Islam Makhachev says his team has talked about a middleweight move: 'It would be hard'

The UFC welterweight champion joked he would need a month in Uzbekistan eating pilaf, and says he would have to gain a lot of muscle first.

Islam Makhachev is weighing a jump to a third UFC weight class, with the welterweight champion revealing that a move up to middleweight has been on the table with his team.

"In order to become a middleweight, I will have to stay in Uzbekistan for a month and eat Uzbek pilaf," Makhachev joked to Red Corner MMA in Uzbekistan, where he was recognised as a Sambo Grandmaster alongside Fedor Emelianenko. "It would be hard. Yes, we've talked about it with the team."

He added: "But we still need to think it over because I would have to gain a lot of muscle for that."

Makhachev, the former lightweight champion, beat Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 322 in November 2025 to become a two-division champion and made his first welterweight title defence against Ian Machado Garry at UFC 330 in August. He is expected to face the winner of Carlos Prates and Michael Morales, who meet for the interim title at UFC 336 in January.

Michael Bisping has said Makhachev deserves the chance to chase a third UFC title at middleweight if he wins that fight, and said that if Sean Strickland is still the middleweight champion, "that would be a good matchup".

Alex Pereira's first bid for a title in a third division failed in June, when Ciryl Gane knocked him out in the second round of his heavyweight debut with the interim belt on the line.

Makhachev has also told Red Corner MMA that his mother has always been against him fighting, and that "soon I will obey her word" (read more).

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