Khabib Nurmagomedov ended his career a bit too early for Dana White‘s liking, or else, he could have certainly given Jon Jones a run for his money in the greatest-of-all-time debate. Also, his early retirement left a lot to be seen. Could Khabib have become a double champion? While he’s out of the game, his protégé, Islam Makhachev, is right on track to achieve the things his mentor couldn’t, and one of his teammates has made a rather bold claim about the reigning lightweight champion.

As we all know, Islam Makhachev is looking to become a double champion, but there’s a catch. His teammate Belal Muhammad is the welterweight champion, so he is not in a position to jump into the next nearest weight class. Moreover, the only other opportunity for a double champion fight is taking on featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, which ‘Remember the Name’ believes may not do much good to Makhachev.

“If Ilia comes up and he [Makhachev] beats him, they’ll say, ‘Oh, you beat another 145’er,'” Belal Muhammad told ‘The Schmo’. So what can Islam Makhachev do to fulfill his double championship dream? Well, the welterweight champion claims that he should consider moving to middleweight because Muhammad has full faith in Khabib’s protégé to beat either Dricus du Plessis or Sean Strickland.

“Like I’ve said before, I think he could beat the 185-pound champ easily,” Belal Muhammad added. “Dricus and Strickland… Strickland’s gonna try to teep his way. Dricus is gonna shoot on his knees and then throw winding-up punches. I think Islam will take either one of em’ down and tap em’ out.”

While Belal Muhammad wants Islam Makachev to make the middleweight move, the champion, Dricus du Plessis, doesn’t think it’s a very wise decision and even warned the Dagestan native. Let’s see what ‘Stillknocks’ had to say about a potential Makhachev moving to middleweight.

Dricus du Plessis warned Islam Makhachev a few months ago about a move to 185 pounds

It’s not only Belal Muhammad but also AKA head coach Javier Mendez, who believes that Islam Makhachev’s skill set will allow him to flourish as a middleweight. However, Dricus du Plessis believes that the lightweight champion is aiming too high. The South African star has no issues with Makhachev wanting to make that move to a different weight class. It’s something that many in the past have done. However, Du Plessis claims that he’s actually pretty big in stature and that fighting him would be a wrong decision for Makhachev.

“I always say never cap your dreams; dream big. But he’s dreaming real big,” Dricus du Plessis told veteran MMA journalist Kevin Iole. “I’m very big. Of course, in this sport, everybody wants that – I mean, especially after it’s been done. I completely understand going up to another division and fighting for another belt because there comes a stage where it makes sense,”

For now, Islam Makhachev is looking to keep the belt come this January, as he defends the belt for the fourth time in his career. That will put him above Khabib Nurmagomedov when it comes to title defenses. Do you think he’ll jump to another division after his next fight? Drop your comments below.

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