News Paul Felder schools Islam and Leon: "Stay in your freaking divisions" (he spitting facts)

[big franklin]

Paul Felder is not a fan of fighters chasing dual-champion status so early in their title reigns.

Felder specifically has an issue with UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) expressing interest in moving up to challenge welterweight champion Leon Edwards (22-3 MMA, 14-2 UFC). Edwards also mentioned moving up to middleweight to capture a second belt, but Felder would like to see both of them rule their divisions first.

“We established that this (Muhammad) is the No. 1 contender, you’re (Edwards) also saying that you want to break Georges St-Pierre’s record, but then we got Islam Makhachev out there saying he should be next for the welterweight belt,” Felder said on his “Round-Up” show with Michael Chiesa. “Guys, stay in your freaking divisions, reign over your division. Can we get dominant champions before you all start wanting to fight for other belts?

“It didn’t used to be like this. The guys that did this in the beginning – obviously Conor is an exception. He did it; it was craziness. He was a superstar. (Daniel Cormier) did it because he earned it and was a 205’er. Amanda Nunes earned it. Now it’s just like everyone and their mother wants to be able to be a double champ. And it’s like, ‘Well, how about you get a whole lot of title defenses first, then you go and step up?'”

Source


Personally, I'm inclined to agree with Felder. This champ-champ nonsense needs to stop.

 

[biscuitsbrah]

Yeah it’s one thing if you legit ran out of contenders like Volk did before the come up of topuria. Plus he defended a bunch of times.

Islam and Leon need more fights in their division

 

[VinceArch]

It's definitely tiresome at this point. I'd prefer Islam try and break the record for most defenses before going up and Leon has Belal and Shavkat to worry about. Going up a weight class to get another belt has really become stale. It fucks up the divisions and hardly any double champion seems intent on defending both belts.

 

[Elvis.]

I agree with Felder , it’s not that super fights should never happen, but not while there’s worthy contenders that you haven’t beaten around . Fuck these guys , it’s just an opportunity for a big money fight that they can’t lose their title in

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Defend or Vacate

 

[El Fernas]

They have fought plenty of times in their divisions already, but i do kind of agree that chasing double champ status with few to no title defenses is silly, there is a reason we all know it tho, its money, its a well paid fight with no risk for their belt, so they can go back to another well paid fight for their own belt, nothing wrong with champs getting a pass, but it would be ideal if they would actually defend against a couple of contenders first, Edwards has defended twice already, same as Islam, but at least his defenses came from his own division, Islam fought the same guy twice, even if P4P #1, still a smaller guy and once on short notice, older than him too.

 

[Killer Kadoogan]

if ESPN would just STFU. whoever is handling islam too, just stop. 0 LW title defenses against any ranked LW opponent. this marketing gimmick is the worst possible direction to give a champ who doesn't resonate at all with the masses. so they try to force these accolades onto him, when really he's beaten Volk once. The other time was thee lay up match.

 

[textwarrior]

Paul Felder is not a fan of fighters chasing dual-champion status so early in their title reigns.

Felder specifically has an issue with UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) expressing interest in moving up to challenge welterweight champion Leon Edwards (22-3 MMA, 14-2 UFC). Edwards also mentioned moving up to middleweight to capture a second belt, but Felder would like to see both of them rule their divisions first.

“We established that this (Muhammad) is the No. 1 contender, you’re (Edwards) also saying that you want to break Georges St-Pierre’s record, but then we got Islam Makhachev out there saying he should be next for the welterweight belt,” Felder said on his “Round-Up” show with Michael Chiesa. “Guys, stay in your freaking divisions, reign over your division. Can we get dominant champions before you all start wanting to fight for other belts?

“It didn’t used to be like this. The guys that did this in the beginning – obviously Conor is an exception. He did it; it was craziness. He was a superstar. (Daniel Cormier) did it because he earned it and was a 205’er. Amanda Nunes earned it. Now it’s just like everyone and their mother wants to be able to be a double champ. And it’s like, ‘Well, how about you get a whole lot of title defenses first, then you go and step up?'”

Source


Personally, I'm inclined to agree with Felder. This champ-champ nonsense needs to stop.

I see both sides, being in your prime typically is very short lived.

 

[Paolo Delutis]

Paul Felder is not a fan of fighters chasing dual-champion status so early in their title reigns.

Felder specifically has an issue with UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev (25-1 MMA, 14-1 UFC) expressing interest in moving up to challenge welterweight champion Leon Edwards (22-3 MMA, 14-2 UFC). Edwards also mentioned moving up to middleweight to capture a second belt, but Felder would like to see both of them rule their divisions first.

“We established that this (Muhammad) is the No. 1 contender, you’re (Edwards) also saying that you want to break Georges St-Pierre’s record, but then we got Islam Makhachev out there saying he should be next for the welterweight belt,” Felder said on his “Round-Up” show with Michael Chiesa. “Guys, stay in your freaking divisions, reign over your division. Can we get dominant champions before you all start wanting to fight for other belts?

“It didn’t used to be like this. The guys that did this in the beginning – obviously Conor is an exception. He did it; it was craziness. He was a superstar. (Daniel Cormier) did it because he earned it and was a 205’er. Amanda Nunes earned it. Now it’s just like everyone and their mother wants to be able to be a double champ. And it’s like, ‘Well, how about you get a whole lot of title defenses first, then you go and step up?'”

Source


Personally, I'm inclined to agree with Felder. This champ-champ nonsense needs to stop.

I agree straight fire and facts from Paul Felder mad respect for him saying this...

 

[Corrado Soprano]

Journeyman Felder who is a forgettable commentator and fighter trying to tell champions what to do… Felder needs to stay in his lane.

 

[Dana's Conscience]

Cejudo got two belts and we don't think of him as highly as dominant single division guys like Volk, Usman, or Izzy. Beating Figgy, Moreno, etc would've been even more impressive than doing the same to Moraes and Cruz.

 

[Fatback96]

There needs to be a rule:

Title shot in a second weight class requires at least 3 title defenses of your current weight class.
If you do want to move up for a second title with less than 3 defenses, you must relinquish current title.

This would reduce the amount of log jam every division seems to be in.

 

[sdpdude9]

Double champ status is quickly becoming a lesser accomplishment due to the frequency. It should be an opportunity only afforded to those that truly set themselves apart from their division. Longevity at the top and numerous title defenses should be necessary. And also provided there is currently no worthy or viable contender at the moment. But UFC sees these fights as easy money and the fans do little to dispel that, so it will probably continue to happen.

 

[ipowerslapmywife]

How about they fight actual contenders. Islam has already had 2 super fights

 

[KID Yamamoto]

Defending your belt multiple times will always be more impressive then double champ status.

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

There needs to be a rule:

Title shot in a second weight class requires at least 3 title defenses of your current weight class.
If you do want to move up for a second title with less than 3 defenses, you must relinquish current title.

This would reduce the amount of log jam every division seems to be in.

Yeah, LW and WW lately have been artificially stagnant as fuck with Colby getting a title shot for no apparent reason and Islam not having defended his belt against an actual LW yet.

 

[LoveMyMMA]

Islam has no real challenges at LW, aside from maybe Gaethje.

Leon literally has zero reason to move up right now, he has Shavkhat and Belal to worry about. Belal to a lesser extent, but it's still unfinished business considering Leon eye-poked him and Belal is on a 9 fight win streak.

 

[GrantB13]

Yes this is getting real fucking annoying. Getting a title shot in the weight above should be a privilege but these days it's automatic that new champs start talking about two weight shit. If they want to do it, do it after MINIMUM 5 defenses or like Pereira did and move up after losing his belt to try another division. I like du Plessis, but he's yet another guy talking about moving up and he hasn't even had his first title fight yet. This madness needs to stop. I don't even think winning two belts is anything special. Give every champ the chance and it would be a regular occurrence that we see more of them succeed.

 

[TriangleMonkey]

Do want to be a cage fighter?

Or a super cage-fighter?

 

[Willie]

There is literally nothing that says Islam is going to fight Leon next but everyone freaking jumps on rumours with no knowledge whatsoever.