Alex will be champ for as long as the ufc wants him to

[djason1988]

To be clear, I'm not bashing him. The man is a phenomenal striker, and will dominate every contest that remains standing. That's the rub though.

It's no coincidence that there isn't a single solid offensive wrestler in the top ten at lhw. The ufc actively dissuades grappling, despite the sport being mma, and I'm willing to bet that they intentionally overlook high level grapplers in their recruiting process.

Put simply, if we want to see Alex challenged, they need to start getting guys to actually grapple again. And no, ankalev is not some powerhouse wrestler. Periera is gonna kill him too.

 

[Spam On Rye]

Cope

 

[SuperAlly]

Take off the tinfoil hat

 

[oski]

xamã

 

[laleggenda27]

It's not that the UFC dissuades grappling. The problem is that, for whatever reason, high-level wrestlers in the heavier weight classes don't transition to mma like they do in smaller weight classes. Both in the U.S. and internationally.

It's actually counterintuitive, since heavier wrestlers would find success much quicker than smaller ones. If a guy like Gable Steveson joined the UFC, he'd almost instantly be top 10 because the grappling (and overall talent) at HW is so awful.

 

[Fatback96]

I don’t think they’re protecting him, they just don’t want Ankalaev as champ lol

Also Ank isn’t a world beater. The dude lost a striking battle to Jan B and forgot he could wrestle until his leg was literally about to fall off.

 

[ipowerslapmywife]

Ank has pretty good wrestling

 

[mungos]

Give us an example fighter.

 

[OmegaRugal]

Name these LHW wrestlers that UFC is blocking

 

[blaseblase]

It's not that the UFC dissuades grappling. The problem is that, for whatever reason, high-level wrestlers in the heavier weight classes don't transition to mma like they do in smaller weight classes. Both in the U.S. and internationally.

It's more like they dissuade grappling by not paying the fighters very much. Ryan Bader, Phil Davis, and Cory Anderson all left the company because they weren't entertaining to watch and got lowballed.

 

[OmegaRugal]

It's more like they dissuade grappling by not paying the fighters very much. Ryan Bader, Phil Davis, and Cory Anderson all left the company because they weren't entertaining to watch and got lowballed.

Maybe if they didn’t lose they would be here as well.

 

[blaseblase]

Maybe if they didn’t lose they would be here as well.

Uh what? Ryan Bader was on a winning streak when he left. Anderson did leave off a loss but it was a number one contender fight. These are top 5 fighters we are talking about. They didn't get cut if that is what you are implying. They got lowballed and left to make more money in Bellator.

 

[OmegaRugal]

Uh what? Ryan Bader was on a winning streak when he left. Anderson did leave off a loss but it was a number one contender fight. These are top 5 fighters we are talking about. They didn't get cut if that is what you are implying. They got lowballed and left to make more money in Bellator.

2 fight win streak. But each time he was closing in on a top contender match … he lost.

Lost to Jones
Lost to Machida
Lost to Glover
Lost to Rumble

And all of these were embarrassing one sided and/or vicious KO.

He was a solid gatekeeper in UFC. Not championship material unfortunately.

 

[Fedorgasm]

I think the UFC is not necessarily biased against wrestlers, but they are biased against fighters that can't finish their opponents.

Khabib was a wrestler and they never tried to get rid of him because he finished fights and was exciting.

If you don't finish, they'll give other people title shots before you. And they'll offer you less when it's time to renew your contract.

 

[blaseblase]

2 fight win streak. But each time he was closing in on a top contender match … he lost.

Lost to Jones
Lost to Machida
Lost to Glover
Lost to Rumble

And most of these were embarrassing one sided and/or vicious KO.

He was a solid gatekeeper in UFC. Not championship material.

...Ok? It's been a gatekeeper division ever since Jones left. Jan and Glover weren't good enough to be champ either back then. Then they magically became elite when all the wrestlers left. Corey Anderson had his way with Glover wrestling, then Glover at 40 somehow was the best wrestler in the division. Almost like something happened between then and now.

 

[JKS]

To be clear, I'm not bashing him. The man is a phenomenal striker, and will dominate every contest that remains standing. That's the rub though.

It's no coincidence that there isn't a single solid offensive wrestler in the top ten at lhw. The ufc actively dissuades grappling, despite the sport being mma, and I'm willing to bet that they intentionally overlook high level grapplers in their recruiting process.

Put simply, if we want to see Alex challenged, they need to start getting guys to actually grapple again. And no, ankalev is not some powerhouse wrestler. Periera is gonna kill him too.

A few points for you to consider. LHW has never been a division from the beginning of mma that has good and many wrestlers. That's in the UFC or any other organization. Most fighters that are strong wrestlers obviously have a strong wrestling background in NCAA, National competitions or Olympics. The thing about that is all those have a big gap before HW. There are many divisions in the lower to middle classes, and then goes to HW. Basically anything around 205 to 225 doesn't really exist in wrestling. NCAA goes from 197 to 285. Olympic has 215 I think, but those guys will go down to MW. That is why WW has always had strong wrestlers, anyone who wrestled between 174 to 197 goes to WW.

The other thing, mma overall has become a highly focused striking sport. Fighters find it easier on the body to train that way as grappling is harder. And overall, fighers have become so good at defending TDs that many grapplers focus on striking. Look at guys like Islam now, he's strikes as much as he grapples.

 

[filthybliss]

It is not his fault that the 205lb division has a deficit of wrestlers

 

[Preston broadus]

Alex will be champ for a long time if he improves his takedown and grappling defense. The only guy to challenge him on the feet was adesanya and he says he'll never fight alex again....lol what a weirdo.

 

[laleggenda27]

It's more like they dissuade grappling by not paying the fighters very much. Ryan Bader, Phil Davis, and Cory Anderson all left the company because they weren't entertaining to watch and got lowballed.

Yes, they have gotten rid of fighters labeled as "boring wrestlers" in the past. But that hasn't dissuaded good wrestlers/grapplers from transitioning to mma in smaller weight classes. There are plenty of quality wrestlers/grapplers at 125 all the way up to 185. But the cupboard is almost empty at LHW and HW.

 

[TheOnlyGreatest]

I don’t think they’re protecting him, they just don’t want Ankalaev as champ lol

Also Ank isn’t a world beater. The dude lost a striking battle to Jan B and forgot he could wrestle until his leg was literally about to fall off.

They are 100% protecting him and giving him favorable match-ups. If he didn't have a cool look and a crowd pleasing style, he wouldn't have even gotten far enough to fight Izzy the first time because the first competent wrestler he faced would have wrecked him. Probably some no name too. And that's if they would have even let him get into the UFC in the first place.