Islam is the only fighter to get the "he beat a smaller guy" narrative.

[hector domino]

That's because beating lighter guys was such an insignificant part of their stories. With Islam, half of his title defenses are against a FW, and one of them was a short notice FW.

Maybe blachowicz was comparable since he beat jacare, rockhold, and izzy. But he wasn't as popular as islam, thus got less criticism. Although, I still to this day see the argument that Jan only beat Izzy because of his size.

Tbh its not Islam's fault his LW opponents always go out of fights with some bullshit injuries. heck people like Jones wouldn't even take a fight against lighter guys because they didn't have a focused camp.

 

[Neck&Neck]

Beating Topuira would be “a smaller guy”, but it would still be a better win than over anybody else in the LW division

 

[HavokHarmon]

It's very odd that I hear the "he beat a FW" again and again. I wouldn't mind it if other fighters got the same treatment.

-when GSP beat BJ Penn, I don't hear "he beat a LW"
-when Jan beat Izzy, I don't hear the "he beat a MW"
-when Stipe beat DC, I don't hear the "he beat a LHW"
-when Poirier beat Max (2nd fight), I don't hear "he beat a FW"

There must be more examples.


It's come to the point that I don't want Islam to move up to 170. If he becomes champ, we'll hear the "this guy made a career of beating LWs and FWs".

I definitely heard it when Dustin beat Max and when Jan beat Izzy.

I’ve even heard it with GSP but to be fair…lotta GSP haters lol.

Difference is, Penn and DC had solidified themselves as real threats in the division they competed in. DC had won the Strikeforce heavyweight tournament and only moved down because he didn’t want to muddy the waters for his teammate Cain. And BJ had stopped one of the most dominant welterweight champs in his prime.

 

[HeffDoesWant]

Jones got it all the time

True, bloated MWs iirc.

But it takes a distant 3rd hate point to the Roids and the eye pokes.

 

[Greyscale]

Bullshit. His owner fought featherweights as well and didn't even bother to make weight himself. Chimaev also fought lightweight as a welterweight and welterweight as a middleweight and a middleweight without making weight, therefore technically being a light heavyweight. Because it's difficult to smesh otherwise you know braza might not work against someone your size.

Any instances of anyone from Nurmagomedov/Makhachev/Chimaev herd going up to face a bigger opponent by the way? On short notice?

 

[Pious Augustus]

That's because beating lighter guys was such an insignificant part of their stories. With Islam, half of his title defenses are against a FW, and one of them was a short notice FW.

Maybe blachowicz was comparable since he beat jacare, rockhold, and izzy. But he wasn't as popular as islam, thus got less criticism. Although, I still to this day see the argument that Jan only beat Izzy because of his size.

that short notice FW was heavier than Islam in the cage, and he didn't beat a FW, he beat a ranked LW that weighted thr same as him during weigh-ins and heavier than him during the fight.

PS: Arman fought at FW early in his career, is he a FW now?

 

[kkthx]

will someone please think of the poor carrer manlet slayer?

 

[Ghostoftheville]

Jon Jones cleared out 205 and people still bring up Belfort and Sonnen fights as a negative.

Most fighters don't get multiple defenses in against fighters from a weight class down either, so what do you expect?

 

[bigfootsbreath]

Well who has Islam defending against that wasn't a fw? Dude has done nothing but defend against undeserving fws. If illia gets an instant title shot at lw and nothing changes but the fws name. There is a reason why weight classes exist and Islam nearly kills himself Everytime to make weight. Ilia is a mid to small fw himself, and will be a small LW no matter how you slice it. Moving to lw is not going to end well for ilia. And that is just the facts.

 

[RockyLockridge]

It's very odd that I hear the "he beat a FW" again and again. I wouldn't mind it if other fighters got the same treatment.

-when GSP beat BJ Penn, I don't hear "he beat a LW"
-when Jan beat Izzy, I don't hear the "he beat a MW"
-when Stipe beat DC, I don't hear the "he beat a LHW"
-when Poirier beat Max (2nd fight), I don't hear "he beat a FW"

There must be more examples.


It's come to the point that I don't want Islam to move up to 170. If he becomes champ, we'll hear the "this guy made a career of beating LWs and FWs".

