Can we just be honest about UFC matchmaking

[SKITZADACTYL]

what do you think this is, an election? I don't care who agrees with you. No matter what, izzy got put to sleep and then he retired from kickboxing for good.

He doesn't want this fight. I can't wait. Its coming soon enough.

hahahahaha just take the L and move on, you’re wrong, you look bad and the majority of people see it.

i already dicked on you, just move on.

 

[dipstickjimmy]

Alex has been fighting/training mma for 7 years, he's just been more active in kickboxing.

izzy didnt have a ufc contract and was doing both until alex kod him so bad he decided to never kickbox again. I never said Izzy never did mma until alex kod him but he didnt have a ufc contract at that time either. its very obvious why he chose to focus on mma after that ko.

OK what's your point then? Izzy was scared of this Alex guy or Izzy was drawn to the money? He has said he made more in one fight in the UFC then his whole kickboxing career. So Izzy is supposed to keep fighting in Glory for peanuts when he can go to the UFC and make way more?

 

[KhosVaziri]

OK what's your point then? Izzy was scared of this Alex guy or Izzy was drawn to the money? He has said he made more in one fight in the UFC then his whole kickboxing career. So Izzy is supposed to keep fighting in Glory for peanuts when he can go to the UFC and make way more?

He wasn't in the UFC and retired from kickboxing after a big knockout loss. I also don't believe he made big money in the UFC until he was champ anyways

 

[Shaddows]

At the time Cummins was undefeated in MMA, and his last MMA bout was only 9 months prior. Plenty of active UFC fighters have day jobs and longer breaks than that between fights. It was short-notice and DC wasn't champion at the time.

We have a weird situation where Pereira is potentially a bad matchup for the champion (simply because Izzy has never used offensive grappling in MMA) but is unranked and totally unproven against top grapplers in the division. He could easily lose to Vettori, Brunson, Andre Muniz, Hermansson, Weidman etc. if they can take him down. He doesn't deserve to fight for the belt unless he shows he at least has championship-level TDD.

There are plenty of unranked grapplers in the division who might even be able to beat Pereira. Guys like Nick Maximov, Albert Duraev, Gregory Rodrigues, Anthony Hernandez, Rodolfo Vieira, Jacob Malkoun, Kyle Daukaus, Deron Winn, and Gerald Meerschaert.

For all we know, Misha Cirkunov on a 3-fight losing streak might be able to tap Pereira.

Izzy had to get through Vettori, Brunson, and Gastelum just to win an interim belt. Pereira's best win in MMA is Andreas Michailidis.

again with these posts that are not only misleading, but right down asinine.

yes, Pat Cummins was "unbeaten". How many fights? 4. Each one with a different promotion.
That shows he was not "just like an UFC fighter who takes a day job to supplement his/her income".
At the time, he was not a fighter, not signed with ANY promotion and not looking for a fight. he was a full time Barista!

Now let me prop Alex like you did Pat:
Alex has 20% more MMA fights than Pat had, and he is on the same 4 fights win-streak that Pat was when he received the call to fight DC...but Alex is already signed with the UFC, making this whole thing a lot more easier.

Continuing with the same type of dishonest/deceiving headlines, it is worth mentioning that Alex is also undefeated in pro-boxing (one fight), showing he is truly a mixed martial arts legend!!

But wait! There's more!!!
Alex also got "Performance of the Night" in all of his UFC fights, showing he is an exciting fighter. Oh, by the way, all of his wins are (T)KO's!!!

Should we continue with this rather ...dishonest posting or have a proved my point it is useless and only contributes to clouding the discussion?

Look, I do agree that he could "potentially" lose to all the ranked fighters in his division... as could Joe Sotto, but yet he fought for TJ's belt right off the bat as his first UFC fight.

But beyond that, what exactly are you trying to argue? That he does not deserve it? I clearly noted on my early posts that I do agree with it and further noted that he should climb the ladder properly, proving his worth before fighting Israel...so again, what you are trying to argue here?

My ONLY point was that the UFC does a lot of things for the sake of a storyline, for the sake of profit... including (and unfortunately VERY commonly) giving undeserving title shots just for the sake of and easy storyline to sell.
That's how Masvidal got his two shots! That's how Colby got his two shots as well. That's how Dana is not opposed to give fucking Conor another title shot, even though he LOST his previous 3 fights in the division.

