Does Ilia Topuria have to earn his shot to fight for the LW belt?

[Takes Two To Tango]

Inspired by this thread.

Media Post in thread 'Islam Makhachev wants Ilia Topuria to earn title shot, hasn't agreed to fight him yet'

Yesterday at 10:24 AM

• andgonsil

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Do you think has to earn it? Or his resume speaks for itself and he should get a title shot ASAP?

 

[Chayanne]

Topuria supposedly can't lose any more weight, doesn't want to fight Arman, wants to choose his own opponents. Islam who has cleaned up his entire weight class can also choose and is the right decision.

 

[Conan the K-9]

Depends on who is fighting for the LW title next and has he earned it, if Ilia has not…

 

[Striker Fox]

Only guy who should get it over Topuria is Arman, but it's understandable why Islam would want to wait for Topuria to beat a top ranked LW before giving him the chance.

Islam vs Arman
Topuria vs Oliveira for #1 contender

 

[b00tysweat]

Only guy who should get it over Topuria is Arman, but it's understandable why Islam would want to wait for Topuria to beat a top ranked LW before giving him the chance.

Islam vs Arman
Topuria vs Oliveira for #1 contender

Arman lmao

dude couldn't show up to his biggest payday, he loses his turn in line

 

[Luthien]

Give it to TOP I don't want Carmen near any title

 

[YourBoss]

He is clearly the best fighter Islam could face at 155 lbs so why the hell should Islam face a lesser fighter? Arman pulled out last time and the others have been beaten before or are no real challenge anyway.

 

[FreedomCricket]

Only guy who should get it over Topuria is Arman, but it's understandable why Islam would want to wait for Topuria to beat a top ranked LW before giving him the chance.

Islam vs Arman
Topuria vs Oliveira for #1 contender

This just pushes Islam's next fight out til end of the year at the earliest.


Armen should get the shot. If not Armen, Ilia. If ilia needs to fight a contender, then give Gaethje the shot or winner of paddy/Chandler.

 

[irimiasz]

I'm normally opposed to fighters going up in weight and getting immediate titleshots, but ... defeating two featherweight goats back-to-back and vacating the belt with the intention of moving permanently should give Topuria the shot. There is no clear number one contender. I'll be totally OK with Makhachev - Topuria and Arman - Gaethje or someone else.

 

[DoubleTrouble]

Huge yes.

He's only had one defence and is avoiding the likes of Lopes and Evloev.

He's already ducked Tsarukyan for N1C so on what planet should he get an immediate title shot at LW?

Beating CTE Volk who came back to soon after being KO'd by Islam isn't that impressive and neither is beating weight drained Holloway.

 

[Tweak896]

If you follow the technical merits how the sport should be, then no.

But taking out Volk and Max back to back by KO is insane. That is basically the hardest 2 fights in a row of any division recently. Also not only has Volk fought for the LW title 2x right before, but Max was a ranked LW who KO'd the #3 in Gaethje, who is probably the guy who gets the title shot if Topuria doesn't.

UFC opened the floodgates long ago with Conor getting a titleshot at LW after Aldo. We've seen so many guy get title shots off a loss or 1-1 in their last 2 over fighters who actually deserve it and are 6+ wins and no losses. Also you have to be sort of pedantic to say beating Max at LW is different than FW because of the 10lb difference.

From Islam's perspective the only true LW he's managed to defend against is Dustin who was KO'd 2 fights before and was getting beat until he came around to finish BSD. Well also last minute #10 Moicano as well. If you think about it Islam hasn't beat anyone good at all that wasn't a former FW. If you ignore last minute matchups like Moicano, Green, Hooker, then everyone ranked was a former FW since Arman the first match. Since 2019, only Drew Dober has been the only guy who had a full training camp and never made FW before that Islam has beat.

 

[Kenny Powerth]

Yes

Based on principle alone. Look what Connor did with FW/LW, we can never have that again. Set the sport back 5 years

 

[Pequeño Corey]

Huge yes.

He's only had one defence and is avoiding the likes of Lopes and Evloev.

He's already ducked Tsarukyan for N1C so on what planet should he get an immediate title shot at LW?

Beating CTE Volk who came back to soon after being KO'd by Islam isn't that impressive and neither is beating weight drained Holloway.

Ducking Evloev for the much easier fight with Islam?

 

[usernamee]

No because the fight I want to see the most is him vs Islam. Don't care about anything else.

 

[Shaolin Alan]

The fact is, Ilia vs Islam sells better than anything else available. So it's gonna happen no matter how anyone feels

 

[sdpdude9]

1 title defense isn’t enough to warrant an immediate title shot a weight class up in my opinion. It is enough to warrant a #1 contender fight though.

 

[Meathead Jock]

Yea, but by earn it I mean beat whoever they think is easiest for him to beat in the top 10 then give it to him. Not some long path reserved for fighters they don't like.

Just give Armin another chance while Ilia beats up someone. It makes the most sense, but will Dana be able to get over the grudge?

 

[Harlekin]

Islam fans and Ali accounts are so afraid it is laughable


Makchaev earns his title shot by beating short notice Bobby Green who then went 3 - 5
Khabib earns his title by beating Iaquinta

 

[Meathead Jock]

The fact is, Ilia vs Islam sells better than anything else available. So it's gonna happen no matter how anyone feels

Or do Armin now and save the Ilia fight for the new network the fights will be on as their big first event for Netflix or whoever. UFC might give us a bunch of set up fights rather than main events for the rest of the year if they are done with ESPN.

 

[Meathead Jock]

Islam fans and Ali accounts are so afraid it is laughable

Can promise I think Islam wins and I'm a bit confused by how many people actually assume he wouldn't. Armin is a much harder fight and I believe the oddsmakers have shown to share that opinion. You can't skip to a title fight just by claiming someone is afraid of you only have one title defense.