Is Shavkat overhyped?

People see what they want to see obviously.

Garry barely got touched by Neal for 15 minutes while comfortably outpointing him.

Shavkat made Neal look like a much better fighter than he actually is. Got badly rocked in the fight he was supposedly cruising to victory in and had to rally back for the finish. Neal is a pliddy headhunter who Shabkat had a huge length advantage over, he shouldn't have been able to connect almost at will like he was.

You ironically are a perfect example of why he is so overhyped. I've actually been very complimentary of Shavkat, even saying he is capable of beating everyone in the division, yet you take some minor criticism of his game and skillset and shit your pants.
Styles make fights bruh and shavkat has a reputation of leaving bodies to uphold that causes him to be in the pocket more. No overhype. Only death.

The fans demand casualties and he delivers.


:: funeral dirge ::
 
Not sure. Let's give it some time and we'll have our answer rather than having to speculate.

I will never forget a conversation I had on here a few years ago, before Khamzat fought Burns. Someone confronted me for not getting on the hype train and I explained that I'd get on the hype train after Khamzat won 5 more fights, against top opponents, while looking completely unstoppable. I don't remember how he phrased it, but he just could not wrap his head around not wanting to get excited for him NOW.

I think some people have started watching MMA because they love the drama and the excitement around a fight, but somehow confuse getting excited with praising fighters for things they haven't done yet.
 
I will never forget a conversation I had on here a few years ago, before Khamzat fought Burns. Someone confronted me for not getting on the hype train and I explained that I'd get on the hype train after Khamzat won 5 more fights, against top opponents, while looking completely unstoppable. I don't remember how he phrased it, but he just could not wrap his head around not wanting to get excited for him NOW.

I think some people have started watching MMA because they love the drama and the excitement around a fight, but somehow confuse getting excited with praising fighters for things they haven't done yet.
Khamzat, another undefeated warrior who has brought joy to those riding the train
 
I think Shavkat beats everyone else at WW currently except possibly Leon, I see that as a 50/50 fight. Do I think he's going to be GSP level eg GOAT, no, I don't. If he beats Leon, I think he will have an extended run as champ, no one else in the current top 10 WW beats him, IMO (except possibly Leon)
 
He's being treated as the boogeyman of the welterweight division, the guy whose going to take the belt and run the division. But imo his last two fights have revealed two flaws in his current skill set.

1. His offensive takedown game is average. He struggled against Neal. And while he did eventually get Wonderboy down in the second, a high level wrestler should have manhandled Wonderboy from the opening round.

2. His striking defense is pretty poor. He's very easy to hit. He's showing a great chin but the fact he's getting hit like that is not a great sign for career longevity.

Don't get me wrong, he's an amazing talent and that perfect finishing rate is insane. But I don't see the guy who fought Geoff Neal beating Leon Edwards. Leon is the better striker and has already handled the two best wrestlers in the division. I'm rooting for Shavkat as Leon is fairly boring to watch but I wouldn't favor him as of now.


A better title would've have been
Shavkat: is he the real deal?

A dude who's undefeated in TEN FUCKIN YEARS and has a PERFECT finishing rate in the UFC should be someone who gets hyped, no?

sit on this for a second. Why wouldn't someone like that get hyped?

And if you think Shavkats boring, it's because you 100% are the guy yelling instructions at the TV in Hooters

You have no clue what kind of strength and skill it takes to do what he's been doing.
 
I wouldn't call him overrated since he's finished every opponent the UFC has thrown at him, but I'm not quite seeing what everyone else on this forum does. I don't think he'll get past Edwards, though I've witnessed bigger upsets before. What puzzles me is why Shavkat should get the automatic title shot when both Ian Garry and Jack Della Maddalena have longer win streaks.
 
I'm guessing that Shavkat is hyped to be the next WW champion. If that's the case, then no, he's not overhyped. If he is hyped to be the GOAT WW, then yes, he would be overhyped.

If it is the former, then no, he's not overhyped because he's a fighter who is 29 years old, 18-0 with 18 finishes, 6-0 in the UFC, with wins over 3 UFC mid level guys, and 3 top 15 contenders, including a finish over Stephen Thompson. I doubt you can find anyone else with a similar resume at this point in their career. The closest would be Khabib, Jon Jones and Khamzat. Except Shavkat had all finishes while Khabib, Jones and Khamzat had some decisions. I believe they didn't have 3 wins over top 15 guys by their 6th fight either.

There were plenty of undefeated prospects in the UFC before, but I can't think of one who had 3 finishes over top 15 guys.
Not to mention all three of those guys had squeaked out iffy decisions.
 
Shavkat gets hit too much, he has what it takes to become champ but he wont be someone that holds unto it for a long time.

He is only 29 but he has a tone of milage for some reason this dude has 13 amateur fights
 
Shavkat is like the only guy that's not over hyped imo, he's a must watch.
 
Last edited:
No.

What more do you possibly want in an up and coming contender? You pointing out flaws like anyone is the absolute perfect fighter. Shavkat is 18-0, 18 finishes. You call his grappling average because he didn't easily ragdoll Wonderboy, but find a way to ignore that he's the only person to sub him ever, despite Wonderboy having fought Burns, Belal, Luque..

He's being hyped as the most promising up and comer in the division because he is, by a mile. Not every up and comer is gonna be a future champion, but he's definitely ready for that level of fight.
 
this thread would have made sense before he fought neil magny.............................................
 