So again, please explain to me how I am wrong in pointing out that, if Israel wanted this fight, he would have gotten it. And who really deserves this fight instead? Cannonier (who lost to Whittaker a little over a year ago?) Or perhaps cringy Strickland? It is fairly obvious that the UFC is not behind those guys.
And since I am explaining how UFC's greed has no limits and how they don't care for "deserving", please tell me why they would not make it if Israel was demanding this fight.
nah. They would. in a heartbeat.
It is only because Israel does not want this fight, that it does not happen.

 

[Stoic]

Israel already destroyed this guy twice in kickboxing and got caught at the end of one of them. He needs to earn his title shot by proving he can beat elite MMA fighters like Israel had to receive his. No handouts.

 

[CC27]

No they wouldnt.

 

[dipstickjimmy]

He wasn't in the UFC and retired from kickboxing after a big knockout loss. I also don't believe he made big money in the UFC until he was champ anyways

He made it to a championship fight in Glory where all I could find about pay on a lazy quick search was average $20k. Izzy has made $153k in his first UFC fight. Career earnings estimated at $7.685 M. How much do you think he made in Glory? How about Alex? Sounds to me like Money was a big factor. Wonder why Alex left kickboxing? Must have been scared right?

 

[Sticko]

again with these posts that are not only misleading, but right down asinine.

yes, Pat Cummins was "unbeaten". How many fights? 4. Each one with a different promotion.
That shows he was not "just like an UFC fighter who takes a day job to supplement his/her income".
At the time, he was not a fighter, not signed with ANY promotion and not looking for a fight. he was a full time Barista!

And Alex, if we want to compare, has 20% more MMA fights than him and is (also) on a 4 fights win-streak, including one in the UFC, something Pat did not have.
And if you want to go in this "deceiving headlines", it is worth mentioning that Alex is also undefeated in pro-boxing, showing he is truly a standup phenom!
We can also add that in all his UFC fights, he got "Performance of the Night".
Should we continue with this rather dishonest posting (even though same as you, I never lied above)?

Look, I do agree that he could "potentially" lose to all the ranked fighters in his division... as could Joe Sotto, but yet he fought for TJ's belt right off the bat as his first UFC fight.

But beyond that, what exactly are you trying to argue? That he does not deserve it? I clearly noted on my early posts that I do agree with it and further noted that he should climb the ladder properly, proving his worth before fighting Israel...so again, what you are trying to argue here?

My ONLY point was that the UFC does a lot of things for the sake of a storyline, for the sake of profit... including (and unfortunately VERY commonly) giving undeserving title shots just for the sake of and easy storyline to sell.
That's how Masvidal got his two shots! That's how Colby got his two shots as well. That's how Dana is not opposed to give fucking Conor another title shot, even though he LOST his previous 3 fights in the division.

So again, please explain to me how I am wrong in pointing out that, if Israel wanted this fight, he would have gotten it. And who really deserves this fight instead? Cannonier (who lost to Whittaker a little over a year ago?) Or perhaps cringy Strickland? It is fairly obvious that the UFC is not behind those guys.
And since I am explaining how UFC's greed has no limits and how they don't care for "deserving", please tell me why they would not make it if Israel was demanding this fight.
nah. They would. in a heartbeat.
It is only because Israel does not want this fight, that it does not happen.

Pat Cummins was 4-0 and a late replacement for a non-title fight.

Joe Soto fighting for a title on his UFC debut is pretty weird, but he was on a 6-fight win streak and was a last-minute replacement after Renan Barão pulled out. Soto was supposed to be fighting Anthony Birchak.

Also that was 2014 in the early days of UFC's lighter weight classes. In the early days a lot of weird stuff happened that shouldn't necessarily be emulated today.

You're stressing that Alex Pereira got POTN in all of his UFC fights but he has one career UFC fight. That's disingenuous.

So you're arguing that although Pereira doesn't deserve a title shot, Izzy should nevertheless give him something he doesn't deserve? How is that logical?

I'm sure the UFC would love to make Adesanya vs. Pereira for the storyline, but they're not going to do that without letting Pereira build up some hype first. Casuals don't know who he is.