-Bj penn was a welterweight champ prior to fighting gsp
-No one really gave Jan a tonne of credit for beating izzy
-dc was undefeated at hw with several hw wins including a strikeforce gp winner
-people were critical of the second porier fight as max had a muffin top did not take the transition seriously or was on short notice. It's downplayed often.


Hope that helps

 

[Cobra 03]

It's very odd that I hear the "he beat a FW" again and again. I wouldn't mind it if other fighters got the same treatment.

-when GSP beat BJ Penn, I don't hear "he beat a LW"
-when Jan beat Izzy, I don't hear the "he beat a MW"
-when Stipe beat DC, I don't hear the "he beat a LHW"
-when Poirier beat Max (2nd fight), I don't hear "he beat a FW"

There must be more examples.


It's come to the point that I don't want Islam to move up to 170. If he becomes champ, we'll hear the "this guy made a career of beating LWs and FWs".

Haters will hate, no matter what their record is. Just have to tune them out and not worry about what others think.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

It goes back to khabib. Khabib turned down fighting Jose Aldo and the interim LW title and said he didn't want to be a weight bully and beat up a fighter from a smaller weight class. Now head coach Khabib's protege is racking up title defenses by fighting FWs.

 

[AMAZINGUFC]

It's very odd that I hear the "he beat a FW" again and again. I wouldn't mind it if other fighters got the same treatment.

-when GSP beat BJ Penn, I don't hear "he beat a LW"
-when Jan beat Izzy, I don't hear the "he beat a MW"
-when Stipe beat DC, I don't hear the "he beat a LHW"
-when Poirier beat Max (2nd fight), I don't hear "he beat a FW"

There must be more examples.


It's come to the point that I don't want Islam to move up to 170. If he becomes champ, we'll hear the "this guy made a career of beating LWs and FWs".

The interesting thing is the deliberate amnesia or even bad character of some people.

Before the fight, there was great expectation of seeing the reigning and top-1 pound for pound Volk defeat Makhachev.

After the first confrontation, they clamored madly for a rematch.

After Volk was dispatched with a kick to the head, they came up with this ridiculous and lame argument...

Anyone who honestly follows MMA knows what skills and abilities were on the table and knew that Volk was a legitimate threat and was a huge defense for Islam.

Unfortunately, there are people of all types and instead of appreciating the beauty of the fights and the greatness of certain fighters, they prefer this type of approach.

In short, anyone who follows the UFC analytically and without bias gives due value to those fights.

 

[richardjohnson]

Well who has Islam defending against that wasn't a fw? Dude has done nothing but defend against undeserving fws. If illia gets an instant title shot at lw and nothing changes but the fws name. There is a reason why weight classes exist and Islam nearly kills himself Everytime to make weight. Ilia is a mid to small fw himself, and will be a small LW no matter how you slice it. Moving to lw is not going to end well for ilia. And that is just the facts.

How long does someone have to fight in a division to belong? Moicano hasn’t fought at FW in almost six years, for Dustin it’s been even longer. They’ve clearly established themselves as legitimate lightweights at this point in their careers.. except to those who want to discredit Islam. Funny how that works.

 

[MrBlackheart]

The interesting thing is the deliberate amnesia or even bad character of some people.

Before the fight, there was great expectation of seeing the reigning and top-1 pound for pound Volk defeat Makhachev.

After the first confrontation, they clamored madly for a rematch.

After Volk was dispatched with a kick to the head, they came up with this ridiculous and lame argument...

Anyone who honestly follows MMA knows what skills and abilities were on the table and knew that Volk was a legitimate threat and was a huge defense for Islam.

Unfortunately, there are people of all types and instead of appreciating the beauty of the fights and the greatness of certain fighters, they prefer this type of approach.

In short, anyone who follows the UFC analytically and without bias gives due value to those fights.

Exactly. And if you weighed in 155 you’re a LW, if you weighed at 170 you’re a WW. It’s not like Volk weighed in 145. Imagine if I go to the doctor and get weighed at 155. Do I tell the nurse that I used to weigh 145 so use that instead?

 

[Tweak896]

If people don't like fighters, they get it alot. A huge portion of fans don't like how Dagistani fighters are basically undefeated besides a few blemishes. The way they cope is that they are only doing it with some unfair advantage.

I feel like GSP got lots of heat because his top record is alot of LWs, some today ignore it, but that's because everyone let it all out when they felt like it mattered to argue that point. In the future, people will probably be kinder to Islam.