“You’ve got to defend against lightweight!” Islam Makhachev’s welterweight dreams asked to put on hold by UFC legend after Leon Edwards callout
Michael Bisping swipes at Islam Makhachev's welterweight motivations and asks him to uphold his legacy in lightweight first.
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Michael Bisping, Islam Makhachev and Leon Edwards (Source: IMAGO/Twitter)
Former UFC champion Michael Bisping knows a thing or two about facing big names in the promotion. “The Count”, at 30-9, is a former middleweight veteran himself who has squared off with many. These include the likes of Luke Rockhold, Dan Henderson and Anderson Silva, amongst others. Hence, he has now weighed in on the possibility of Islam Makhachev facing Leon Edwards, with the latter fresh off a win. The Dagestani had recently called out “Rocky” for his ” ‘bullsh*t’ UFC 296 title fight.”
Edwards handed a unanimous decision loss to 17-4 Welterweight Colby Chaos Covington. After that, Makhachev called out both the fighters. Bisping uploaded a video to his YouTube channel. In it, he weighs against such a potential super-fight. Here’s what he had to say:
Makhachev has come out and said, 'That fight (UFC 296 main event) was crap, I would've finished the pair of them,' and he's calling out Leon Edwards next. Of course, I understand him wanting to do that. We all want to be great...But you've got to defend against somebody in the lightweight division! It's as simple as that...Michael Bisping on his YouTube channel
Makhachev, the 25-1 Combat Sambo specialist is undefeated in his division, except for a lone skid. The lightweight king has now expressed a move up to welterweight, following suit with the two-division glory aspirations of Alexander Volkanovski. Here’s what Misping had to say, backing his sentiments.
Listen, they're not gonna fight one another, simple as that. The lightweight division is the most stacked, okay? And Leon Edwards has other people to defend against as well...
Bisping also nudged in that Makhachev’s last 2 fights were against Volkanovski – a featherweight. So he ought to give his divisional peers a chance. While Makhachev commends the likes of Charles Oliveira, Justin Garthje, and Dustin Poirier as all good names, he is confident of his sureshot win.
Islam Makhachev opens up about first sparring session with Leon Edwards
Earlier in August, in an outing with Submission Radio, AKA Coach Javier Mendez had disclosed some tidbits. This was regarding a 2015 sparring session with Leon Edwards. Islam Makhachev, under Mendez’s tutelage, had out-grappled the opponent. But Mendez had seen enough to vouch for a future match between the two.
Mendez had even gone on to proclaim:
[Islam] has tested himself against bigger guys, so Islam knows. That's just a good match for him, and Leon is becoming a great champion.
On different occasions, the Dagestani himself has laid out details of sparring with “Rocky”. Check out such an instance below.
Recently though Makhachev has been critical of Edwards’ 170lb title defense at UFC 296. The fighter, who himself wants a shift up to welterweight, dissed the matchup being slow. He even taunted for a “change in champion“.
In case you missed it:
- WATCH: Conor McGregor directs ‘fighting words’ at Islam Makhachev in recent public event
- Devouring steak days before UFC 296 weigh-ins, Colby Covington disses Islam Makhachev for being weight bully
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Gerard Crispin
(3318 Articles Published)