News Islam Makhachaev vs Thiago Moises is the main event for the July 17 card

[Willie]

lol never done it in his entire life - > will do it now cuz he finished Justin Gaethje lol

And Dustin, and Conor, and others before that. Finishing is a style that you actually learn. It doesn't just come naturally for many fighters, there is something called finishing instinct. Some have it, some need time to develop it. "Khabib never finished good bjj guys before so he wouln't do it now' is just the stupidest thing you could say about BJJ or Khabib. Your are just projecting.

 

[JustOnce]

And Dustin, and Conor, and others before that. Finishing is a style that you actually learn. It doesn't just come naturally for many fighters, there is something called finishing instinct. Some have it, some need time to develop it. "Khabib never finished good bjj guys before so he wouln't do it now' is just the stupidest thing you could say about BJJ or Khabib. Your are just projecting.

I said high level BJJ guys. Fucking lmfao, Dustin and Conor being high level BJJ guys. ROFL. Never done it in his ENTIRE MMA Career, but no he will do it this time. LOL.

 

[Willie]

I said high level BJJ guys. Fucking lmfao, Dustin and Conor being high level BJJ guys. ROFL. Never done it in his ENTIRE MMA Career, but no he will do it this time. LOL.

This is MMA mate. We are not talking about pure BJJ and if you think Khabib wouldnt be able to sub them now is ridiculous. Having a black belt is High level by the way. Khabib is one of the most elite grappler in the UFC, Grappler, not just BJJ. As I said you are just projecting your biased opinion. You have no idea what you are talking about but yet you are accusing me of not knowing shit either, the irony. At least I am not pretending to know shit I can't know, unlike you.

 

[The_Renaissance]

I don't think Islam is gonna have much trouble at all with Moises to be honest, a forgettable 25min UD.

 

[midorathirdtiger]

Good to see islam in a potential 5 rounder. He might do like khabib vs iaquinta and drag it out to feel all 5 rounds

 

[Habib The Eagle]

Islam isnt' finishing Moises. I am fairly sure Khabib wouldn't have either. Which high level BJJ guys did Khabib finish in his entire life? None

Poirier black belt since 2018 and Thiago Tavares. The end.

 

[Jackonfire]

Remember when Nate got flagged by Usada but then later gets cleared? Remember when Romero failed a drug test but then later gets cleared. So always believe the fighter that have a good reputation.

Hey now, keep Diaz name out of this.

“Mr. Diaz has not committed an anti-doping policy violation, has not been provisionally suspended and is not subject to any sanctions. Additionally, UFC has been informed by independent experts who have determined that there is unequivocally no appreciable performance enhancing or therapeutic benefit from the significantly limited amount of LGD-4033 that may be present in his system, which is roughly 10,000 times lower than one LGD-4033 therapeutic dose.”

Never forget Nate runs this shit

 

[Habib The Eagle]

Hey now, keep Diaz name out of this.

“Mr. Diaz has not committed an anti-doping policy violation, has not been provisionally suspended and is not subject to any sanctions. Additionally, UFC has been informed by independent experts who have determined that there is unequivocally no appreciable performance enhancing or therapeutic benefit from the significantly limited amount of LGD-4033 that may be present in his system, which is roughly 10,000 times lower than one LGD-4033 therapeutic dose.”

Never forget Nate runs this shit

Nate is a good man, thats why i suggested him as a example. Love that he gave USADA the finger and he made Jorge Masvidal beg him to fight him even though he was flagged by USADA. What i mean is Jorge Masvidal knows what kind of person Nate is and what he stand for. Nate would never take something that is banned.

Like he said ”Terminator is vegan”

 

[Pious Augustus]

When did Khabib ever take it safe?He won decisions, but it wasn't taking it safe imo, He needs to smash this guy. Like smash. He can win by decision, but he has to maul this guy. Khabib beat barboza by decision but it had everyone talking about how he just mauled barboza and talked to dana white. He won the POTN bonus. He doesn't need a finish. He just needs to put on an entertaining fight. Show this guy doesn't belong in your class. Don't lay on him, don't play it safe, just beat the piss out of the guy. It will build his hype.

Both.

He's not fighting a can you know?

 

[TRYHARD 2001]

Thiago wasn't even close to a "proven contender." He was ranked outside the top 10 at MW and this was his first fight at LHW. He was considered a journeyman in the truest sense of the word, which is why everyone was so surprised at his success at LHW. And Anders wasn't even ranked in the top 15.

