Media Do the odds show people are sleeping on Gaethje?

[Superzorro]

Gaethje is a legend also, and came much closer to Gold than Miller was ever allowed to. Paddy is still undefeated and fought his way to solid Contender status. Saying he isn't good doesn't even come close to making it true. Your statements are untrue.

That’s my point. Legend doesn’t necessarily mean you are one of the best. Good is a relative term. He’s good compared to Jim Miller but not the best lightweights. That goes for Paddy and Justin.

Yeah I don't get it, he's only lost to the elite and 3 wins out of his last 4 at this level is fantastic.

People in this thread are talking like he's a can, is it just cos they hate Paddy?

He lost to every elite fighter he faced. Hes exciting but he’s just not elite if we’re talking skills. I don’t think he’s a can. He’s just overrated.

 

[fendertach]

Gaethje has only looked bad on the ground in 2 fights in his career. Those were against Khabib and Olives, arguably the 2 greatest grapplers in UFC history. Paddy is from the UK and everyone knows they suck at grappling and can't wrestle.

 

[SaltedVinegarfootstomps]

Paddy is a long limbed arachnid. He's going to pick up alot of wins off people underestimating his range control- Justin could very well be one of them. If he can force Justin to blunderbuss straight into him, that's an easy takedown and likely a sub

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

Hopefully the only person sleeping after this fight is Paddy

 

[Mr.Maelstrom]

The writing on the wall is that Gaethje's well on the way on his decline from contender to gatekeeper and Paddy's ceiling, with mediocre striking and shitty takedowns at age 30 after more than a decade of doing this professionally, is gatekeeper, and that any kind of title fight between the two of them is utterly ridiculous, interim title or not. A title fight where neither fighter is so much as a solid contender should never, ever happen. Better to leave the title vacant or let the champion sit out and not bother with an interim title. Sometimes happenstance means that one side of a title fight is completely undeserving, but we should never have a title fight like this one.

As much as I agree with most of this, I'm tired of divisions being stalled and guys fighting once a year due to the trinket belt that half of them willingly vacate within a year of winning it in the first place.
The whole "vacate to move up" stipulation was supposed to remedy this, but then Ilia and Islam both moved up and we got stuck with log jams at 45, 55, and 70 now lol

New network, new year. Fuck precedent, I wanna see some good matchups. JG vs Paddy is a good matchup

 

[KO Shotz]

Gaethje is 3-1 in his last 4 fights with his one loss to Holloway.

He beat Fiziev in his last fight and his win before that was knocking out Dustin.

There is nothing to indicate that he's still not fighting at a very high level outside of his loss to Max, who has extremely fast/good hands, it was just a bad matchup because Gaethje is more plodding like a tank.

Paddy does not have hands like Max. His path to victory is to take Justin down and submit him but the only guys that have done that in his career are absolutely elite grapplers like Oliveira and Khabib.

This 100%.

Many forget Gaethje was lined up to fight Islam for the belt before he was called upon to save UFC 300 to fight Max. Also, many look at him being matched up with Fiziev to be why he's not title shot worthy, but let's remember that he was originally suppose to fight a then top 5 Dan Hooker but was only replaced by Fiziev because Hooker pulled out.

I'm picking Paddy to win, but it's going to be a fight. Gaethje is almost done, but he's nowhere near the point of being washed like Tony & Chandler were when Paddy fought them.

 

[HockeyBjj]

I like Gaethje in this. He may not be true Champ material, but each time he gets a step down from those guys (Khabib, Olives, Holloway) he reminds them there's levels to this (Fiziev, Poirier, Chandler)

I think Paddy's skill is more closely in the Fiziev/Porier/Chandler tier than the Khabib/Oives/Holloway tier

And while Gaethje struggles against wrestlers, Paddy has great grappling but not the best takedowns. So he might not get much of a chance to use his grappling outside a few brief moments along the cage

 

[m249viking]

Olivera's odds were off against Topuria too many. These Vegas guys are crazy.

No, they’re making money. They don’t care at all who wins/loses. As long as the books balance and they get their %

 

[Karate Kid]

to this day i do not know why JG is picked the way he is given his last relevant win was against...Tony Ferguson who went on his 20 fight losing skid right after (which tells you a lot). Before that Barboza at his own decline and of course journeyman Cerrone whereas Fiziev isnt anything of particular note and Dustin himself was shop-worn and mostly past his best despite a commendable end to his career.

Gaethje has not the fighter the MMA community would like to think he is whereas Paddy, despite his padded record has improved by the fight whereas the other is a diva who feels he is entitled to some title shot out of oblivion.

cannot wait till Paddy submits him.

 

[JBJ was here]

New network, new year. Fuck precedent, I wanna see some good matchups. JG vs Paddy is a good matchup

I like the fight and I want to see it, but it severely devalues the concept of a title, even an interim title that's already of dubious value. It would be a stretch as an eliminator fight to see who gets to face Arman in a #1 contender bout. It would be a great fight to kick off a not-a-PPV main card and an acceptable not-a-PPV co-main. In the immediate moment the answer is to simply not care about rankings/titles and just enjoy the fight, but caring about titles is part of the fun of being a fan. That this fight is booked as a title fight simply makes it a less fun fight to contemplate and watch.

