachev that he may think twice about a potential movement in weight.
The lightweight champion has now broken the record for most UFC title defenses on 155LB, but is not happy to challenge the former training partner Belal Muhammad for the Welterweight belt. Instead, he wants to challenge a maximum of 185 pounds of Bulk and the winner of the fight of Strickland with Dricus du Plessis on UFC 312.
Strickland, however, is not so sure of that idea and is of the opinion that Makhachev should stay around his weight class instead of going up.
Sean Strickland refers to the attempt from Islam Makhachev to the middleweight
Sean Strickland is the current top candidate for middleweight gold, after losing the belt to Dricus du Plessis in January last year. In 2023 he had to go through a heliaclaic list of contenders in his run to the belt and now gets a shot.
And he believes that Islam Makhachev will struggle on weight, since he is a considerably smaller individual. The lightweight champion finds it difficult to make the limit of 155 pounds, but is supposed to walk around around 180 pounds, which would be light for middleweight.
“You are a little man, Bro,” Strickland said Helen Yee in a recent interview. 'You are not going to struggle me, dog, you are so much big dog [points to his hip]. It's not going to happen. Go back to F *** ING, I don't know, where does he come from? Dagestan. Go back to Durkistan, Bro, calm. '
Dricus Du Plessis gives his view of Islam Makhachev for UFC 312
Although their opinions are comparable in terms of how they think about Makhachev's prospects at the weight, Dricus du Plessis and Sean Strickland had different ways to present their views. The South African noted that it would be a cash fight, but doubts about how competitive it could be.
“If there was ever a situation in which there is no fight for me, no fight for him who is logical, I would be more than happy to do it, easy payment day,” the Middle Weight champion told the main event after he admitted that He can do that his pound-for-pound the best hunter in the world.
Photo by LEFTY SHIVAMBU/GALLO -Images/Getty images
“If we get into a situation where we are not, he is an incredible hunter who is not mistaken,” Du Plessis said earlier in the interview. “He was so incredibly good against Moicano that he again proved why he pounds the best in the world.
“I don't care how good you are (he is 30 pounds lighter), he clearly trains with 185 people in his gym, he doesn't train against me, believe me, it's not the same. Even at the technical level such as stand-up that is just, you know, his struggle and struggle is phenomenal.
'I am just overwhelmed that I think I think so. It makes a huge difference, it is a large lightweight, but I am a large middleweight, there is a large difference between a large lightweight and a large middleweight. “
Comments