The American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose has long put different weight classes on the same mats. Under head coach Javier Mendez, lightweights worked with heavyweights, and sparring partners often outweighed the smaller fighters by a wide margin.
Islam Makhachev trained in that room before becoming a two-division UFC champion. He holds a 29-1 record, which includes four lightweight title defenses and one welterweight title defense.
Former heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez recently described how the 155-pounder frequently caught him off guard and landed punches during light sparring sessions.
Cain Velasquez Says Islam Makhachev Landed Shots No One Else Did
Velasquez recently spoke about Makhachev on the Shawn Ryan Show. He said he no longer follows the UFC closely but still watches Makhachev. He recalled light sparring sessions where the smaller fighter routinely landed clean punches, which Velasquez noted rarely happens to him. He and Makhachev trained together despite a weight difference of about 90 pounds.
“When he was coming up, I’d spar with him,” Velasquez said. “Like, light sparring, and he’d hit me with stuff – and nobody hits me with stuff. But he hit me with stuff and I’d be like, ‘what the f—? Where did that come from?’ So I’m like, ‘this guy is good’.”
Cain Velasquez praises Islam Makhachev’s all-round skill and recalls Islam landing shots that surprised him during light sparring.
“I think Islam, one of my teammates, one of Khabib’s guys, Khabib and Islam. Islam is f*cking so skilled in the game, f*cking good everywhere, to where when he was coming up, I’d spar with him, light sparring, and he’d hit me with stuff, and nobody hits me with stuff.
But he hit me with stuff. I’m like, what the fuck? So I’m like, this guy’s good. But everybody has something great that they bring to the table.”
Via: @ShawnRyanShow
— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) October 30, 2026
Makhachev trains out of the American Kickboxing Academy, the same camp that produced Velasquez and Khabib Nurmagomedov. Mendez placed the Dagestani fighters into intense sparring rounds alongside future UFC world champions Daniel Cormier, Luke Rockhold, and Josh Thomson.
The coach also paired Makhachev in cage rounds against strikers like Leon Edwards, forcing the smaller lightweight to adapt to elite size and power from day one. The 35-year-old’s stellar UFC record backs up his reputation in the MMA world during hardcore training sessions.
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Makhachev won the lightweight title in October 2022 by submitting Charles Oliveira at UFC 280 and defended it four times. He then moved up and beat Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 322 for the welterweight belt. In August, he made his first welterweight defense at UFC 330, beating Ian Machado Garry by unanimous decision.
Before that fight, Velasquez said he expected Makhachev to extend his win streak, and it happened. Islam is riding a 17-fight win streak, breaking Anderson Silva’s historic 16-fight record to secure the longest consecutive winning streak in UFC history.
He is now expecting to return to the Octagon after Ramadan and will likely face the winner of the Carlos Prates vs. Michael Morales interim title bout at UFC 330.
