Either Ilia is dumb or scared

[AL-Tappo McSnappo]

His intentions are clear: he wants to fight Islam, beat him, and prove he is number 1.

But the problem right now is Islam's at WelterWeight.
And he's NEVER coming back down to 155.
The hype for Ilia to fight Islam at WW is gone.

He knows this but still in recent interviews he is calling for Islam in WW or at catchweight. And to get there he is planning to defend the belt against paddy first.

Ilia wants nothing to do about Arman who is a more accomplished grappler. This is dumb. Because think about it, if Ilia fought Arman and is able to dismantle him easily, wouldnt it generate much more potential hype for a fight against Islam? Beating paddy proves little compared to beating Arman.

Is he shook of Arman's name?

If he truly wants the Islam fight then Arman is the way

Islam has a bigger name than him, he wants to attach his name to Islam, remember before Paddy blessed him with the hand sanitizer, hardly anyone knew him besides a few of us.

He is desperate for fame to the point of buying followers on Instagram.

 

[Rubios]

Ilia is basically a mirror of Islam. Ilia and Islam both avoided/Ducked a high risk low reward fight(Ilia for Islam/ Evloev for Topuria) and moved up to the high reward fight with much lower Risk(Double champ glory by beating Olivera and Double champ glory by beating JDM). This is basically the spiderman pointing finger meme

Islam was going to rematch Charles and fight Arman.

 

[Ares Black]

Why not both?

 

[xhaydenx]

His intentions are clear: he wants to fight Islam, beat him, and prove he is number 1.

But the problem right now is Islam's at WelterWeight.
And he's NEVER coming back down to 155.
The hype for Ilia to fight Islam at WW is gone.

He knows this but still in recent interviews he is calling for Islam in WW or at catchweight. And to get there he is planning to defend the belt against paddy first.

Ilia wants nothing to do about Arman who is a more accomplished grappler. This is dumb. Because think about it, if Ilia fought Arman and is able to dismantle him easily, wouldnt it generate much more potential hype for a fight against Islam? Beating paddy proves little compared to beating Arman.

Is he shook of Arman's name?

If he truly wants the Islam fight then Arman is the way

He's so scared that he's happy to chase a guy who everyone thinks is damn near unbeatable up two weight classes. Sounds absolutely terrified. Yep.

He's talking about Paddy right now to troll Arman, bro. He said he wouldn't defend against anyone at the top 5 at FW as well, and then just immediately signed on to fight Max. You guys need to realize that he's just fucking around with all that talk.

Also, if he's scared of Arman's wrestling, then why did he sign on to fight Movsar, who is an even way more accomplished grappler than Arman? Wouldn't he have tried to avoid someone like that?

 

[JKS]

I am worried about this Topuira kid and how often he will fight. Last thing we want is the LW belt to be defended once a year.

 

[Paladin]

Well fuck man, I honestly don't blame him if he is. Arman may be Islam's toughest fight 170 and below and his striking looks like it's come a long way. He has some good power too.

Arman is a problem. Arman also has a problem. He's damn near close to Islam's level if not on his level but beating him right now is about worth a fraction as much.

Risk vs reward thing. Islam possesses around the same risk as Arman with a much, much greater reward.

Idk, I think he bodies Arman. I did not see anything special with Arman’s striking defense. In fact he seems to eat a lot of strikes.

He has solid grappling but I think Illia bodies him. I hope that’s what happens, Illia vs Arman , Islam vs the hard hitter Michael P, then Illia vs Islam.

 

[xhaydenx]

I am worried about this Topuira kid and how often he will fight. Last thing we want is the LW belt to be defended once a year.

Well, he got a title defense in the same year he won the FW belt, if that's anything to hopefully go by.

I think with Topuria, we still might not get a lot of fights, whether he wants them or not. At the end of the day, the UFC have their plans. They're not going to waste Topuria on just any old card, even if it's a PPV. They'll want to hold him for the big ones.

 

[hbombbisping]

Ilia is basically a mirror of Islam. Ilia and Islam both avoided/Ducked a high risk low reward fight(Ilia for Islam/ Evloev for Topuria) and moved up to the high reward fight with much lower Risk(Double champ glory by beating Olivera and Double champ glory by beating JDM). This is basically the spiderman pointing finger meme

No.

Islam just said he would fight Garry or Shavkat

Topuria just said he would fight Paddy

 

[asdf122345]

He hasn't really fought top competition except Volk(Who is also on a decline). Everyone else is aging and old.

 

[wlu.29]

His intentions are clear: he wants the highest hype/payment fights.

So Paddy and Islam fit the bill perfectly.

Has nothing to do with being afraid of Arman.

It sucks for the sport as it fucks up all the proper match ups but the UFC does not give a shit.

Ilia has no place fighting at WW, the division is fine, a lot of great contenders. If he wants to move up, fight a contender, not the champion.

Starting 2026 there are no more ppv

Big names dont draw more as it will be on Paramount

Paddy isn't that much more popular

 

[HHJ]

Islam was going to rematch Charles and fight Arman.

This.