Islam Makhachev or Justin Gaethje - Who should get the titleshot?

[Luckyme]

Sorry, but you keep trying to be very dishonest about this.
According to your logic, any fighter who beats 20 cans deserves a title shot over Islam. Is that it?

My opinion is that it is not. Who you beat does matter as well as who you lose to.

But let's see how your logic works. Tell me your thoughts about it and we go from there.

Fine, let’s run the numbers on both of them:

Justin’s last 9 fights
W - Chandler
L - Khabib
W - Tony
W- Cowboy
W- Barboza
W- James Vick
L - Porier
L - Eddie Alvarez
W - Michael Johnson

Islam’s last 9 fights
W - Hooker
W - Moises
W - Dober
W - Ramos
W - Tsarukian
W - Kajan Johnson
W - Tibau
W - Nik Lentz
W - Chris Wade

Justin’s best career wins are Chandler and Tony. Barboza is a decent win, but remember he’s a FW who’s 3-6 in his last 9. Cowboy is washed at this point, 0-5-1 in his last 6.

Aside from Chandler, he’s fought two other elite fighters, Khabib and Porier, and lost to both of them. He also lost to a prime Eddie Alvarez, not too long after he was champion.

When you look at Justin’s resume as a whole, it’s good but not great. He’s had some exciting fights, many of them against journeyman and past prime opponents. He’s beaten a couple of big names but also lost to big names. Including losing the title fight last year.

Islam hasn’t had the opportunity to fight as many big names as Justin since he only recently broke into the top 5. But with the exception of Kajan Johnson, all of the people he’s beaten are legit and he’s finished his last 3 fights.

Hooker, Moises, and Dober are either ranked or were ranked at the time they fought Islam. Tsarukian, who lost to Islam, is now a ranked fighter and one of the best wrestlers in the division. Chris Wade is a legit contender in PFL. Nik Lentz and Tibau were decent fighters in their day.

He has as many consecutive wins as the current champion and his wins have gotten more dominant even as the competition has become tougher. Justin had a great win over Chandler last week. But it’s only 1 win in 13 months. Islam has beaten 3 guys in that same time period. I can’t see how anyone could deny him given how much busier he’s been than Justin and the momentum he has. Bottom line, Justin hasn’t accomplished as much as Islam or Dariush since the Khabib loss to justify a second title shot.

Finally, I submit that Islam’s resume looks better than even the champion when you consider who he’s fought recently:

Oliveria’s last 9 fights
W - Chandler
W- Tony
W - Kevin Lee
W- Jared Gordon
W- Nik Lentz
W- David Teymur
W- Jim Miller
W- Christos Giagos
W- Clay Guida

Like Justin, his best wins were Chandler and Tony. Quite a few obscure names there too.

 

[JKS]

Justin IMO. He's had a great run of beating very good opponents Cowboy, Barbosa, Ferguson, and now Chandler. His only loss is to Khabib. And the major fact is that Khabib is not in the UFC anymore so that sort of props Justin up.

Islam needs to beat at top level opponent. He's had a nice run of beating Moises, Dober and Hooker, but these guys are not title level fighters. I don't care how long his win streak is. Fact is beating a shorter list of better opponents counts for more.

 

[Sensee]

Gaethje is way more marketable for this.

Especially after what happened Saturday. His fight is being talked about even by casuals. Islam don't have name recognition to a lot of people. A top five win could change that. He could be something special.

 

[Amsterdamn]

Islam Machachev.

 

[Russ82]

Especially after what happened Saturday. His fight is being talked about even by casuals. Islam don't have name recognition to a lot of people. A top five win could change that. He could be something special.

Islam has much more name recognition because of his country/religion. Look at their followers on social media, Islam has 2x more

 

[Deleted member 504083]

Gaethje has one close decision win since he got absolutely dominated in his last title shot.

It's Islam's time.

 

[Sensee]

Islam has much more name recognition because of his country/religion. Look at their followers on social media, Islam has 2x more

Social media isnt the end all be all to popularity though.

