Is it just me or did Islam not fight a single legitimate lightweight contender during his title reign??

[Dreyga Hates You Sherbums]

He fought Volk twice a 145 or moving up the second time on 10 days notice

He fought Dustin on a one fight win streak. Only because Arman wouldn’t do it.

And then he fought Renato as a last no replacement


He never fought an actual deserving lightweight contender. Am I the only one who thinks this is ridiculous

 

[prime_lobov]

Dustin is arguably legit since he was at least a top 10 lightweight at the time. The others are BS though.

 

[tasticles]

Islam will be exposed as illegitimate as people wake up to the propaganda and promotion. No defenses at all

 

[xhaydenx]

Dustin was a real defense for sure.

Otherwise, yeh, Islam was never that good. His most impressive win is Volk in the rematch when Volk was there on less than 2 weeks notice lol.

Islam was probably never even UFC level, now that I think about it.

 

[Luckyme]

He fought Volk twice a 145 or moving up the second time on 10 days notice

He fought Dustin on a one fight win streak. Only because Arman wouldn’t do it.

And then he fought Renato as a last no replacement


He never fought an actual deserving lightweight contender. Am I the only one who thinks this is ridiculous

So who else was there for him to fight?

Gaethje? No BJJ, would have gotten subbed easier than Moicano.

Chandler? Washed up.

Gamrot would have been interesting but lost to Dariush.

He beat Oliveira handily to win the title and accepted rematches with both him and Armen only for them to pull out last minute. Not his fault that those fights fell through.

Volk was the P4P #1 fighter when he fought Islam and arguably gave him a tougher fight than anyone else in the LW top 5 could have.

This also validates Islam's reason for not fighting Topuria. If he won, people would scoff at him beating yet another FW.

 

[sdpdude9]

His legacy got hurt by guys pulling out, unfortunately. But he can only beat the guy in front of him.

Still has a good resume overall though, finishes over #2, 5, 6, and 10. A win over #1 although it was earlier. Two wins over #1 p4p at the time.

 

[IDGETKTFO]

I mean, Chuck had defended the belt a few times before he fought Islam, so there's that.

 

[nostradumbass]

No, you're not the only one, and the ones who also think that are dumb too.

He's beaten 4 of the top 6, including both 1 and 2, offered them both multiple rematches, offered to fight the #3, #4 wasn't even in the division for him to fight, beat the #1 p4p and gave him a rematch.

The guy lapped the division of guys who fought in a circle and sat on their rankings for years, so now he left and is in the more interesting division.

 

[ChrisBenoit]

No, your just dumb. Armen and Charles both pulled out

 

[flektarn]

Dustin but he didn't deserve the shot. Islam waited until Arman and Oliveira was booked + Holloway and Gaethje booked to get off his ass and ask to fight....and he gets Dustin.
It's not his fault his opponents pulled out but it still is a blemish on his record.

 

[muaythaibeast]

Oliveira and Dustin both elite lightweights. Volk would have beat any other lightweight, so hard to knock that first defense. The 2nd Volk one and the Renato fight aren't great, but they were both replacement fights. You can't really hold that against him.

 

[fortheo]

His legacy got hurt by guys pulling out, unfortunately. But he can only beat the guy in front of him.

Still has a good resume overall though, finishes over #2, 5, 6, and 10. A win over #1 although it was earlier. Two wins over #1 p4p at the time.

How many of those guys had the same amount of prep that Islam had, though? Not hooker, not poirier, not Moicano, not volk in the rematch, not even arman in their fight years ago....

Before people jump to defend Islam by saying it wasn't Islam's fault -- I know. But it still doesn't look that great with all the context.

 

[Lord Pyjamas]

How many of those guys had the same amount of prep that Islam had, though? Not hooker, not poirier, not Moicano, not volk in the rematch, not even arman in their fight years ago....

Before people jump to defend Islam by saying it wasn't Islam's fault -- I know. But it still doesn't look that great with all the context.

Him having a somewhat questionable chin always makes for a well needed x factor in fights.

 

[tritestill]

This the reason we're not getting Islam vs. Topuria. It's not complicated at all. Arman and Charles pulled out.

