A Potential hurdle... Russian-Dagestani / Eastern European takeover

[Kompromat]

Didn't Illia grow up and train in Spain though?

He did from what I heard but pretty sure he still has this Caucasian mentality based on the way he behaves and has close ties to his people in Georgia and probably trains with them sometimes (or Caucasians/post-Soviet guys in general). This compliments training discipline and confidence and they have this urge to put their regions on the map and prove they are the toughest. Simiar case to Mokaev and Khamzat though they moved to other countries later.

 

[StonedLemur]

i purposely did that to see if anyone noticed and you're the only one lol. gotta add some funny to the serious. i was waiting for somebody to discount my reasons for being an idiot who can't count lmao

I mean clearly you can count, but it's the alphabet you're having issues with sir lol.

 

[TempleoftheDog]

Men, hairy men. Grappling, hairy, men. Russian men. Hairy Russian men, grappling, sweaty.

Champions.

Alrighty, then.

 

[kingmob6]

Thats very surprising honestly, I thought he was full Spaniard lmao he looks Spanish compared to Merab

there has been quite a few georgian athletes over the years for example, Kakha Kaladze if you watch football for example. I've seen them in person, and seen a lot of them, so Ilya is pretty inline.

 

[NoSmilez]

True. For whatever reason I remembered Shavkat being from Russia.

LOL just change your thread to Russian and CIS country takeover. You are getting too much crap from everyone.

 

[NoSmilez]

The only Georgian fighter that matters is that Jojua chick.

 

[FreedomCricket]

C. UFC is going to start holding these guys back if it looks like they're going to dominate and have boring styles/no personality. it's already happening. Evloev got leapfrogged by Lopes, who Evloev already beat. look at the rankings, Evloev isn't even top 5 even though he's undefeated, the guy he beat, Lopes is now ranked #3. how does that work? because UFC gave him the #2 guy in Ortega and what did Evloev get for all his winning ways? Aljo who is brand new to the division and only has a single win. Evloev even beat Ige, another guy Lopes beat before he got the Ortega fight and Evloev beat him easier than Lopes did.

Look, since Evloev beat Lopes in May of 2023, Diego has fought 5 times and gone 5-0.

Evloev fought 2 times in 2021, once in 2022 and once in 2023.

There is a reason Lopes is ranked #3 while Evloev is behind him... It's called activity. Lopes is 8-3 in ELEVEN fights in the same time Evloev has fought 4 times.

 

[Söze Aldo]

The only Georgian fighter that matters is that Jojua chick.

They should have never cut her.

 

[mister piscadinha]

LOL just change your thread to Russian and CIS country takeover. You are getting too much crap from everyone.

all he had to do was say "post-soviet", that would encompass everything

ukrainians, slavic russians, cossacks, dagestanis, chechenians, armenians, georgians, kazaks etc

 

[Luckyme]

Its called Soviet union takeover. Merab, Val, Shavkat etc are all from former soviet republics, they all speak russian as a heritage and all come from sport fighting culture laid as foundation during soviet times.

Soviet Union if it was still around, would dominate the mma world. Instead you see ex republics doing it

This is the correct answer. Not all Eastern European countries are known for excelling in MMA and in some places like Hungary, Romania, Lithuania, and Poland, the sport is hardly popular.

The real hotbed of MMA talent in the region tend to be the former Soviet Republics, especially those with a strong tradition of combat sports and wrestling, such as the Caucasus nations (Dagestan, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, etc.). Central Asian countries like Kazakhstan, which were also part of the Soviet bloc, are included in this as well.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

Look, since Evloev beat Lopes in May of 2023, Diego has fought 5 times and gone 5-0.

Evloev fought 2 times in 2021, once in 2022 and once in 2023.

There is a reason Lopes is ranked #3 while Evloev is behind him... It's called activity. Lopes is 8-3 in ELEVEN fights in the same time Evloev has fought 4 times.

then how was Ortega ranked #2? talk about inactive, this motherfucker fights less than Evloev and loses way more.

 

[FreedomCricket]

then how was Ortega ranked #2? talk about inactive, this motherfucker fights less than Evloev and loses way more.

Well it's typically much harder to lose rankings based on inactivity. Plus Ortega is a big name.

 

[PrideNverDies]

The sports been hijacked. UFC won't be a premier sports organization at this rate

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

Well it's typically much harder to lose rankings based on inactivity. Plus Ortega is a big name.

doesn't make sense. how can it be harder to lose rankings if it's so easy to gain them? he didn't fight for 2 years and he never went down 1 rank while everyone else kept fighting. how can activity make you go up fast and inactivity not make you go down fast? i'll tell you how, because the UFC ranking system is arbitrary. you're trying to talk logic where there is none. the reason Lopes went up so fast is because the UFC can see he can sell tickets. the reason Evloev isn't going up fast because the UFC do not consider him a needle mover. it's that simple.