 

[Hotora86]

I would never sleep on a nother dude, that sounds ghey

ghey-chee?

 

[SomethingCringetastic]

My next screen name will be GayChichi

 

[Mr.Maelstrom]

I like the fight and I want to see it, but it severely devalues the concept of a title, even an interim title that's already of dubious value. It would be a stretch as an eliminator fight to see who gets to face Arman in a #1 contender bout. It would be a great fight to kick off a not-a-PPV main card and an acceptable not-a-PPV co-main. In the immediate moment the answer is to simply not care about rankings/titles and just enjoy the fight, but caring about titles is part of the fun of being a fan. That this fight is booked as a title fight simply makes it a less fun fight to contemplate and watch.

Yeah, hard to disagree. I feel like if they can't run a tighter ship than this, despite them having more leverage than any other combat sports organization in history and virtually all the leverage possible over their own belts and roster...
Then there's no mechanism by which to ensure a real sport with standards that are consistently adhered too

 

[No Skill Gap]

Gaethje has only looked bad on the ground in 2 fights in his career. Those were against Khabib and Olives, arguably the 2 greatest grapplers in UFC history. Paddy is from the UK and everyone knows they suck at grappling and can't wrestle.

What other instances has Gaethje been in grappling exchanges or looked good in them?

I can't recall the Porier fights, missed the BMF one, but I think he's been in a lot of stand-up brawls where his opponent hasn't really tried to take him down. Fiziev, Holloway, Chandler, probably Porier. I doubt Barboza, Michael Johnson, Alvarez, Cerrone, or Ferguson tried to really take him down or grapple. Who knows if Pimbeltt will either, but it's an obvious path. Pimblett's BJJ/Grappling is very good by all accounts, why wouldn't he implement that.

 

[No Skill Gap]

The writing on the wall is that Gaethje's well on the way on his decline from contender to gatekeeper and Paddy's ceiling, with mediocre striking and shitty takedowns at age 30 after more than a decade of doing this professionally, is gatekeeper, and that any kind of title fight between the two of them is utterly ridiculous, interim title or not. A title fight where neither fighter is so much as a solid contender should never, ever happen. Better to leave the title vacant or let the champion sit out and not bother with an interim title. Sometimes happenstance means that one side of a title fight is completely undeserving, but we should never have a title fight like this one.

Yeah but you know the reason why we're having this title match. Because Pimblett has charisma, he can talk, he's from the UK. He's marketable, he's potentially a decent to big PPV draw for the UFC and Paramount. It's about money. There was an opening there, it's an obvious set up.

But even with that truth stated, this isn't that bad in terms of merit. Topuria is inactive and walked away, he vacated the belt.

Who else is supposed to be fighting for the LW title? Oliveira and Holloway both just lost to Topuria. Porier retired allegedly. They're all coming off recent title shot losses, they've all had many chances and flimsy title shot cases themselves. Arman doesn't even want a title shot apparently, turns down fights. So Gaethje-Pimblett isn't even that bad in reality, that's where the division is. And even if it's weak, it's passable, and the UFC wants Pimblett to be a star and set up a Topuria-Pimblett title fight in the future.

 

[Superzorro]

to this day i do not know why JG is picked the way he is given his last relevant win was against...Tony Ferguson who went on his 20 fight losing skid right after (which tells you a lot). Before that Barboza at his own decline and of course journeyman Cerrone whereas Fiziev isnt anything of particular note and Dustin himself was shop-worn and mostly past his best despite a commendable end to his career.

Gaethje has not the fighter the MMA community would like to think he is whereas Paddy, despite his padded record has improved by the fight whereas the other is a diva who feels he is entitled to some title shot out of oblivion.

cannot wait till Paddy submits him.

One of the dumbest, caveman-esque fighters we’ve seen make it to this point. His fights are exciting, like the one against Michael Johnson for example. But he’s not winning any fight that requires him to think or strategize. He just learned how to throw straight punches ffs and people acted like he turned a new leaf in his career.

 

[cmw43]

to this day i do not know why JG is picked the way he is given his last relevant win was against...Tony Ferguson who went on his 20 fight losing skid right after (which tells you a lot). Before that Barboza at his own decline and of course journeyman Cerrone whereas Fiziev isnt anything of particular note and Dustin himself was shop-worn and mostly past his best despite a commendable end to his career.

Gaethje has not the fighter the MMA community would like to think he is whereas Paddy, despite his padded record has improved by the fight whereas the other is a diva who feels he is entitled to some title shot out of oblivion.

cannot wait till Paddy submits him.

Fiziev and Poirier were top ranked wins.

It's easy to discredit everyones resume if you're determined to make out they're over hyped.

By your logic Islam's best wins at LW are an even more shop worn Poirier that JG beat and an undersized and old and short notice Volk or Charlie Olives who already had 8 losses and became a 50/50 fighter after (which tells you a lot).

 

[Lepo Lepo]

Because he is a dumbass who was on the verge of retiring, unless he didn’t get his way crying and has a history of choking in title fights.

 

[cburm]

Gaethje has only been taken down and handled by khabib idk if paddy can do it.