Why does FW not have any top fights lined up?

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RiotWyatt

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I get it, we just had Volk and Ortega. Holloway/Rodriguez was just booked for possibly a #1 contenders fight. That's it. What about the rest of the top 15?

#4 Korean Zombie - Last fought in June
#5 Calvin Kattar - January
#6 Arnold Allen - April
#7 Josh Emmett - Last year
#8 Giga Chikadze - August
#9 Dan Ige - June
#10 Edson Barboza - August
#11 Bryce Mitchell - Last year
#12 Sodiq Yusuff - April
#13 Movsar Evloev - June
#14 Shane Burgos - Scheduled against Billy Quarantillo
#15 Ilia Topuria - July

How is it that out of these 16 guys, only 3 are currently booked for fights? Matchmakers need to get to work.
 
Dana pay CCC because that list TS gave us is terrible lol.
 
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13Seconds said:
Some of those guys just fought. Emmet was recovering from injury. Kattar took a beating of a lifetime.
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The most recent FW fight from that list, other than Volk vs Ortega, was in August. It is now October.

Bryce and Emmett are recovering from injuries. Kattar took a beating but it was back in January. Booking a fight now doesn't mean he is fighting right now. Could have one booked for December and still have over two months to recover.
 
Yeah, it's bizarre, but feels like it's been like this for a while. Yair/Zabit falling through so many times seems like was a monkey wrench in UFC's FW plans. They just couldn't iron it out and get things moving.

Kattar took quite a brain dribbling from Max, though - last guy who went through that, Orteger, took something like 20 years off. Bryce Mitchell and Arnold Allen are kind of like the Islam Maklcheff of FW where it's a borderline guaranteed loss and they're not famous enough to be worth the risk. They're probably being ducked, possibly ducking each other. Emmett's recovering from an injury. Edson and Giga just fought but sounds like Giga is game to fight again, but I doubt he wants Allen or Bryce.

Ige and Zombie fought relatively recently and their records are so weird now with wins and losses over other guys at the top, I get how it might be difficult for UFC to match them up right without lukewarm rematches. Like, do you really wanna see Edson vs Ige 2? Kattar vs Ige 2? Zombie vs Ortega 2? Neither are bad fights, but I'd like something fresh.

I think Max/Yair is the next big bet for UFC to get things moving, but Giga could really weasel his way in for a title shot eliminator or even the title, if he stays enthusiastic like he has been so far.
 
Herwald said:
Yeah, it's bizarre, but feels like it's been like this for a while. Yair/Zabit falling through so many times seems like was a monkey wrench in UFC's FW plans. They just couldn't iron it out and get things moving.

Kattar took quite a brain dribbling from Max, though - last guy who went through that, Orteger, took something like 20 years off. Bryce Mitchell and Arnold Allen are kind of like the Islam Maklcheff of FW where it's a borderline guaranteed loss and they're not famous enough to be worth the risk. They're probably being ducked, possibly ducking each other. Emmett's recovering from an injury. Edson and Giga just fought but sounds like Giga is game to fight again, but I doubt he wants Allen or Bryce.

Ige and Zombie fought relatively recently and their records are so weird now with wins and losses over other guys at the top, I get how it might be difficult for UFC to match them up right without lukewarm rematches. Like, do you really wanna see Edson vs Ige 2? Kattar vs Ige 2? Zombie vs Ortega 2? Neither are bad fights, but I'd like something fresh.

I think Max/Yair is the next big bet for UFC to get things moving, but Giga could really weasel his way in for a title shot eliminator or even the title, if he stays enthusiastic like he has been so far.
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I could see Allen vs KZ. Allen is a high risk low reward fight but KZ will fight anyone. KZ gets another chance to make a case for a title shot. If he loses, he still has fun fights left outside the top. Allen could get his signature win or, if not, he's still young and can take another top fight.

Kattar vs Barboza would be fire. Both great fighters but are coming off losses and are reasonably far from a title shot so it makes sense.

Giga vs Ortega to establish the next true contender. The UFC will likely want to keep milking Ortega's popularity so a fight that can push him right back to a title shot makes sense.

Ige and Topuria agreed to fight so that makes sense.

Emmett and Mitchell are both on long layoffs and can return against each other or against lower tier guys for a tune up.

