UFC champ Islam Makhachev gets advice from mentor’s chief rival ahead of welterweight move

Islam Makhachev is making a bold trip up to the UFC welterweight division, and he’s received some advice from an unlikely source ahead of time.

Makhachev is the long-time UFC lightweight champ. He claimed the belt with a submission win over record-breaking champ Charles Oliveira in 2022, and went on to defend his belt with wins over Alexander Volkanovski (twice), Dustin Poirier, and Renato Moicano. Those wins served to establish the Russian as the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC. It also set him up for a shot at the UFC welterweight title.

Until recently, the welterweight belt was held by Makhachev’s friend Belal Muhammad. Makhachev refused to fight Muhammad for the title, but after the Palestinian-American lost his belt to Jack Della Maddalena earlier this month, he is now officially headed up to welterweight. He has even vacated his lightweight belt, and is expected to walk right into a title shot against the new champ.

Switching between weight classes is not easy, and often ends in disaster.

One fighter who knows the struggle well is Tony Ferguson. Ferguson started his UFC career as welterweight, then moved down to lightweight, before finally returning to welterweight. Interestingly, he was one of the fiercest rivals of Makhachev’s UFC mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov.

While Ferguson and Nurmagomedov never actually fought, they were the clear-cut No. 1 and 2 lightweights in the UFC for years. During that time, they were scheduled to fight an absurd five times, but the booking fell through on each attempt.

Given the unfinished business between Nurmagomedov and Ferguson, it may be surprising to see the former giving Makhachev advice. However, that’s just what he did in a recent interview with veteran MMA reporter Helen Yee.

Tony Ferguson talks Islam Makhachev moving up to 170 & who’s a better grappler between Islam & Khabib.
Full interview with @TonyFergusonXT here: https://t.co/ShRqHvokzu pic.twitter.com/fhTi6C2oFT

— Helen Yee (@HelenYeeSports) May 28, 2025

Tony Ferguson gives advice to UFC champ Islam Makhachev

“The best advice is being able to walk around at that weight,” the UFC veteran told Helen Yee. “The big cut going to 155 is bad. I mean, even mine, when I went to Dubai, I cut from like ’70-something to like 64-and-a-half. I overdid it, wasn’t paying attention. If you’re not having somebody monitor your weight and you fluctuate, like a harder time to keep that weight and that weight on after.”

What do you think of this advice from Tony Ferguson? Will help it help Islam Makhachev become a two-division champ?