Sure he was. And a dangerous one at that. While they are roughly pretty good at helping us figure out the important names in a division, rankings are not the be-all end-all when deciding who's a contender and who's not. The guy ranked number 5, while pretty damn good, may not be as good as number 12; he might even have a loss against him. It's the quality of wins, both in terms of opposition and style points, that makes you a legit contender. Thiago had over 15 fights in the UFC by the time he fought Anders and scored clean, violent KO's over guys like Hermansson, Lionheart, Marshman, and Meerschaerdt. There were a bunch of other guys he flatlined or beat convincingly but those would be the big ones. Of course, he also had losses to Eric Spicely and David Branch. Mousasi did spark him too. Hmmm. I'll downgrade him to inconsistent Just Bleed disciple at the time of the Anders fight, but I won't accept classifying him as a journeyman; he's always been way more talented than that (based on my personal definition of what a journeyman is). Regardless, he was more popular with the general public than Islam is now, Anders was way more well-recognized than Moises ever will be (again, already headlined a main event), and the fight was guaranteed to be a banger so I still maintain this was a better main event than Makhachev/Moises by a mile.

For the record, no one that knew what Marreta was capable of was all that surprised at Santos' success at LHW. The guy was a huge MW that could push the pace for as long as the fight lasted, had very good TDD pre-knee surgery (not that there are a lot of monster grapplers at 205 these days), was fast as hell, and had the kind of power that would translate well at HW, never mind 205. Besides Rumble I can not think of a harder hitting non-HW in the history of the sport. Maybe Manhoef? Seriously, the guy could punch or kick (or wheelkick) holes in teflon and the variety of techniques he could get you out of there is truly impressive. His downside has always been his glass chin and to a lesser degree his sub defense, but in a division full of far slower kickboxers it stood to reason Thiago would do well there.

That's my take anyways.

 

[TRYHARD 2001]

Islam isnt' finishing Moises. I am fairly sure Khabib wouldn't have either. Which high level BJJ guys did Khabib finish in his entire life? None

How many high-level BJJ guys did Khabib ever fight in his life? He fought a ton of damn good grapplers back in Russia and the UFC, but not necessarily top BJJ guys. Of the top of my head, he KO'd Thiago Tavares who was a damn good BJJ guy. He should've lost to Tibau. He dominated but did not finish RDA. And he choked out Dustin Poirier who is a damn solid BJJ BB, although he doesn't get enough credit for his ground game. So one, maybe two if you count Dustin?

For the record, all the guys I just listed are more accomplished than Moises is. Not that it matters, since it's gonna be Islam not Khabib who fights Thiago in a month or so and Islam's style has a lot of key differences to Khabib's. I do agree with you that I don't see Thiago getting finished here, unless his cardio really goes for a shit.

 

[Bumhead]

From

When did Khabib ever take it safe?He won decisions, but it wasn't taking it safe imo, He needs to smash this guy. Like smash. He can win by decision, but he has to maul this guy. Khabib beat barboza by decision but it had everyone talking about how he just mauled barboza and talked to dana white. He won the POTN bonus. He doesn't need a finish. He just needs to put on an entertaining fight. Show this guy doesn't belong in your class. Don't lay on him, don't play it safe, just beat the piss out of the guy. It will build his hype.

Both.

From what I’ve seen of Islam, he had a different style of fighting to Khabib. He seems a more polished, technical grappler who is more measured; whilst Khabibs style was relentless aggression going for the mauling constantly

 

[laleggenda27]

Sure he was. And a dangerous one at that. While they are roughly pretty good at helping us figure out the important names in a division, rankings are not the be-all end-all when deciding who's a contender and who's not. The guy ranked number 5, while pretty damn good, may not be as good as number 12; he might even have a loss against him. It's the quality of wins, both in terms of opposition and style points, that makes you a legit contender. Thiago had over 15 fights in the UFC by the time he fought Anders and scored clean, violent KO's over guys like Hermansson, Lionheart, Marshman, and Meerschaerdt. There were a bunch of other guys he flatlined or beat convincingly but those would be the big ones. Of course, he also had losses to Eric Spicely and David Branch. Mousasi did spark him too. Hmmm. I'll downgrade him to inconsistent Just Bleed disciple at the time of the Anders fight, but I won't accept classifying him as a journeyman; he's always been way more talented than that (based on my personal definition of what a journeyman is). Regardless, he was more popular with the general public than Islam is now, Anders was way more well-recognized than Moises ever will be (again, already headlined a main event), and the fight was guaranteed to be a banger so I still maintain this was a better main event than Makhachev/Moises by a mile.

For the record, no one that knew what Marreta was capable of was all that surprised at Santos' success at LHW. The guy was a huge MW that could push the pace for as long as the fight lasted, had very good TDD pre-knee surgery (not that there are a lot of monster grapplers at 205 these days), was fast as hell, and had the kind of power that would translate well at HW, never mind 205. Besides Rumble I can not think of a harder hitting non-HW in the history of the sport. Maybe Manhoef? Seriously, the guy could punch or kick (or wheelkick) holes in teflon and the variety of techniques he could get you out of there is truly impressive. His downside has always been his glass chin and to a lesser degree his sub defense, but in a division full of far slower kickboxers it stood to reason Thiago would do well there.