If Pereira gets past Bruno Silva, I'd like to see him face an unranked grappler like Roman Dolidze (9-1), then a lower ranked guy, then a top 5 guy.

 

[PPVpoints]

cringe.

it is true that izzy could choose him and the UFC might listen, he did it for yoel. but the dude isnt even in the top 20 right now, he beat 1 random guy who wasn’t good.

but he’s definitely not scared, pereira most likely wont even get to a titleshot. also love how people keep bringing up the 2 losses izzy has to him but clearly didnt even watch the fights.

The same could easily be said for Conor, but the idea of Conor getting a title is vastly on the table and according to Dana you'd be an idiot to think that Conor doesn't deserve a title shot. Pereira has done much better than Conor in his previous ufc outings. So the same retard Dana logic should apply to him as well.

 

[Shaddows]

Pat Cummins was 4-0 and a late replacement for a non-title fight.

Joe Soto fighting for a title on his UFC debut is pretty weird, but he was on a 6-fight win streak and was a last-minute replacement after Renan Barão pulled out. Soto was supposed to be fighting Anthony Birchak.

Also that was 2014 in the early days of UFC's lighter weight classes. In the early days a lot of weird stuff happened that shouldn't necessarily be emulated today.

You're stressing that Alex Pereira got POTN in all of his UFC fights but he has one career UFC fight. That's disingenuous.

So you're arguing that although Pereira doesn't deserve a title shot, Izzy should nevertheless give him something he doesn't deserve? How is that logical?

I'm sure the UFC would love to make Adesanya vs. Pereira for the storyline, but they're not going to do that without letting Pereira build up some hype first. Casuals don't know who he is.

If Pereira gets past Bruno Silva, I'd like to see him face an unranked grappler like Roman Dolidze (9-1), then a lower ranked guy, then a top 5 guy.

Kid, a little reading and comprehension before you try to argue with me about my fucking point.
You are basically stating I am right.
The only difference here is that I gave you examples that the UFC jumped people for storyline purposes or gave undeserving people title shots, and somehow you feel the urge to defend the UFC like "they don't do this anymore"... and that is a fucking blatant lie!

Please explain to me how Masvidal deserved a title shot...both title shots! Or Colby (his second title shot)? Or Conor ? or Lesnar? or any other fucking big name that they protected or flat out leapfrogged over all competition to a title shot!
If your point is to defend the UFC, I don't have words to tell you how fucking wrong you are. But Zuffa Zombies were known as zuffa Zombies exactly because they were brainless people trying to justify greedy actions by the UFC.... Zuffa is long gone, but it is obvious the zombies remain.

 

[Sticko]

Kid, a little reading and comprehension before you try to argue with me about my fucking point.
You are basically stating I am right.
The only difference here is that I gave you examples that the UFC jumped people for storyline purposes or gave undeserving people title shots, and somehow you feel the urge to defend the UFC like "they don't do this anymore"... and that is a fucking blatant lie!

Please explain to me how Masvidal deserved a title shot...both title shots! Or Colby (his second title shot)? Or Conor ? or Lesnar? or any other fucking big name that they protected or flat out leapfrogged over all competition to a title shot!
If your point is to defend the UFC, I don't have words to tell you how fucking wrong you are. But Zuffa Zombies were known as zuffa Zombies exactly because they were brainless people trying to justify greedy actions by the UFC.... Zuffa is long gone, but it is obvious the zombies remain.

Where did I say I agreed with Masvidal getting 2 title shots in a row or whatever else? It's obvious the UFC sometimes does stupid or unfair things from a matchmaking perspective. Masvidal is not even a top 10 WW IMO and he gets undeserved title shots because he's a draw. He didn't deserve the first one let alone the second.

I'm not particularly a fan of Khabib winning a vacant belt off of Al Iaquinta (though he was a short-notice replacement). Khabib probably should have gotten a TS before that. Tony and Colby shouldn't have had their interim titles stripped because if injury, they should have kept them until they could unify the belts etc etc.

If you're saying the UFC sometimes does stupid things I agree with you. I don't think they should do this specific stupid thing so why do you keep saying Izzy needs to ask them to do the stupid thing? Makes no sense for him to do that.

