Media Islam Makhachev eyeing a return after Ramadan, says he was offered a fight for January but turned it down, possibly against Morales

TITS said:
Islam would toss all those guys you mentioned, just like one-hit-wonder JDM. Stop acting like he's trying to avoid these bums.
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Then why doesn't he fight them instead of always picking the runt of the litter?

Islam's out here talking about fighting 40 year old Usman instead of a contender. Of course he's trying to avoid guys. Been doing it his entire career.
 
JBJ was here said:
Either one would sell exactly zero PPVs. As for one-month Paramount+ subscriptions, I doubt you'd sell significantly fewer by making Gaethje/Paddy the co-main for the BMF belt given the price point. It's a misguided PPV mindset booking on a broadcast card.
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Amanda gets like 150,000 people watching her. Justin and Paddy will get more. It's not that deep.
 
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markg171 said:
Then why doesn't he fight them instead of always picking the runt of the litter?

Islam's out here talking about fighting 40 year old Usman instead of a contender. Of course he's trying to avoid guys. Been doing it his entire career.
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You forgot to mention that Usman is also 1-3 in his last 4 lol
 
KO Shotz said:
So you saying that GSP, Jon, & Mighty Mouse didn't clean out their divisions & fight the guys who were next up in every title defense?
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Which top contender deserving of a title shot didn't Islam fight? Arman, Oliveira and Dariush all pulled out, and Gaethje was never deserving at the right time when Islam was champ.

And how did Jones clean out a division when he never fought Rumble?

KO Shotz said:
I guarantee you this, if Islam was to fight as often as Merab or Pereira did, he would undeniably be looked at as one of the best to ever do it in any weight class ever. Nobody would have any ammo to hate on Islam. But the reality of it is, is that Islam cherry picks & chooses to have lay offs instead of being a fckn dawg & fighting whoever whenever.
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Again, Islam defends as often as GSP, Jones, and MM did.....

KO Shotz said:
You knocking guys who fight often & have the true champion spirit in them win or lose to take up for a champion who hides until he wants to pick the bones dry is some weak ass shit.
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Islam defends twice a year like almost every champ in the modern era, and nobody is knocking Merab, just pointing out that it's not wise putting your body through 4 title defenses in one year, which is probably why it's so rare.

And don't lie, you'd be among the large crowd "knocking" Islam for being overrated if he was to get dominated like Merab did in his fourth title defense.
 
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Mohawk Banditó said:
So he was just in camp waiting for the UFC to come up with a name before Ramadan, and they decided to hand in their homework super late on short notice for maybe their most popular champ who they knew famously doesn't fight during a specific time period every year?

It would sound too dumb to believe if it wasn't the UFC

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Actually, I don't believe it. The only January event is 324, and it had the Harrison-Nunes co main and Interim Justin-Paddy main announced since 11/27.  Maybe they want to triple header strack the deck for the first Paramount event, but I feel like all of this was known in November, so there's no way he's getting a December call about this.

325 is Feb 1, so one could guess he's arbitrarily calling that "January" but considering that's an Aussie card headlined by Volk, I doubt it. Most likely, he's exaggerating some late November calls as "December" (between 11/20 - 11/26), about a 1/24 fight. So just around 2 months heads up
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Islam isn't exactly a "take all comers" or "anyone anywhere anytime" type of fighter. He is going to cherry pick like Khabib. These guys aren't real warriors.
 
TITS said:
He doesn't pick who he fights.
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I had to unignore a Mark comment to agree with him. Islam absolutely picks who he fights, as well as when he fights. If he didn't he would be fighting in January, probably Morales. I doubt he ever fights Morales, because he doesn't want to fight a steamroller bigger than him with little proven downside. He will wait for another Moicano type fight.
 
jeskola said:
I had to unignore a Mark comment to agree with him. Islam absolutely picks who he fights, as well as when he fights. If he didn't he would be fighting in January, probably Morales. I doubt he ever fights Morales, because he doesn't want to fight a steamroller bigger than him with little proven downside. He will wait for another Moicano type fight.
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Okay, you're just talking out of your ass now, like the guy you unignore to agree with.

P.S. I think I unignored him too to reply to him.
 
KO Shotz said:
He would still be in fight shape going into training for a fight in January. He'd be sparring & gearing up for the style & technique of his opponent. Islam doesn't have to cut to his new weight anyways . so therefore Islam wouldn't be killing himself to cause a possible injury or illness. Of course any of that can occur, but with your logic, every fighter shouldn't train or go thru a camp due to the possibility of an injury or illness.
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He probably just doesn't think it's worth the risk taking a fight against a dangerous guy like Morales who doesn't have much name value and doesn't really do anything for his legacy.
 
mkt said:
he still doesn't fight at the 2 or 3 times per year pace that prime BJ Penn, GSP and others did as champs or top contenders.
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GSP and Islam both defended their belt two times a year though, and both had 1 year each where they were only able to fight once because of a serious injury that required surgery.

