Islam Makhachev shielded from coward accusations by former double champion amid welterweight move: "Not afraid at all"

Islam Makhachev received some support from Daniel Cormier while Chael Sonnen intimated that the Dagestani was exhibiting a level of cowardice in his recent move. After notching most (four) title defenses for the 155-pound strap, Makhachev has now vacated his belt to pursue the welterweight belt presently held by Jack Della Maddalena.

One of the interesting facets of Maddalena's UFC 315 title win over Belal Muhammad was that it opened things up more for Makhachev to target his goal of becoming a two-division champion.

If Muhammad had retained his belt, Makhachev could have stayed at lightweight due to both being friends and part-time training partners.

On a recent episode of their show Good Guy/ Bad Guy, Cormier and Sonnen were discussing Makhachev's move up. The latter described Makhachev's lack of desire to fight Muhammad as something that shows a lack of temerity from the standout combatant. As a retort to these claims by the former two-division UFC title challenger, Cormier stated:

"I understand what you're saying and I've seen this thought now. I've seen this idea now, Chael and I love when we get into this. This is what we're paid for. We just don't do it often."

He added:

"I disagree completly because here's the deal, by saying that it almost implies and you said it, it's an act of cowardice. It almost implies that he's afraid. Not afraid at all... But not afraid at all, I'm telling you."

Check out Daniel Cormier's comments below (6:36):

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Islam Makhachev receives advice from Daniel Cormier leading into Jack Della Maddalena title bout

Islam Makhachev is seen as someone who has a well-rounded game, but his grappling receives a lot of focus. According to Daniel Cormier though, it would serve Makhachev well to work on his wrestling more heading into this bid for welterweight gold.

The former two-division UFC champion gave this advice to the 33-year-old, now former lightweight champion, during that same episode of Good Guy/ Bad Guy.

When giving his overview of the looming clash between Islam Makhachev and Jack Della Maddalena, Cormier said:

"Islam vs. Jack is gonna be a great fight, especially seeing Jack defend the takedowns in the way that he did and Islam struggled a little to take down Dustin Poirier."

"He didn't take him down as easily as he had taken down other guys, so think for Makhachev he needs to really lock in on getting that wrestling ready to fight a guy in Jack Della Maddalena who showed great takedown defense."

Check out Daniel Cormier's comments below: