Should Leon & Islam move up?

[315MMAFighter]

Defend or vacate.

When I saw your post really fast I thought you wrote defecate lol. Random I kno

 

[Paladin]

Should Leon & Islam move up?

Both Leon Edwards & Islam Makhachev showed their aspirations to move up to become a double champs

This is about the time every dominant champ starts to lose. Overlooking next opponent will cost Leon and Islam dearly

 

[SalvadorAllende]

FFS... Islam keeps fighting the same 2 guys over and over.

Leon defended only against the guy he took the belt from. He has plenty of contenders and I don't even think he gets past Colbi. He would get slaughtered at MW.. dude almost got 1-2ed to Bolivia by Nate Diaz of all the people.

Colbi winning and Islam moving up and moping the floor with him would be fun to watch tho.

 

[NoSmilez]

Strickland might be an easier fight for Leon than Islam. It's just the stylistic matchup.

 

[nostradumbass]

"He did 30-27 Tsarukyan" lol what a bum response, you're at it again making the forum a dimmer place. The first two rounds were very close, a judge did give Arman a round. Also Arman was 23 and took the fight on like 10 days notice for a UFC contract in his debut. "ISLAM DID 30-27 ARMAN" well that settles it, you're brilliant.

What grade are you in? Yeah, dummy, when 2 guys fight, and 2 of the 3 judges return scorecards that say 30-27, that is what we call beating someone 30-27. Unfortunately, some emotional retard crying that you didn't like the result doesn't wipe fights off the records.

Oh, well I guess Islam can never move up now because "husky samoan" from the karate forum has declared that fights don't count if any of the rounds aren't complete blowouts or they didn't happen this year. In fact, since only 2 of the 3 judges and 12 of the 16 media scores had 30-27, it's really more like a loss for Islam if you think about it. Derp.

 

[nostradumbass]

Fair yeah I did forget, but that was baby 23y/o Tsarukyan on short notice, we should get to see him take a crack at it with 4+ years more training and a full camp. As for the other guys, maybe they shouldn't be needed - but Islam's resume wouldn't be in such dire need of diversity if they didn't make two of his three title fights be against the same guy. Gamrot totally should've gotten the shot over Volk and we need to pray that they don't give another title shot to Oliveira because an Oliveira-Volk-Volk-Oliveira title reign would be the lamest thing ever

Sure, I guess he could, but Arman's ranked like #8, so it's kind of hard to say Islam can't move up until he's rematched the #8 contender.

The LW contenders are kind of a mess. Nobody has a win streak of more than a couple fights. Now actually seems like a great time for Islam to move up while the division sorts itself out. The bigger problem isn't for the LW side, it's Belal being in line at WW. Also, pretty much always, if a fighter moves up for a title fight, he's staying there if he wins and only coming back down if he loses.

 

[Conan the K-9]

Sure, I guess he could, but Arman's ranked like #8, so it's kind of hard to say Islam can't move up until he's rematched the #8 contender.

The LW contenders are kind of a mess. Nobody has a win streak of more than a couple fights. Now actually seems like a great time for Islam to move up while the division sorts itself out. The bigger problem isn't for the LW side, it's Belal being in line at WW. Also, pretty much always, if a fighter moves up for a title fight, he's staying there if he wins and only coming back down if he loses.

I think everyone thinks he should move up, because he is a WW killing him self to be able to fight featherweights at lightweight.

He should vacate and start to climb the rankings at WW. Jumping directly to the title shot is bs. He has done nothing to deserve that.

 

[duke_droese]

Islam yes but only if he beats Oliveira again and 1 up and comer.

Leon needs to defend his belt a few times. He's barely done anything in the sport yet so he hasn't earned it.

 

[TempleoftheDog]

Vacate and move up. Otherwise fuck off. The UFC created this mess with that asshole Conor. Now they need to fix it. No more logjamming two divisions with these bullshit superfights.

They are no risk, huge reward for the fighter moving up. And deserving contenders are getting screwed over. These things have lost their appeal because everybody wants to do it now. If you’re a champion. Every fight should be a defence.. Period.

 

[Dana's Conscience]

If Islam beats Charles, then maybe give him Gaethje after as a formality so WW has time to sort itself out. Assuming Islam wins that, let him give 170 the old college try.

As for Leon, no. Just no. Guy is not a MW.

 

[gentel]

The LW contenders are kind of a mess. Nobody has a win streak of more than a couple fights. Now actually seems like a great time for Islam to move up while the division sorts itself out. The bigger problem isn't for the LW side, it's Belal being in line at WW. Also, pretty much always, if a fighter moves up for a title fight, he's staying there if he wins and only coming back down if he loses.

Islam yes but only if he beats Oliveira again and 1 up and comer.

Leon needs to defend his belt a few times. He's barely done anything in the sport yet so he hasn't earned it.

Dana ruined the whole timeline by booking Dariush against Oliveira rather than against Islam - that would've added much needed diversity to his title reign and given much better grounds for him to move up

I still don't think Oliveira deserves a rematch, still he only has the one Dariush win after getting run through and furthermore, he pulled out of the title fight rematch he did get. IMO Islam should fight Gaethje next, then the winner of Tsarukyan vs Dariush, then try for double champ

 

[nostradumbass]

Dana ruined the whole timeline by booking Dariush against Oliveira rather than against Islam - that would've added much needed diversity to his title reign and given much better grounds for him to move up

I still don't think Oliveira deserves a rematch, still he only has the one Dariush win after getting run through and furthermore, he pulled out of the title fight rematch he did get. IMO Islam should fight Gaethje next, then the winner of Tsarukyan vs Dariush, then try for double champ

It's wouldn't exactly add diversity to Islam's record if Arman wins and Islam has yet another rematch with him.

I doubt they'll just throw Oliveira to the bottom of the pile, so if he gets the fight with Islam, then Arman beats Dariush, that's just making the champ beat everyone twice for no good reason.

Plenty of fighters get to move up to challenge for a 2nd belt, but for some reason, the #1 p4p fighter has to stay around and beat everyone twice or fight guys who are 0-2 in title shots? FFS, Pereira just fought for the title in a 2nd division in his 7th UFC fight.

He's not going to get any credit for beating Gaethje, Dariush, or beating Arman or Oliveira again, so why wouldn't he want a fight where he's not a -350 favorite?

 

[I WILL CUT YOU]

Islam is at least the P4P #1 so it's worth considering, but moving up without beating Dariush, Gaethje, Gamrot, or Tsarukyan seems pretty BS to me. IMO he should beat 2 of them and then he will be deserving of a double champ attempt

Islam has two good wins and one was a featherweight. He doesn't belong on the pound for pound list.