{"id":39845,"date":"2026-08-11T05:08:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T05:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Javier-Mendez-Islam-Makhachev-has-added-11-pounds-of-muscle-prefers-welterweight-202308"},"modified":"2026-08-11T05:08:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T05:08:07","slug":"javier-mendez-islam-makhachev-has-added-11-pounds-of-muscle-prefers-welterweight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/javier-mendez-islam-makhachev-has-added-11-pounds-of-muscle-prefers-welterweight\/","title":{"rendered":"Javier Mendez: Islam Makhachev has added 11 pounds of muscle, prefers welterweight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Islam
\nMakhachev<\/a> is far more comfortable competing at welterweight and
\nwon\u2019t move back down to 155 pounds.<\/p>\n

Makhachev (28-1) defended the
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> lightweight title four times
\nbefore moving up to welterweight. He dominantly dethroned Jack
\nDella Maddalena<\/a> to win the 170-pound title last year and is now
\nscheduled to defend it against Ian Garry<\/a>
\n(17-1) at UFC
\n330<\/a> on Aug. 15 at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Javier Mendez shuts down possibility of Islam Makhachev
\nreturning to lightweight<\/h2>\n

Makhachev\u2019s coach, Javier Mendez, doesn\u2019t believe his fighter will
\nswitch between weight classes and is likely done with lightweight
\nentirely. Mendez recently revealed that the champion has gained
\nfive kilos (11 pounds) of muscle since moving up to welterweight
\nand isn\u2019t looking to move back down.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s gained five kilos of muscle and feels better at
\nwelterweight,\u201d Mendez told Alvaro Colmenero. \u201cHe prefers this
\nweight class. I don\u2019t think he\u2019ll ever fight at lightweight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notably, Makhachev has previously stated that he can compete at
\nmiddleweight as well. When Dricus Du
\nPlessis<\/a> was the 185-pound champion, then-lightweight king
\nMakhachev claimed that if the UFC offered him a title fight against
\nthe South African, he would gladly accept. However, the Russian
\nhasn\u2019t mentioned middleweight since moving up, shining a light on
\n170-pound contenders like Carlos
\nPrates<\/a> instead.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

I\u2019ve been interviewing Javier Mendez,
\nIslam
\nMakhachev<\/a>\u2019s coach. Here\u2019s a summary of some of the interesting
\ncomments he shared with me.<\/p>\n

“He\u2019s gained 5 kilos of muscle, and feels better at welterweight\u2014he
\nprefers this weight class. I don\u2019t think he\u2019ll ever fight at
\nlightweight”.<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00c1lvaro Colmenero (@KOlmeneroMMA)
\nAugust 10, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Islam Makhachev is far more comfortable competing at welterweight and won\u2019t move back down to 155 pounds. Makhachev (28-1) defended the Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight title four times before moving up to welterweight. He dominantly dethroned Jack Della Maddalena to win the 170-pound title last year and is now scheduled to defend it against Ian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39846,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}