UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev has been vocal about his plans to move to welterweight. However, some like Charles Oliveira’s manager, Diego Lima, believe the fighter must vacate his title if he plans to make the move.
Makhachev has openly discussed his intentions, but one thing holding him back is his friend and training partner, Belal Muhammad, who currently holds the welterweight belt. If Belal Muhammad loses the title to Jack Maddalena, Makhachev believes he will go ahead and make the switch. Although Makhachev has had a solid run and a few title defenses, Lima believes he should not hold on to the belt, as doing so would create an unnecessary need for an interim title.
“If Makhachev goes up? Then he loses the belt,” Lima told MMA Fighting. “It’s like [Ilia] Topuria. I think the UFC will ask him to choose. If he says ‘I’ll fight’ [at 170], then they have to create an interim. I can’t put a whole division on hold. Personally, I think it’s absurd to hold an entire division.”
“When an athlete goes up, he has to either drop his belt or they have to create an interim. When a fighter takes too long deciding what to do, then it’s time to make an interim. The division must move. Fighters work hard to earn a title shot, and when they finally get the belt, they want to sit on it. It shouldn’t be like that, man.”
The chances of Makhachev’s move seem distant, as Ilia Topuria—who vacated the featherweight title to chase lightweight glory—also has plans for a superfight with him. Makhachev publicly stated that Topuria should earn a shot by beating someone at 155 pounds first, while Oliveira has expressed interest in facing Topuria if an interim belt is on the line.
“I’m not Topuria’s manager, but if I were, I wouldn’t let my fighter vacate the belt and risk moving up for nothing,” Lima said. “I would go up with a goal, with some negotiation. I don’t know if that’s what Topuria has done. There’s a lot going on that we don’t know yet.”
“As for Makhachev, he’s said many times before he wants to move up,” he continued. “Between Charles and Makhachev, there’s a belt and that’s what we want to win. But first, we have to get to the belt, and there are two problems. First, Belal’s fight we don’t know what will happen if he wins or loses. And then there’s Topuria, and we don’t know the negotiation that happened when he gave up the belt and moved up a division.”
