{"id":246275,"date":"2025-10-28T12:12:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T12:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/246275\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T12:12:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T12:12:08","slug":"makhachev-lightweight-cut-had-me-performing-at-60-of-full-potential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/246275\/","title":{"rendered":"Makhachev: Lightweight cut had me performing at 60% of full potential"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev is set to challenge for the welterweight title at UFC 322<\/a> on November 15th, and many wonder how he\u2019ll size up against the much larger Jack Della Maddalena.<\/a><\/p>\n

In a new interview with ESPN MMA, Makhachev shared some details on his transition to 170 pounds and whether he\u2019d ever consider returning to 155.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to walk around [192 pounds],\u201d Makhachev said. \u201cIt\u2019s like [192] and five weeks out at [182 pounds]. And it\u2019s gonna be a very easy cut, honestly, I think. We\u2019ll see. I still keep in keep in touch with the US nutritionist guys. They give me good supplements, good advice also.\u201d<\/p>\n

The weight cut was always tough for Makhachev,<\/a> and being able to concentrate on training instead of nutrition has been a highlight of the camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve changed weight divisions and my life is changed,\u201d he said. \u201cAlways, like all my life, I have to think what I\u2019m gonna eat, what I have to eat for the dinner. Now I can enjoy my can camp, eat whatever I want, and just smile and train.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c155, I make weight always, but it\u2019s so difficult, so hard always. I feel that [it affected my performance]. No one who who cut [22 pounds], more than [22 pounds], they never recover it 100%. I still feel like I recovered for for the fights like maybe 60%. Because it\u2019s so hard to recover it by 30 hours. And now I\u2019m very excited to see how I\u2019m gonna feel in the cage.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for coming back down to lightweight at some point for a superfight with Ilia Topuria,<\/a> Makhachev never said never, but it\u2019s clear it would take a lot of money to convince him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I have to cut to 155, then it\u2019s gonna be hard,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd Dana White have to pay for this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Islam Makhachev faces Jack Della Maddalena in the main event of UFC 322 at Madison Square Garden, with the co-main being Weili Zhang vs. Valentina Shevchenko in another champion vs. champion bout. Moving up is always risky business, but history isn\u2019t made by the risk-adverse. We\u2019ll see how things size up in New York City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev is set to challenge for the welterweight title at UFC 322 on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85,1396],"class_list":{"0":"post-246275","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}