 

[jko1355]

I can agree with all of your concepts, understand the context, but I would add? He at least mostly dominated the opponents in front of him.

I have heard people try to say similar things about my favorite fighter Anderson Silva.

I disagree with them much more than I disagree with you.

 

[Luckyme]

How many of those guys had the same amount of prep that Islam had, though? Not hooker, not poirier, not Moicano, not volk in the rematch, not even arman in their fight years ago....

Before people jump to defend Islam by saying it wasn't Islam's fault -- I know. But it still doesn't look that great with all the context.

Moicano was training for Dariush, another grappler, so he definitely wasn't coming off the couch.

Porier had a full camp with Gamrot teaching him TDD.

Sure, Volk was a late minute replacement but he had the advantage of already having spent 25 minutes with Islam and a training camp specifically tailored to Islam's grappling.

And let's not forget Islam didn't prep for any of his replacements either. I think it says more about Islam that he was able to dominate guys that were thrown at him last minute.

 

[jeff7b9]

Who exactly were these magically avoided contenders?

And please do explain why it was Islam's fault that him beating the guy across from him every tiime 15 times in a row doesn't count in your book?




Islam is 4-0 vs the top 6 with 3 finishes by my count.

The only guys he hasn't already beaten both have recent nasty KO losses

(In fights for titles real or Imaginary)

Plus 2-0 vs Volk who was #1 P4P when Volk beat him.

Spoiler

It's a rhetorical question.
I already know dreyga is a tard

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

I mean, kinda, but never really for his lack of trying.

Volk defense was a legitimately earned shot for Volk. Whoever won Islam vs Charles was going to fight Volk.

Charles beat Dariush, so he was going to get a rematch, but pulled out so we got Volk 2.

Arman beat Charles at UFC 300, but got himself suspended, so that combined with Charles and Justin losing at that, Dustin was the next highest ranked guy.

Then Arman was finally past his suspension, ready to go, and then pulled out, so we got Moicano.

And now we're at, the UFC won't allow the best LW contender challenge for the belt, and Islam was expected to fight another non LW contender again. So there's no way he can do a legitimate LW defense right now, so he's moved up instead.

Just a run a of bad timing.

 

[nostradumbass]

How many of those guys had the same amount of prep that Islam had, though? Not hooker, not poirier, not Moicano, not volk in the rematch, not even arman in their fight years ago....

Before people jump to defend Islam by saying it wasn't Islam's fault -- I know. But it still doesn't look that great with all the context.

Arman and Poirier both had the same amount of time to prepare. Arman wasn't a replacement opponent, Islam wasn't on the St Petersburg card either, they both got added at the same time.

Dustin got almost 2 months, so maybe 4 days less than Islam.

Dan Hooker had much more time to prepare. He already had a full camp to fight Nasrat, took no damage and was already in fight shape, so he stepped in when RDA pulled out more than a month before the fight.

None of these were fight shape or fitness issues anyway. Islam rolled through every one of these bums in like 2 minutes before they could even claim it was that darn short camp and they didn't have time to get in shape. They didn't gas, they got mowed down.

If your preposterous claim is that they didn't have enough time to game plan, just lol at you trying that horse shit to discredit someone who has to take an opponent switch almost every goddamn fight.

 

[fortheo]

Moicano was training for Dariush, another grappler, so he definitely wasn't coming off the couch.

Porier had a full camp with Gamrot teaching him TDD.

Sure, Volk was a late minute replacement but he had the advantage of already having spent 25 minutes with Islam and a training camp specifically tailored to Islam's grappling.

And let's not forget Islam didn't prep for any of his replacements either. I think it says more about Islam that he was able to dominate guys that were thrown at him last minute.

I said had the same prep. Islam was prepping for 5 round title fight. Moicano was prepping for a 3 round fight. Islam was preparing to headline UFC 302 before Dustin even finished fighting bsd -- Islam again had more prep.

Islam didn't have targeted prep for his replacements, but he's more often been the guy going in with MORE of a camp/prep than his opponents. That's an advantage.