“I saw Makhachev at about 3:30 in the morning,” Bilder was quoted as saying by MMAnews. “We were both on our way to the official weigh-in. He had a bad weight race. I would even say terrible. It was terrible dehydration.”
“I looked at him – he was in a sauna suit, and he was literally carried by Dagestani fighters. I then thought, ‘I’m very dehydrated, but what this guy did to himself is just terrible’. Makhachev looked terrible.”
As a result, Islam Makhachev made weight, keeping within the championship limit of the lightweight category, and then successfully defended the UFC championship belt, defeating Australian Alexander Volkanovski by unanimous decision. The Russian will defend his next title on October 21 at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi.
Blake Builder, who signed with the organization at the Dana White’s Contender Series qualifier, also scored a win that night, beating Shane Young via unanimous decision.