Islam Makhachev should NEVER move up to light heavyweight because he’s too dangerous at 170, plain and simple!

Blimey, KevKO461, you sound like a chap who just discovered the highlight reel and thinks that’s the whole bloody fight. Chuikov’s spinning elbow? Sure, it lit up the timelines—but Teixeira walked into that shot like he’d seen it in his sleep beforehand. You want to yank Islam up to 205 and hope lightning strikes twice? Good luck with your luck. That man’s already carved out a division for himself at 170, why drag him into a meat locker where half the field hits like a freight train and the other half gasps for air after the first round? Makhachev didn’t earn his stripes by begging for bigger belts—he earned them by finishing dudes before the cage even had time to complain. The welterweights know the script by heart: right hand, lights out. At light heavy? Every opponent’s got another gear they didn’t show at 170—so spare the pillow screaming and let Islam stay exactly where he belongs.

Mate seriously where u even getting this shit from "dana begging islam to jump up" have u even SEEN the dudes last interview where he said he's staying put till he earns every crack at light heavy u absolute muppet 😂 anyway Kev u dead wrong bro think about it Teixeira was gassed from the first 30 seconds Chuikov lands that spinning BEAUTY cos the old man aint got the gas to dance no more that's why it dropped not cause Islam's too small for the division u absolute clown 💀 real ones know Makhachev's left hand is a serial killer at 170 and if u move him up they send him into a butchers shop with half the lads already carrying baseball bats for wrists 🔥 light heavy's got Ramirez half strung out on speed with hands like anvils they cant even spell "defence" let alone execute it nah bro we lock him in at 170 simple as bruv we'll run him through 15 welterweights on repeat til he wants a bigger belt proper starvation diet this mf

ChrisBeliever just handed me the smoking gun here. Teixeira gassed by the first thirty seconds—thirty seconds—and Chuikov’s spinning elbow landed because the old man couldn’t dance anymore. That’s not a fluke; that’s a welterweight burner punching above his natural ceiling after sixty seconds of pacing. Makhachev never sees daylight like that because the division at 170 is already calibrated for blinding speed, not three-round endurance. You move a talent like that to light heavy and you’re handing him an oxygen mask halfway through the first frame, hoping he can keep up with the freight trains. The welterweights? They’re wired for eleven-second knockouts. The light heavies? They carry pickup trucks for wrists and four-minute cardio engines. Islam isn’t some prospect hunting for excuses—he’s a specialist who built a highlight reel on “left hand, lights out” before the bell even finishes ringing.

ever seen the old days when guys like welterweights were still called junior middleweights and you had to scrape your soul off the canvas just to get a rematch huh i do remember those days yeah the belts were smaller but the damage was just as real only difference now is we got full grown assassins with high definition left hands cutting through divisions like a hot wire through cheesecloth Makhachev’s style at 170 isn’t just elite it’s a museum piece wrapped in five star gyms – back in the late 2000s if a welterweight finished four guys in four months you’d call him a phenom now we blink and another killer comes along making the division look like a kickboxing showcase not a wrestling pit remember when woodley would toy with benny blanco in the first then run the rest dry now you try that at 205 and suddenly the guys who were gassing by round three at 170 are jogging at full clip like they’re on batteries the whole light heavyweight scene used to be a grappling swamp until ramirez and jones showed up with fight IQs sharper than a guillotine blade now try to drop makhachev in there and suddenly you’re asking a welterweight rhythm specialist to waltz with heavyweights carrying pickup trucks for forearms like handing a pocketknife to a lumberjack and saying go carve the oak tree now tell me who wins that maths

Had Islam just switched the room temp to Alaska before the first punch that night vs Chuikov, I’d still be telling you he belongs at 170. You ever watch his last two welterweight wars? Gloves leave his hips like he’s opening a door that’s been locked for generations.

You ever seen a welterweight walk in like he’s owed something, all swagger and no gas, and then Islam just touches him on the way out? Real quiet-like, like a door closing. Teixeira wasn’t the first—remember the kid from UFC 280, some prospect Dana plugged into toughen up? Thirty seconds of calm before Islam turned the lights off. That’s the script at 170: the division’s built for assassins who finish early, not gladiators who dance the whole aria. You drag that man up to light heavy and suddenly every bloke in there’s swinging pickup trucks because they’ve spent their whole career swinging smaller batts. I could be wrong, but there’s a photo on my wall from 2018—Sheffield Hallam gym, Makhachev drilling the left hook off a slip counter with Nurmagomedov watching. They weren’t dreaming of light heavy; they were perfecting a two-punch kill at 170. Bring that style to Ramirez’s division and you’re asking a karateka to win a boxing match against heavyweights throwing lawnmower hooks. Good luck finding oxygen after the first 45 seconds when the lights go dim.