 

[Flammenwerfer]

Gaethje has one close decision win since he got absolutely dominated in his last title shot.

It's Islam's time.

UFC knows this. If Justin wins he'll lose it the next fight anyway. They would rather have Islam with an extra title defence for marketability than give Gaethje another shot.

 

[DrunkMonkMeth]

a few more wins for Islam? So you want him to go on like at least an 11 fight win streak before being awarded a title shot?

He has a solid win streak at the moment but there just alot of guys hovering around that title shot worthy area (in danas opinion) and he hasnt fought any of them. His best win is hooker who i dont rate highly. If he beat gaejthe, dariush or chandler there would be no one who could claim they deserve it more. If the ufc gave him the titleshot now i wouldnt be bothered by it though.

 

[Rachel Da Bear]

People want to give Homer Simpson another TS? Do they not remember the Khabib fight where JG ran worse than Condit and then got put to sleep like an absolute novice? Now he beats Sean Sherk reincarnated, and he get a TS?

Trash.

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

I feel like the division was kind of reset after Khabib left. So because of that I dont mind Gaethje getting another title shot. Gaethje/Oliveira would be a fun match up as would a Dustin rematch.

 

[ferrisjso]

Should be Dustin or Justin G, they were both interim champs before they lost to Khabib. With Khabib gone they both have as good a case for being the best LW as the actual champ does.

I prefer Dustin cause he beat Justin G and would had already the title shot pre Conor if not for dollar signs. Justin G's done more recently though such as snapping Tony's win streak so I get putting him ahead. So I'd put Justin G and Chimaev in a title eliminaor while Dustin fights Oliveria.

 

[moosaev]

Social media isnt the end all be all to popularity though.

Islam is more popular globally, Justin's more popular in the US. But social media footprint does say a lot, it ain't nothing.

 

[Beastslayer47]

Forget rankings but give me one good reason why Gaethje should get it over Dariush and Islam

 

[The_Renaissance]

Gaethje, Islam's biggest win is Hooker who got murdered by Chandler. He's one fight away himself, give him a top 5 guy and if he wins that he's next.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

Forget rankings but give me one good reason why Gaethje should get it over Dariush and Islam

He's beaten more established opponents than either of them have, that's a pretty good reason.

I mean Dariush's last win was against Tony Ferguson, who Gathje beat last year. Two wins before that, Darisuh did not make weight - not a good look.

He just beat Michael Chandler. If someone is going to say Chandler sucks cause like, he's from Bellator or something - he beat Dan Hooker, who is Islam's latest and best win.

 

[SteelEz]

He's beaten more established opponents than either of them have, that's a pretty good reason.

And he got rewarded for it with a TS already.

I mean Dariush's last win was against Tony Ferguson, who Gathje beat last year. Two wins before that, Darisuh did not make weight - not a good look.

Dariush was never offered a TS and is on a 7-fight win streak. The only one deserving over him would be Islam who is on a 9-fight win streak and was never offered a TS either.

He just beat Michael Chandler. If someone is going to say Chandler sucks cause like, he's from Bellator or something - he beat Dan Hooker, who is Islam's latest and best win.

Chandler was offered a TS after beating Hooker. Chandler is NOT on a win streak. In fact, he lost his last TS too. And Justin barely won over him. Islam and Dariush have been tearing through the division in their last fights, especially Islam, yet, they were NEVER offered a TS. Thus, they're more deserving of one at least. Otherwise, you'd be gifting someone TWO title shots in a span of a year just after a weak ass win over a guy coming off of a loss, and denying Islam and Dariush, the two having the longest active win streak in the division, any. Not that hard to grasp really.

 

[Shaddows]

Fine, let’s run the numbers on both of them:

Justin’s last 9 fights
W - Chandler
L - Khabib
W - Tony
W- Cowboy
W- Barboza
W- James Vick
L - Porier
L - Eddie Alvarez
W - Michael Johnson

Islam’s last 9 fights
W - Hooker
W - Moises
W - Dober
W - Ramos
W - Tsarukian
W - Kajan Johnson
W - Tibau
W - Nik Lentz
W - Chris Wade

Justin’s best career wins are Chandler and Tony. Barboza is a decent win, but remember he’s a FW who’s 3-6 in his last 9. Cowboy is washed at this point, 0-5-1 in his last 6.

