Makhachev Looks ‘Huge’ Ahead Of Welterweight Debut

“This camp is really hard. I gained weight. I became big. We changed like many, many things. We sat with the coaches and we made the plan, you know. And (it was) very difficult to gain the weight. I finally became a little bit big now because I tried to like the last couple of months. It’s very hard. I used like creatine, protein after every training. You try to eat more, but it’s very hard when you train twice a day. When you’re training hard it’s very hard to gain weight,” Makhachev said 

The benefit of fighting closer to his natural weight is the preservation of power, strength, and stamina. This directly benefits his world-class grappling: the added mass will translate into superior strength and weight in the clinch and on the ground, making his already dominant top control even harder to escape. Makhachev’s grappling was his key to victory at lightweight; at welterweight, this preserved strength will allow him to handle the larger, naturally heavier Della Maddalena. 

While the added weight offers power, it also means his body must now move more mass. If the fight extends into the later championship rounds, this newly acquired bulk, despite the best conditioning, could become a burden, slowing his footwork and making his takedown attempts less effective in Rounds 4 and 5.