Dan Hardy on Islam Makhachev’s welterweight future: ‘His game has to change’

Islam Makhachev won again on Saturday night at UFC 330, surpassing Anderson Silva to hold the most consecutive wins in UFC history. That new number, 17, will already be hard to surpass … and Makhachev has made it clear that he intends to keep adding to it for years to come.

Standing in the way of even more legacy are some particularly large welterweight challengers. Michael Morales claims he cut down from 230 pounds to be the backup fighter for Islam Makhachev vs. Ian Machado Garry. Carlos Prates is a big boy as well. And at UFC 330, Ian Machado Garry showed how you can stay upright and make things interesting against the former lightweight Makhachev.

In a new interview with Submission Radio, former UFC welterweight contender and current PFL director of European operations Dan Hardy delved into the difficulties Makhachev could face moving forward.

“It’s obvious that welterweights are a decent bit more difficult to control for 25 minutes,” Hardy said. “I think that’s what Makhachev was realizing yesterday … It’s only gonna get more difficult for your division. You look at the other guys sitting around the octagon ready to call him out. None of them are easy fights for him, and they all get bigger than him and Garry.”

“Makhachev stepped up into a weight class where guys are — and I’m gonna use these words very, very clearly — people are weighing in 15 pounds heavier. They’re not 15 pounds heavier. They’ve got more muscle mass. They’ve got bigger frames. You’re getting guys that are 6’2, 6’3, 6’4. Some of these welterweights have really big, broad shoulders, long arms, long legs, difficult to take down because there’s always a limb that’s gonna connect to the floor.”

“Makhachev’s game has to change,” Hardy said. “And I think this is where Makhachev will adapt if he stays in the welterweight division, if he wants to stay and try and keep defending the belt. I think he’s gonna be much more about hustle. This is where someone like Merab [Dvalishvili] made up for being shorter in the division. He just forced people to work much harder. Same thing with Volkanovski. There’s something to be learned from both of those guys — smaller in the division, but just as effective because they they crafted their game around their assets.”

“And I think Makhachev needs to realize that he’s not gonna be one of the bigger bullies in the weight class anymore, because there’s gonna be some big boys that he has to deal with.”

When it comes to size differences, there’s no one bigger in the division than Michael Morales, which may be why Islam Makhachev has put forward a preference for fighting Carlos Prates first. Ian Machado Garry beat Prates, and now Makhachev has beaten Machado Garry. Morales is 19-0 and as dangerous as they come. He’s also on the verge of sizing out of the weightclass, so if Makhachev delays that fight by another 9 months it may never happen.

Islam Makhachev is not Khabib Nurmagomedov, who won every single one of his fights in extremely dominant fashion. Alexander Volkanovski beat Islam up. Dustin Poirier beat Islam up. Ian Machado Garry beat Islam up. Islam takes damage and has to dig deep to earn his wins. It certainly makes for more interesting fights than his win over Jack Della Maddalena. But against a first round knockout artist like Morales, it could mean the end of his 17 fight win streak.