Also, Penn didn't defend his title 2-3 times a year lol.

Islam defends as much as any other GOAT in the modern era.
 
TheNewGame said:
GSP and Islam both defended their belt two times a year though, and both had 1 year each where they were only able to fight once because of a serious injury that required surgery.

Also, Penn didn't defend his title 2-3 times a year lol.
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BJ won the title in 2008 and defended it once that year (2 fights).

The next year he moved up to challenge GSP for the WW and lost then managed to defend his LW belt two more times. 3 fights total in 2009.

Fought Edgar twice in 2010.

So here I stand vindicated.
 
TheNewGame said:
Which top contender deserving of a title shot didn't Islam fight? Arman, Oliveira and Dariush all pulled out, and Gaethje was never deserving at the right time when Islam was champ.

And how did Jones clean out a division when he never fought Rumble?


Again, Islam defends as often as GSP, Jones, and MM did.....


Islam defends twice a year like almost every champ in the modern era, and nobody is knocking Merab, just pointing out that it's not wise putting your body through 4 title defenses in one year, which is probably why it's so rare.

And don't lie, you'd be among the large crowd "knocking" Islam for being overrated if he was to get dominated like Merab did in his fourth title defense.
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Gaethje & Ilia. Islam was the reason Gaethje fought Max at UFC 300 because Islam was taking his sweet ass time to get something set up with Gaethje. So Gaethje gambled & took the Holloway fight at 300. & Islam chose JDM over fighting Ilia. You talk about Jones not clearing out the division by not fighting Rumble? Well then by your own logic Islam didn't clear out '55 by not fighting Ilia

& ya GSP & Islam are comparable when it comes to how often they fought, but GSP lined them up & knocked them down & never made guys wait or pick each other off. GSP eliminated the contenders. Same for Jon & Mighty Mouse.


if Islam was to fight often & not hide while waiting for the divisions best to knock each other off, & if he were happen to lose while being a warrior I'd be saying the same for him as I am with Merab & Pereira lol
 
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KO Shotz said:
Gaethje & Ilia. Islam was the reason Gaethje fought Max at UFC 300 because Islam was taking his sweet ass time to get something set up with Gaethje. So Gaethje gambled & took the Holloway fight at 300. & Islam chose JDM over fighting Ilia. You talk about Jones not clearing out the division by not fighting Rumble? Well then by your own logic Islam didn't clear out '55 by not fighting Ilia

& ya GSP & Islam are comparable when it comes to how often they fought, but GSP lined them up & knocked them down & never made guys wait or pick each other off. GSP eliminated the contenders. Same for Jon & Mighty Mouse.


if Islam was to fight often & not hide while waiting for the divisions best to knock each other off, & if he were happen to lose while being a warrior I'd be saying the same for him as I am with Merab & Pereira lol
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Sure you would.
 
markg171 said:
Islam's return will magically be the White House card, after Garry, Morales, Shavkat, and co have all had to fight each other around April/May while he "can't fight". After assessing the victors, Islam will suddenly turn around and announces his return being that specific card that they all need to make a quick battle torn turnaround to fight him while he's perfectly fresh and has been preparing all around.

Like Islam has been doing for years now. Islam never fights unless he has the advantage. He's not wrong for it, but it's obvious and unfair.
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When someone knocks the beard off that pointy chin it'll be a celebration day in my place.
 
Don't think Islam is ever going down from 170.

Gotta hand it to the dude, he did what Khabib refused to do- fight at his own weight.
 
mkt said:
BJ won the title in 2008 and defended it once that year (2 fights).

The next year he moved up to challenge GSP for the WW and lost then managed to defend his LW belt two more times. 3 fights total in 2009.

Fought Edgar twice in 2010.

So here I stand vindicated.
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Why say 2-3 when he never did 3? Fighting for a belt isn't defending a belt....

So now you know that Islam defends as much as GSP did.
 
KO Shotz said:
Gaethje & Ilia. Islam was the reason Gaethje fought Max at UFC 300 because Islam was taking his sweet ass time to get something set up with Gaethje. So Gaethje gambled & took the Holloway fight at 300. & Islam chose JDM over fighting Ilia. You talk about Jones not clearing out the division by not fighting Rumble? Well then by your own logic Islam didn't clear out '55 by not fighting Ilia

& ya GSP & Islam are comparable when it comes to how often they fought, but GSP lined them up & knocked them down & never made guys wait or pick each other off. GSP eliminated the contenders. Same for Jon & Mighty Mouse.


if Islam was to fight often & not hide while waiting for the divisions best to knock each other off, & if he were happen to lose while being a warrior I'd be saying the same for him as I am with Merab & Pereira lol
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Completely talking out of your ass, that's what I thought.
 
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