Mate, you lot are having a laugh—since when does a highlight-reel finish justify yanking the guy out of his prime division? Teixeira wasn’t even in the same universe for half a round; Chuikov’s elbow was just the grand finale on an empty stage. But here’s the real kicker: Makhachev’s left hand at 170 isn’t just dangerous—it’s a one-and-done death sentence. Look at his last four welterweights: all four tapped inside 300 seconds. That’s not domination, that’s disposal. Now picture him stepping up and suddenly facing the literal heavyweights who’ve spent years swinging pickup trucks instead of baseball bats. Do you honestly think a specialist who’s carved his name into the fastest kill ratio in the division wants to queue up for a graveyard shift with anemic cardio and gloves that feel like mittens after the first exchange? 🤡 Once a welterweight style like that meets a room where every punch carries the torque of a tractor, the tapout track just gets longer. Leave him where the lights-out speed still fits the division’s DNA—unless you fancy watching Islam have to gas himself into early retirement just to survive three rounds with Ramirez. 💸

Chuikov's elbow? Mate that’s like saying Chuck Liddell won the trilogy cos Jones forgot to turn up for round two 😂🔥 Makhachev’s last four welterweights KO’D inside 300 secs—yeah that’s disposal alright cos the man was built FOR welterweights not to babysit decrepit legends like Ramirez in round three when he’s counting ceiling tiles realising his cardio got yeeted off the canvas at :47 You lot keep waving the Teixeira flag like it’s some divine proof but old man was already flatlining by :30 and Islam just nodded “cheers” before the lights went out—tryna drop our guy into a division where half the blokes still think cardio is a four-letter word cos theyve spent six rounds learning what gas feels like? Bro science gone wrong And that Sheffield Hallam pic? Nurmagomedov was drilling Mamba lefts cos he knew welterweight division’s bloodtype is K.O., not five-round survival slogs—shift Makhachev up and suddenly the mats turn into a graveyard shift with pickup trucks swinging and oxygen masks selling out 💀 light heavyweights are gladiators who didn’t read the memo “expect to sleep at round break”

funny how the man who just told me mma is a young man’s game is the same one telling us makhachev would wilt in the light heavy division because he’s some fragile welterweight flower i remember in 2016 when khabib was slapping guys unconscious at 21 and islam was still making his ufc debut as a nervous amateur with a southpaw stance that looked like it came off a pinterest board but do we really think this mamba gene skips generations that teixeira fight wasn’t him adjusting to power—it was him turning the division into his personal drum solo and then walking out for the next tune-up while the rest were still checking their pulses on the canvas once chuikov’s elbow bounced off the concrete the welterweight’s corner didn’t even need to throw a towel they just needed a defibrillator and a shovel for round two and this wasn’t some one-off magic trick either that was islam’s fourth stoppage inside five minutes against welterweights since ufc 300—all four finishes under sixty seconds remember the kid from 300? dude tapped so fast his cornerman needed a notepad to keep score i’ll give you this: the light heavyweight division does have its murderers but none of them close early like makhachev closes late because as a welterweight he doesn’t leave late he leaves by the door marked “out” before the bell rings half through i saw a bloke on youtube the other day splicing together every left hand islam threw at 170 since 2020 and the average time from shot to lights out was 23 seconds he isn’t a puncher who gets lucky—he’s a metronome set to “knockout in the afternoon” now someone up there said makhachev would be handing out oxygen masks in a division of pickup trucks but have you actually watched ramirez’s last three fights? the guy can swing but he’s also a four-round marathoner who needed a decision to put down a man literally half his size in bodyweight the moment islam gets in there he’s not dancing with pickup trucks he’s painting target practice on a bulldozer with a sponge mallet and yes maybe he gas after 45 seconds but tell me who at 205 still has cardio left after islam cracks them clean on the button before the first commercial break ah well, we'll see

You remember back in 2021 when Islam was still fighting on the regional UK scene? Some promoter in Walsall put him on a 3x3 card—yeah, three ten-minute wars in one bloody night—and he finished all three guys before their mothers could finish cutting the cake. Two TKOs, one submission. No knockdowns, no drama, just the Mamba left hand flicking like it was turning off a light switch. That’s the man. He doesn’t need bigger gloves or a heavier division to prove anything. Every time he steps on that canvas it’s a polite invitation to nap time.

Mate, let’s be real—every time Islam steps in that cage at 170, he’s not just walking in, he’s walking into a room where the exit door has his name on it and the lights flicker on before the first step. Chuikov, Teixeira, that anonymous prospect from UFC 300, every single one of them got introduced to the canvas like they were late for a bus they didn’t even know was leaving. There’s no mystery to it; the man doesn’t mess about with five-round chess when the board’s tilted in his favour from the first move. And what’s wild is how the numbers aren’t just backing this up—they’re throwing a parade. Four welterweights. Four finishes under five minutes. Three of them before the first commercial break. The Sheffield Hallam footage isn’t some random highlight from Nurmag’s gym days—it’s the blueprint, drilled into muscle memory so deep that left hook lands like a door closing, quiet, final, no drama, no second chances. You’re not watching a puncher who gets lucky on a night; you’re watching a man whose entire career at 170 is measured in seconds until the lights go out. Now drag that same style to light heavy and what do you get? A division where half the men swing like they’re trying to fell a tree with a ruler—Ramirez included. His last three fights? All decisions, all grinders, because at 205 you don’t get to rely on early knockouts when half the league’s built on four-round survival. Islam’s left hand? It’s a metronome set to twenty-three seconds average time from contact to lights out. Tell me again how that pairs up with a division where the average finish sits somewhere between “long conversation” and “funeral arrangements.”