UFC LHW division is completely dead. Where are the rising contenders?

Cantalope said:
It's weak because the top 3 Jones, Rumble, DC won't be there anymore.
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Jones isn't top 3 or anywhere in the rankings. Fighters retire, get over it (Rumble) and when a champ moves up to fight (DC) it should be praised and not seen as a detriment.
 
Hotora86 said:
Where are the "rising contenders", as questioned in the title?
Gus? Volkan? Glover? Come on.
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Why is Volkan written off because of 1 loss? Latifi looked like a killer his last outing.

Gus isn't a rising contender, he is simply a top contender and has been for years.
 
xn7 said:
Jones isn't top 3 or anywhere in the rankings. Fighters retire, get over it (Rumble) and when a champ moves up to fight (DC) it should be praised and not seen as a detriment.
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Everyone knows Jones is still the best LHW. He never lost his belt in the cage. Also I'm not bashing DC for moving up I'm bashing the rest of the division for being weak.
 
The UFC doesn't cut enough guys anymore. They try to hold onto names and also fill the roster up with a bunch of cans.

Pat Cummins isn't a can but he's not the 11th best fighter in the world. He was brought in as a late replacement and just hasn't been cut yet. That story is half the fighters in the UFC.

The UFC should cut its roster in half and focus on bringing in quality prospects instead of random card fillers.,

Having as many events as they do now, though, they can't do that. They need those card fillers. And it dilutes any efforts they might make at securing real top quality fighters.

Already, orgs like Bellator and second tier orgs have fighters that objective fans would say are top 5 guys in the UFC in every weight class. Once DC leaves LHW, you could argue that the real 205 lb champ is outside of the UFC. When Stipe and DC are gone, you can make that argument for HW.

It will continue to trickle down to every other weight class.
 
xn7 said:
Why is Volkan written off because of 1 loss? Latifi looked like a killer his last outing.

Gus isn't a rising contender, he is simply a top contender and has been for years.
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Neither is a challenge for DC tho.
 
Potential rising contenders could have been built by doing well against the Phil Davis s and Ryan Bader s of the world.
 
Think they should just bring in a 195 weight class, so middleweights don't have to cut much weight can jump up to that division then maybe LHW can come down to this weightclass. Would be a great weight class either way
 
Reyes, Antigulov, Edilov and Pedro are very promising up and coming guys. Rakic and Johnson are interesting.
Sakuraba7 said:
Antigulov (LHW) was scheduled for "Fight Night: Emmett vs Stephens" and he reportedly pulled out with an injury. But they had him on Fight Pass prelims. Even though 13 of his last 15 fights ended in the 1st rd, and he got POTN on his debut. He easily beats the LHWs on the maincard that night. You can bet he ends up getting a fight vs some no-name and not see him again for a year.
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The fact that he's constantly pulling out is probably the reason he keeps getting Fight Pass spots. If he shows some consistency maybe he's going to have more spotlight, it's on him.
 
executionermma said:
The fact that he's constantly pulling out is probably the reason he keeps getting Fight Pass spots.
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I'll let Zabit also know he should stop pulling out.

Training injuries are more likely to happen when fighters are relatively inactive btw.
 
executionermma said:
I'm talking about Antigulov and i made it clear in my post.
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I know. And I'm using Zabit to explain how its clearly not fighters pulling out that has them slapped on Fight Pass. If so then please give me the excuse for Zabit and Taisumov.

Why is Zabit still on FP despite two POTNs and huge growing following?
 
While it looks crappy now, I think we could be seeing 2nd and 3rd fights between Jones and Gus in the coming years. That'll hold interest in the division over for a while so that the UFC has some years to find/develop new talents.
 
It’s not. Lose to being dead, but it currently has the two best LHWs, and possibly best fighters, ever on top.

Take them out of the division and the division is fire once again. Remember people used to say this about MW when Anderson had a stranglehold on that division as well.
 
Sakuraba7 said:
I know. And I'm using Zabit to explain how its clearly not fighters pulling out that has them slapped on Fight Pass. If so then please give me the excuse for Zabit and Taisumov.

Why is Zabit still on FP despite two POTNs and huge growing following?
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https://www.mmafighting.com/2018/3/...umov-withdraws-from-ufc-223-due-to-visa-delay

MMAFighting said:
“Beckan” has previously been forced off two previous UFC cards, UFC Fight Night 81 and UFC 203, due to visa issues.
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Sakuraba7 said:
I know. And I'm using Zabit to explain how its clearly not fighters pulling out that has them slapped on Fight Pass. If so then please give me the excuse for Zabit and Taisumov.

Why is Zabit still on FP despite two POTNs and huge growing following?
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In Antigulov case it could be, also you are trying to ignore the fact that Zabit is fighting at a PPV card, not at a UFC on FOX like Antigulov was, very different.

Zabit is fighting at FP because 223 is a stacked card to some extent, the fights at main card or at FS1 either have bigger names or are more important, in some cases both. It's not like anyone knows his opponent too.
 
Sakuraba7 said:
For Christ's sake. I just said this on PAGE 1.

He should have been scheduled for a non-US event. Why refuse to put him on Poland which he asked for, or any of the other dozen non-US card, then put him on NYC knowing he can't get a Visa just to have him shelved again?
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For Satan's folly.

You can't expect to promoted by a company who has a mainstay within Las Vegas, without being able to fight in the USA.
 
executionermma said:
In Antigulov case it could be, also you are trying to ignore the fact that Zabit is fighting at a PPV card, not at a UFC on FOX like Antigulov was, very different.

Zabit is fighting at FP because 223 is a stacked card to some extent, the fights at main card or at FS1 either have bigger names or are more important, in some cases both. It's not like anyone knows his opponent too.
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How does pulling out from FP minimize the perceived damage vs pulling out from FS1 prelims?

If a fighter pulls out of FS1 prelims it is no different from FP prelims, because he's not the headliner. If he makes it to fight night, they get an exciting FS1 fight. If he doesn't make it out, then its the same as if he pulled out from Fight Pass. Because neither affect the promotion or maincard or headline.

Reality is, every Russian fighter that's not a Heavyweight or Khabib fights almost exclusively on Fight Pass. Ironically enough, it was a CAN (Saparbek Safarov) that got put on the maincard in Australia, despite having 1 fight. And even his debut fight was on the maincard. But he's a total can (only 2 fights in 4 years before the UFC. Went 2 years w/o even a bout), while better fighters with large followings can't even get an FS1 slot.
 
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