Aside from Chandler, he’s fought two other elite fighters, Khabib and Porier, and lost to both of them. He also lost to a prime Eddie Alvarez, not too long after he was champion.

When you look at Justin’s resume as a whole, it’s good but not great. He’s had some exciting fights, many of them against journeyman and past prime opponents. He’s beaten a couple of big names but also lost to big names. Including losing the title fight last year.

Islam hasn’t had the opportunity to fight as many big names as Justin since he only recently broke into the top 5. But with the exception of Kajan Johnson, all of the people he’s beaten are legit and he’s finished his last 3 fights.

Hooker, Moises, and Dober are either ranked or were ranked at the time they fought Islam. Tsarukian, who lost to Islam, is now a ranked fighter and one of the best wrestlers in the division. Chris Wade is a legit contender in PFL. Nik Lentz and Tibau were decent fighters in their day.

He has as many consecutive wins as the current champion and his wins have gotten more dominant even as the competition has become tougher. Justin had a great win over Chandler last week. But it’s only 1 win in 13 months. Islam has beaten 3 guys in that same time period. I can’t see how anyone could deny him given how much busier he’s been than Justin and the momentum he has. Bottom line, Justin hasn’t accomplished as much as Islam or Dariush since the Khabib loss to justify a second title shot.

Finally, I submit that Islam’s resume looks better than even the champion when you consider who he’s fought recently:

Oliveria’s last 9 fights
W - Chandler
W- Tony
W - Kevin Lee
W- Jared Gordon
W- Nik Lentz
W- David Teymur
W- Jim Miller
W- Christos Giagos
W- Clay Guida

Like Justin, his best wins were Chandler and Tony. Quite a few obscure names there too.

Again, all I see is a long post, full of lies and misinformation ... VERY dishonest.
Let me analyze your lies:

Yes, Barboza is NOW a FW. However, before he moved down, he was actually ranked #11 in the division...
Yes, Cowboy is washed up. But when he fought Gathje, his only loss was to Tony. Before that, he was coming of 3 wins, over Al Iaquinta (who was #4 in the division at the time), Hernandez & Mike Perry. What happened after his fight is irrelevant. The point is: Cowboy was not done then.

It is also fucking hilarious how you claim his only top fights were Chandler, Khabib and Porier.
VERY dishonest to try and make a point to the fact he lost to 2 of them, but not mentioning that Khabib was the unbeaten champ who beat EVERYBODY he faced and that Poirier who is currently the obvious #1 in the division (with the only reason he did not fight for the belt is because he took a money fight against Conor instead). It was also Fight of the night (against Gaethje), which shows Justin fought well.

But beyond that, your amazing dishonesty goes further: It seems you... "forgot" ... to include Tony. Yes, right...."forgot"... let us call it a lapse of memory!

Problem is: You would be forced to mention that he Tony was not only the obvious #1 contender, but that he was sitting on a 12 fights winning streak, and unlike your guy, he was fighting monsters!!! He even beat Tibau (whom many argue won against Khabib), but he was defeated by Tony. With 3 Fights of the Night and 4 Performances of the Night included in that streak and an interim champion belt included in that run.
But no... you.... forgot to mention Tony like he was irrelevant, not worth mentioning.

Hell, do you want to talk about "win streaks" and fighting top opponent? You couldn't have a better opponent than Tony at that time! ...but you "forgot" to mention him...

At this point, I won't even comment on Islam, because Tony alone shows Islam got NOTHING on Gaethje based on his wins, let alone the fact he just beat a guy higher ranked than Islam himself (in another Fight of the Night nonetheless).

Discredit all you want, but after my bringing to your attention that you "forgot" Tony, if you do not re-evaluate your assessment of Gaethje, it just comes to show you are a blind, dishonest fanboy with no shame whatsoever.