He's being treated as the boogeyman of the welterweight division, the guy whose going to take the belt and run the division. But imo his last two fights have revealed two flaws in his current skill set.

1. His offensive takedown game is average. He struggled against Neal. And while he did eventually get Wonderboy down in the second, a high level wrestler should have manhandled Wonderboy from the opening round.

2. His striking defense is pretty poor. He's very easy to hit. He's showing a great chin but the fact he's getting hit like that is not a great sign for career longevity.

Don't get me wrong, he's an amazing talent and that perfect finishing rate is insane. But I don't see the guy who fought Geoff Neal beating Leon Edwards. Leon is the better striker and has already handled the two best wrestlers in the division. I'm rooting for Shavkat as Leon is fairly boring to watch but I wouldn't favor him as of now.

1. I agree that his TD are not that good. But:
a) Neal is a very good striker.
b) Wboy fought many wrestlers, but none of them managed to submit him. They kept Wboy on the ground without much damage. Shavkat actually submitted him.

2. So was Usman's.

3. He might be the better striker, but Shavkat can take him down. Tumenov is a better striker than Leon and was beating Leon badly on the feet, until Leon took him down.
 
That's how it goes with new fighters. Especially undefeated ones.

He's already very skilled and super aggressive.
I would favor Leon over him but I think I'd favor Shavkat over everyone else.

Haven't seen many people saying he'll rule the division for years to come...so I'd say no. His hype as a top contender and possible champion are very much warranted.
 
People see what they want to see obviously.

Garry barely got touched by Neal for 15 minutes while comfortably outpointing him.

Shavkat made Neal look like a much better fighter than he actually is. Got badly rocked in the fight he was supposedly cruising to victory in and had to rally back for the finish. Neal is a pliddy headhunter who Shabkat had a huge length advantage over, he shouldn't have been able to connect almost at will like he was.

You ironically are a perfect example of why he is so overhyped. I've actually been very complimentary of Shavkat, even saying he is capable of beating everyone in the division, yet you take some minor criticism of his game and skillset and shit your pants.

Kind of weird you're this impressed by Garry slightly outpointing Neal in a close decision.
I mean good for him and it's a great win, but I have no idea why you're acting like it was this incredible display.
 
Shav is the man
He’s like the guy Joe Rogan wanted to be
 
Very talented/dangerous fighter who brings it and goes for the kill. However, TS has some fair points, though I think he goes a bit too far.

It's worth noting that Wonderboy was almost 41 when he fought Shavkat and has gone 3-4 since 2017. This isn't the same Wonderboy who was KO-ing Whittaker and Hendricks and going to a draw with the WW champ 8 to 10 years ago. Some of the comments I saw after the fight sounded like Shavkat had just finished prime WB.
 
Kind of weird you're this impressed by Garry slightly outpointing Neal in a close decision.
I mean good for him and it's a great win, but I have no idea why you're acting like it was this incredible display.
On the contrary, I'm doing the opposite.

Garry put in a pretty uninspiring mediocre performance against Neal. But the facts remain, he took no damage in that fight, and comfortably outworked Neal for the 15 minutes. Didnt agree with the judge that scored it for Neal, that was a pretty easy UD for Garry.

My point is, Sherdog unilaterally shat on Garry for that win against Neal, but they also heaped praise on Shavkat for his own performance against him, which was far worse. Against Garry, Neal couldn't get anything going, but Shavkat made him look world class. He hurt Shavkat badly in round 3, and was landing on him all night long, despite him being a predictable, ploddy, headhunting one handed fighter with a huge height disadvantage and a reach disadvantage.

Sherdog is inconsistent here due partially to the dislike of Garry, but also the overhyping of Rakhmonov. If Garry's performance against Neal wasn't all that great, then Shavkat's was significantly LESS impressive, despite getting the finish. Yet to hear Sherdo tell it, Shavkat/Neal like is one of the most impressive performancesin UFC history. It's not based in reality at all. Great fight, but performance wise it was shaky.
 
On the contrary, I'm doing the opposite.

Garry put in a pretty uninspiring mediocre performance against Neal. But the facts remain, he took no damage in that fight, and comfortably outworked Neal for the 15 minutes. Didnt agree with the judge that scored it for Neal, that was a pretty easy UD for Garry.

My point is, Sherdog unilaterally shat on Garry for that win against Neal, but they also heaped praise on Shavkat for his own performance against him, which was far worse. Against Garry, Neal couldn't get anything going, but Shavkat made him look world class. He hurt Shavkat badly in round 3, and was landing on him all night long, despite him being a predictable, ploddy, headhunting one handed fighter with a huge height disadvantage and a reach disadvantage.

Sherdog is inconsistent here due partially to the dislike of Garry, but also the overhyping of Rakhmonov. If Garry's performance against Neal wasn't all that great, then Shavkat's was significantly LESS impressive, despite getting the finish. Yet to hear Sherdo tell it, Shavkat/Neal like is one of the most impressive performancesin UFC history. It's not based in reality at all. Great fight, but performance wise it was shaky.

Neal couldn't get much going but neither could Garry. I think he won too but the rounds were close, expecially the second if I remember well enough. Rakhmonov would have won a decision as well, and it'd have been a 30-27 rather than a split (not my opinion, they have the scorecards out), and on top of that it was a great fight. I don't think going life and death with Neal automatically makes him a future champion (he has all the skills to be one, though), but I can definitely see why people would like his performance better than Garry's.
 
Back
Top