Dustin Poirier recently made a bold claim about the size difference between him and Islam Makhachev at UFC 302.
Last June, Makhachev admitted that his move to welterweight was difficult because his body was used to cutting weight rather than putting it on.
Any concerns about the former lightweight champion’s ability to compete in a higher division went away after Makhachev dominated Jack Della Maddalena in November to win the 170-pound gold.
Poirier’s experience of challenging the Russian in 2024 suggests that he had no doubts about whether going up would suit his former opponent.
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Islam Makhachev says he hasn’t weighed more than 176 pounds inside the Octagon despite Dustin Poirier’s comments
Dustin Poirier was submitted by Islam Makhachev following a valiant effort in his final shot at winning the lightweight title.
During a recent appearance on Joe Rogan’s JRE MMA Show, ‘The Diamond’ recalled looking across at his opponent before the bout started and thinking, “f—, this guy’s huge.”
“I was in his [Hunter Campbell] office not too long ago, and they keep a record of all the weights [from] fight night,” Poirier revealed. “They don’t release it all, but they keep it.
“We were talking about the Islam fight when I fought Islam, and he was telling me about his weight, and I was like that’s insane. 192 [pounds] or something, I think. I think so. 190, 191, something around there. I was 176 [pounds].”
Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images
The welterweight champion didn’t wait long before he countered his former title challenger’s comments about his huge weight gain from stepping on the scales to walking into the Octagon.
“I’ve never weighed more than 80kg (176 pounds) ever,” Makhachev wrote in his Telegram channel.
It’s certainly not uncommon for fighters to cut a lot of weight before putting a large amount back on before they compete.
Last year, Alex Pereira weighed in at 232.4 pounds less than 24 hours after he dropped down to 205 for his light heavyweight title rematch with Magomed Ankalaev.
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Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
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2026-03-18 03:30:00
