Kevin Holland believes Islam Makhachev would become the welterweight champion if he decided to move up in weight.
Makhachev is the current UFC lightweight champion and is set to defend his belt in the main event of UFC 302 against Dustin Poirier. Should Makhachev win, he has hinted at moving up in weight and going to welterweight to try for champ-champ status.
Holland, who’s ranked 15th at welterweight, believes if Makhachev does move up in weight he will become the champ and be dominant.
“Champ, champ, champ, for sure, for sure. champ. I think Khabib (Nurmagomedov) could have done the same f*****g thing if he wanted to. So yeah, for sure, for sure. I think Islam’s probably a little bit more scarier to deal with. He knocked out ‘Volk’ and Volk’s not, I don’t think an easy person to put away, even though he lost the last two being put away. I think a lot of that came from the Islam head kick. Yeah, scary, scary guy right there,” Holland said at UFC 302 media day.
Even though Islam Makhachev would be moving up 15lbs to 170lbs, Kevin Holland doesn’t think the size would play much of a factor. Instead, he believes Makhachev could have success against a heavyweight as that is how strong he is.
“I think the way those guys grapple over there, I don’t think it would matter if you are a heavyweight. When they decided to get you down, they are going to get you down, they are persistent, they work hard, and they are really good at what they do. And, I really suck at wrestling so I wouldn’t want no problems with that guy. I know how to pick my fights, my mamma raised me well,” Holland said.
As for Kevin Holland, he’s set to return to the middleweight division on the main card of UFC 302 against Michal Oleksiejczuk.