 

[Aurelian]

then how was Ortega ranked #2? talk about inactive, this motherfucker fights less than Evloev and loses way more.

Rankings are done by votes from some random media members. Your guess is as good as mine about how much they follow the sport.

 

[Lord Pyjamas]

Well, I'm sure someone else will take issue with this, but the "guy" at FW is clearly Ilia, a grappling and striking threat. Evloev could get there, but he's still ... Just not there yet. In fact I may remember thinking Allen arguably won that one...

High-explosion fighters will continue to do well at 185 up, my prediction.

Once people in the west go back to being very poor again it will go back to at least equal again.
You people just need some patience!
It might actually be coming sooner then you want it to!

 

[Bend NvR Break]

I think there is a very strong chance as we move forward that the majority of divisions have Russian-Dagestani or Eastern European champions. While this is fair, and I do think they are the best fighters in the world, it does set a problem as far as entertainment value is concerned. People tend to forget that MMA, like every sport, is at the end of the day part of the entertainment industry, and unfortunately the wrestling pressure heavy style of the Russian-Dagestani school is not necessarily the most popular among fans. It is also not peculiarly helpful to have one region be overly dominant, with guys who are generally quiet, and not histrionic figures.

At BW we have Merab currently, and the next obvious contender is Umar.

Evloev seems like the next obvious guy at FW, and he is particularly boring.

At LW we have Islam, and nobody seems to present a legitimate challenge.

At WW we have Belal (Palestinian American), who is not very popular, and Shavkat coming up, who is exciting to watch, who is not from E. Europe. Ok.

Khamzat at MW is a question mark since he is utterly unreliable, but he is also an exciting fighter.

At LHW there is only so long one can hold before Ankalaev gets another shot. And he's another snoozer.

Valentina again as champion is, well, what it is...

And this is assuming no new signings from that area take place.

Russians have been in the UFC/mma since it's infancy. They aren't new to the game. Just a few special ones have emerged in the last few years. It's disingenuous to try and make it seem like Russians and Dagestans have just found MMA. The truth is that they've been around they just gotten beaten up more times than not.

And let's not pretend that this wave of dagi fingers aren't super risk adverse and don't cherry pick a lot. Khabib turned down Aldo and a chance at the LW IC while McGregor was boxing just to fight Barboza in a regular 3 Rd fight after khabib was screaming for anyone to hear that he wanted to fight Alvarez for the title. Turned down a chance at a UFC title against the guy who is routinely thought to have the best tdd in MMA history to have a regular fight a guy with terrible tdd.
And Shav is not Russian or Eastern European.

 

[Lord Pyjamas]

Lets be honest!
Pretty much none of the regions these fighters come from actually want to be part of Russia. So we should call them Dagestani people instead!
We don't call Texans Americans after all.
That would just be rude! Leaving out American in Texas American would probably also be bad.
Probably not a good example?

 

[HuskySamoan]

I think there is a very strong chance as we move forward that the majority of divisions have Russian-Dagestani or Eastern European champions. While this is fair, and I do think they are the best fighters in the world, it does set a problem as far as entertainment value is concerned. People tend to forget that MMA, like every sport, is at the end of the day part of the entertainment industry, and unfortunately the wrestling pressure heavy style of the Russian-Dagestani school is not necessarily the most popular among fans. It is also not peculiarly helpful to have one region be overly dominant, with guys who are generally quiet, and not histrionic figures.

At BW we have Merab currently, and the next obvious contender is Umar.

Evloev seems like the next obvious guy at FW, and he is particularly boring.

At LW we have Islam, and nobody seems to present a legitimate challenge.

At WW we have Belal (Palestinian American), who is not very popular, and Shavkat coming up, who is exciting to watch, who is not from E. Europe. Ok.

Khamzat at MW is a question mark since he is utterly unreliable, but he is also an exciting fighter.

At LHW there is only so long one can hold before Ankalaev gets another shot. And he's another snoozer.

Valentina again as champion is, well, what it is...

And this is assuming no new signings from that area take place.

The takeover is Caucasians (Dagestani, Chechen, Georgian, Ingushetia etc) and also Central asians (Uzbeks, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgz). Nots not really nor has it ever been "east Europe".

At like 170lbs and down, they will have a big presence so long as major promotions actually sign them, for the foreseeable future.

 

[Feniamin]

The takeover is Caucasians (Dagestani, Chechen, Georgian, Ingushetia etc) and also Central asians (Uzbeks, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgz). Nots not really nor has it ever been "east Europe".

At like 170lbs and down, they will have a big presence so long as major promotions actually sign them, for the foreseeable future.

Isn’t there is no one besides Evloev from Ingushetia? I am not sure that there is even 2 or 3 Ingush guys outside of him and Yandiev that fights in non-Russian or Kazakhstani promotions.