That's my take anyways.

I gave you a like because I appreciate the thought you put into your post. But you're engaging in quite a bit of revisionist history. You're correct that rankings aren't the end-all-be-all, they certainly are a good indicator of what a fighter has accomplished and what the general consensus about him is. As you pointed out, Thiago "had over 15 fights in the UFC by the time he fought Anders," and never once cracked the top 10. Not a single time. He wasn't a young, up-and-coming fighter; he was 34 years old and had been in the UFC for more than 5 years. Someone who's been around that long with that many fights, yet has never been considered a contender (again, never even cracked the top 10), is the very definition of a journeyman. He was a veteran who was considered a "fun fighter" and nothing more.

You pointed out Hermannson, Lionheart, Marshman, and Meerschaerdt as his "big" wins. That only proves my point. None of those guys were even top 15 at the time. Marshman and Meershaerdt weren't (and still aren't) any good. Hell, they wouldn't have been considered top 30 fighters, let alone top 15. And while the Hermannson and Lionheart fights have aged well, neither of those guys were highly regarded at the time. In retrospect, those are big names to have on his resume; but at the time, that simply wasn't the case.

 

[Johnny_Knuckles]

Thiago Moises headlining a ufc event is a crime against mma

 

[mma sharingan]

This fight still makes no sense for Islam but at least he gets a main event under his belt and (possibly) more eyeballs on him. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a weaker main event that didn't involve women.

this is on par with Brunson vs Shabazyan or Katter vs Ige, theres been a few, they try build stars up using the format but can backfire nicely but also be good either way, like Brunsons been on a tear when the UFC wanted Edmen to win. Katter looked great n got a shot against former champ in another main event we seen what happened there..

Now I can see this playing out in a few scenarios, thiago gets the upset n moves into top 10 territory unexpectedly and becomes Do Bronx Heir to the throne 'viva la brazillia', or Islam wins in dominant expected fashion and gets another main event or ppv slot to showcase skills against a definite top 10 such as Hooker, Chandler, Gaethje, Dariush etc.

 

[Kratos94]

I'm not sold on Makhachev becoming a champion, but this main event isn't good

 

[TRYHARD 2001]

I gave you a like because I appreciate the thought you put into your post. But you're engaging in quite a bit of revisionist history. You're correct that rankings aren't the end-all-be-all, they certainly are a good indicator of what a fighter has accomplished and what the general consensus about him is. As you pointed out, Thiago "had over 15 fights in the UFC by the time he fought Anders," and never once cracked the top 10. Not a single time. He wasn't a young, up-and-coming fighter; he was 34 years old and had been in the UFC for more than 5 years. Someone who's been around that long with that many fights, yet has never been considered a contender (again, never even cracked the top 10), is the very definition of a journeyman. He was a veteran who was considered a "fun fighter" and nothing more.

You pointed out Hermannson, Lionheart, Marshman, and Meerschaerdt as his "big" wins. That only proves my point. None of those guys were even top 15 at the time. Marshman and Meershaerdt weren't (and still aren't) any good. Hell, they wouldn't have been considered top 30 fighters, let alone top 15. And while the Hermannson and Lionheart fights have aged well, neither of those guys were highly regarded at the time. In retrospect, those are big names to have on his resume; but at the time, that simply wasn't the case.

Okay, you've convinced me that Marreta was a journeyman. That wasn't what this discussion was about though. You stated Marreta/Anders is a weaker main event than Islam/Moises. Why exactly?

 

[laleggenda27]

Okay, you've convinced me that Marreta was a journeyman. That wasn't what this discussion was about though. You stated Marreta/Anders is a weaker main event than Islam/Moises. Why exactly?

It's quite simple. Islam is much more highly regarded than Marreta was at the time. It's not even close. While Islam is currently ranked #9, many people (if not most) would argue that he's actually a top 5 LW. And as we've already discussed, Thiago was never ranked in the top 10 of any division, and you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone at the time who thought he was a top 10 caliber fighter. He had just been KO'd by Branch, who was a fringe top 10 guy and who had a reputation for being pillow-fisted.

And while Anders had a bigger name than Moises, that's only because Ya Boi had been used as an opponent for Lyoto's return to Belem. In terms of ability, Moises is held in higher regard than Anders ever was. Cracking the top 15 at LW is no easy task; the division is crazy deep, whereas Anders could never even sniff the top 15 of a much thinner MW division.

And to make it even more of a head-scratcher, Thiago-Anders took place at LHW; a division neither fighter had ever competed in.

 

[Gio]