I dont think refusing every fight given is the right thing to do either. Especially when he had a title fight that he pulled out of.
He beat Oliveira fair and square though. Same guy Topuria just beat. He pulled out from an injury. The next title shot went to Oliveira instead. Isn’t that punishment enough?
*heres 18+ months to train, recover and keep fight milage off your frame while the rest of your competition continues to fight and you get a title shot anyway*
18+ months?. He prepped for a fight in Jan and pulled out. He weighed in as backup for UFC 317. Next title fight would hopefully be before the end of the year.
His unprofessional weight management cost him the time lost, no one else is responsible for wasting a fucking thing.
It wasn’t a weigh in issue, wasn’t it a back injury?
"Diet starts tomorrow"
^^^
Moicano confirmed that the night before weigh in, Hunter Camphbell called him saying "Make sure you make 155 on the dot tomorrow. You're probably fighting for the belt, both guys are heavy."
Well after seeing that vid you just posted of all the fast food in his car, I don’t know how he’s not as big as Pimblett. Jesus Christ
that’s a lot of fckin food.
Perhaps, but if we're talking about what is merited, Gaethje had gotten KO'd for the first time in his career (Never been out out mostly TKO'd) the same night armen fought Charles. both Gaethje And Armen had good claim to a title fight before 300. Gaethje Just KO'd Porier who also fought for a title a bit a go.
Sure, but if Arman was ready for UFC 317 and Oliveira got the title shot instead, I'm not going to tally that as inactivity for Arman if he was ready and willing but got passed up for the the guy he beat last. Like I said, passing him up seems like adequate punishment, imo. Penalizing him further for inactivity after purposely shutting him out, seems like a self fulfilling exercise.
Gaethje beat Poirier in July 2023 though. Giving him only a 2 fight win streak since his last title shot. He got another BMF fight with Max (and title eliminator of sorts), (hence why Max got the next shot at FTW) . The part that makes less sense is POirier getting the title shot after the single win, but that another matter.
Gaethje had 2 title fights in his last 7 fights and was finished in both. The reality is that he's on a 1 fight win streak. So I still say we award the title fight to the guy with the longer win streak, the higher ranking
I like Gaethje as much as Arman. I really do. I honestly just want the most worthy opponent not the busiest. And by the way, Arman has fought more times than Gaethje in the past 3 years (6 fights vs 5 fights). And Arman's last fight was officially a title eliminator bout.
You make a compelling case for Gaethje and I respect that. Just giving my rationale for why I think Arman should still be ahead. I think a fair case can be made for both. As a fan of the sport, I think Arman is the tougher challenge and Gaethje is the extremely favourable matchup (brawler, faceplant KO'd by Max). I like seeing champs taking the toughest fights. That's what championship fights are supposed to be about.
Inactive for 16 weeks? He hasn't fought since 300. By time he fights again woyld be nearly 2 years.