 

[KhosVaziri]

He made it to a championship fight in Glory where all I could find about pay on a lazy quick search was average $20k. Izzy has made $153k in his first UFC fight. Career earnings estimated at $7.685 M. How much do you think he made in Glory? How about Alex? Sounds to me like Money was a big factor. Wonder why Alex left kickboxing? Must have been scared right?

haha you're one of those guys that think the best kickboxers in the world make like 10k a fight, that's not how it works but anyways.

alex didnt get brutally kod. he did lose his last fight against the guy who is considered the best fighter in their weight class in the world but beat him right before that and that was after he started fighting mma again.

to end your career on a brutal ko like that is suspect.

 

[CatchtheseHands]

well you admit how dangerous of a fight it is and he's apprehensive to take it. he'd have nothing to gain besides avenging the KO that made him retire from kickboxing and he's not that confident about it.

There's nothing for him to gain from it outside of "revenge" for a fight he lost years ago. Do you really think Izzy's mental is that weak to the point where the loss would bother him? Dude is making bank now and having a great run. In time he will take the Pereira fight, for certain. Just not right now. Also look at it this way. If you were Izzy would you rather take the fight while Pereira is basically a nobody in the organization where you would jus be making your regular purse. or would you rather wait until Pereira is hyped to enough to make a super fight and sell a ton of PPV's? Taking the fight then would be worth the risk for Izzy. Not to mention they could easily make a trilogy fight out of it too and make a bunch of more money..

 

[dipstickjimmy]

haha you're one of those guys that think the best kickboxers in the world make like 10k a fight, that's not how it works but anyways.

alex didnt get brutally kod. he did lose his last fight against the guy who is considered the best fighter in their weight class in the world but beat him right before that and that was after he started fighting mma again.

to end your career on a brutal ko like that is suspect.

Izzy was 75-5 in kickboxing with 1 KO loss. Pereira was 33-7 with 2 KO losses. I would say that makes Izzy one of the best kickboxers in the world and he said he made more in one UFC fight then his entire 80 fight career in kickboxing. Even if you take his highest payday of $1.7 M for the Jan fight that would average to $21250 per fight. But if you are aware of what Glory pays then enlighten me?

You are clearly looking for something to hate about Izzy. Him getting KO'd in kickboxing and moving to MMA isn't really a valid issue.

 

[LoveMyMMA]

While we're on the topic of UFC matchmaking (and this might be sorta off topic) but Bryce Mitchell vs. Edson Barboza was a terribly put together fight on paper. It was such a terrible stylistic matchup for Edson, keeping in mind that a solely-Karate dependent Giga Chikadze was able to take down Edson, what exactly were Dana & Shelby thinking when they put this fight together? lol. It was so obvious from the get-go that Bryce would take the fight straight to the ground & keep it there.

 

[TJ Dillashank]

cringe.

it is true that izzy could choose him and the UFC might listen, he did it for yoel. but the dude isnt even in the top 20 right now, he beat 1 random guy who wasn’t good.

but he’s definitely not scared, pereira most likely wont even get to a titleshot. also love how people keep bringing up the 2 losses izzy has to him but clearly didnt even watch the fights.

compare that Alex to modern day Alex. 2 different fighters one got finished by body punches vs Jason Wilnis and the other KOed him in 15 seconds

 

[MarkHuntFanboy]

the ufc is garbage without mark hunt. when he was here, those were the days.

 

[Tweak896]

I just want to see the fight, Izzy is ducking. styles make fights and this is a terrible match up for him, period.

after alex won, yeah a good wrestler would be bad for him to fight but guess what, there's like 0 at mw. all of them are mediocre wrestlers. gastelum, cannonier and brunson are decent, that's about it. either way, I'm not concerned with a title run by Alex. let's just see him and Izzy fight. we already know what happened under kickboxing rules, Alex kod him so bad izzy retired. lets see what happens in mma.

Fair enough, you know Izzy has cleared the whole division, its kind of up to him what fights he want. Part of me thinks his wrestling is good enough to wrestlfuck him easy.

 

[ferrisjso]

That's only because it's MW. It's like Volkan in late 2010s LHW getting pushed up too soon because there was no one else they could have sold as a serious challenger. With Whitaker out of the way there's really no one left.

 

[Chrissan]

Alex is the only one in the division that could give Izzy an challenge tho