That leaves Sodiq Yusuff vs Movsar
 
RiotWyatt said:
I get it, we just had Volk and Ortega. Holloway/Rodriguez was just booked for possibly a #1 contenders fight. That's it. What about the rest of the top 15?

#4 Korean Zombie - Last fought in June
#5 Calvin Kattar - January
#6 Arnold Allen - April
#7 Josh Emmett - Last year
#8 Giga Chikadze - August
#9 Dan Ige - June
#10 Edson Barboza - August
#11 Bryce Mitchell - Last year
#12 Sodiq Yusuff - April
#13 Movsar Evloev - June
#14 Shane Burgos - Scheduled against Billy Quarantillo
#15 Ilia Topuria - July

How is it that out of these 16 guys, only 3 are currently booked for fights? Matchmakers need to get to work.
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So we can justify endless max holloway rematches.

Seriously, though, they should all be fighting soon. They all seem to be hopining for the right match up, unfortunately.
 
RiotWyatt said:
I could see Allen vs KZ. Allen is a high risk low reward fight but KZ will fight anyone. KZ gets another chance to make a case for a title shot. If he loses, he still has fun fights left outside the top. Allen could get his signature win or, if not, he's still young and can take another top fight.

Kattar vs Barboza would be fire. Both great fighters but are coming off losses and are reasonably far from a title shot so it makes sense.

Giga vs Ortega to establish the next true contender. The UFC will likely want to keep milking Ortega's popularity so a fight that can push him right back to a title shot makes sense.

Ige and Topuria agreed to fight so that makes sense.

Emmett and Mitchell are both on long layoffs and can return against each other or against lower tier guys for a tune up.

That leaves Sodiq Yusuff vs Movsar
Click to expand...

Kattar is still ranked 5th, there's no way he's going to fight down to barboza. He's aiming for Allen or KZ, and he'll likely get one of them. At worst, he'll fight Giga who has been calling him out. That said, I think it will be allen but they're waiting for Allen's broken hand to heal.
 
RiotWyatt said:
I could see Allen vs KZ. Allen is a high risk low reward fight but KZ will fight anyone. KZ gets another chance to make a case for a title shot. If he loses, he still has fun fights left outside the top. Allen could get his signature win or, if not, he's still young and can take another top fight.

Kattar vs Barboza would be fire. Both great fighters but are coming off losses and are reasonably far from a title shot so it makes sense.

Giga vs Ortega to establish the next true contender. The UFC will likely want to keep milking Ortega's popularity so a fight that can push him right back to a title shot makes sense.

Ige and Topuria agreed to fight so that makes sense.

Emmett and Mitchell are both on long layoffs and can return against each other or against lower tier guys for a tune up.

That leaves Sodiq Yusuff vs Movsar
Click to expand...
I'm cool with all, but I don't think Ortega is coming back anytime soon. Maybe another year off for him. And Giga is ready to go right now.
 
People are sitting out waiting for the opportunity that can maximize their gains. At one point the right opportunity will present itself or the costs of wasting your prime years waiting for the right fight will get too high and people will eventually accept a fight. Perhaps if we increased the revenue share that goes to the fighters they would feel more motivated to accept riskier fights.
 
The two top contenders in Zabit and Yair went MIA, so the division has been in limbo
 
The Chosen said:
The two top contenders in Zabit and Yair went MIA, so the division has been in limbo
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People underestimate how much that and Ortega's innactivity affected the whole division. How were all these other guys suppose to break through when Max and volk were caught up in rematches, and the other three guys in the top 5 were barely fighting? It really slowed down the turnover rate in the division. Everyone is waiting around for their chance to get that big fight, but it's hard when the guys holding the top rankings don't fight much.
 
That’s a sharp observation OP


This division for what it possesses in talent is sorely neglected, relatively



wtf happened to Doo Ho ? The guy mysteriously pulls out of a fight due to injury which he painted as being relatively minor….goes MIA His insta has gone more or less silent
 
Priced out by either $$$ or rankings, the UFC have their kid gloves on for this lot. Can't afford to put too many on their Apex fight nights or there's no room for bad heavyweight fights or endless post-DWCS match ups.

Just match them up and pay them, it's a great division.
 
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