Media Islam Makhachev sends a message to the Lightweight division

[Tchernobog]

Arman looks like more like a monkey than Islam does though.

 

[Nausicaa]

He gave two chances to his weight class below for a chance at his belt. Why can't he get a chance to contest at the weight above?

Y'all buncha baby girl haters

 

[Mmmmmmma1234]

He's right they can't beat him if he won't fight any of them. He's a great fighter and a favorite to beat them all but he wins fights on twitter to avoid title defenses and his fans eat this up. Anyone can get beat unless they avoiding fights.

Between going to WW and retirement he maybe defends 1-2 to times?

 

[old school 2]

Welp, Adriano Martins it is then.

That is the only person that should get a rematch.

 

[AdamWarlock]

with the frequency of how often islam fights, it will be 2030 when he done fighting these 4

 

[AdamWarlock]

Arman looks like more like a monkey than Islam does though.

neither of them are black so wth are you guys talking about

 

[Dave Poodle]

Well actually he won that fight with little to no damage and that was in October he’s not booked for January February or march and we know Ramadan is march til April, which means he’s probably not fighting til June or July.

So 6 weeks isn’t enough, sure. But what part of 12-20 weeks isn’t reasonable? They already have 2 viable contenders prepared in Gaethje and oliveria. Soooo what’s the hold up?

I will not be surprised in the slightest if he does not defend til next Abu Dhabi card next October. I expect an interim title fight before then.

Guessing he's going to be on the Saudi card in March. No way they don't have him defend before Ramadan. Unfortunately I think it's going to be against Charles so we'll have people criticizing him for having 4 fights against 2 opponents. Would rather Gaethje got it.

 

[bongwater]

Volk already has a fight scheduled and this guy never fights and some idiot reporters vote him p4p number 1!?!?

 

[MechMA]

The wording "could" corrupts the poll pretty badly imho.

Any of them "could" beat Islam. We've seen him hurt and he has been TKO'd before.

Do I think Islam should be the favorite against any of them? Of course.

But if you frame it as "could", I have to answer yes.

 

[moosaev]

good to hear, Islam

how many times have you defended it against a LW, enlighten us please

This is just a dumb a dishonest criticism. He was slated to defend against a LW only six weeks ago. Not his fault that LW is a dumb ass who managed to to get an eye cut 10 days before the fight. You’re framing it as though islam is refusing to defend against LWs

 

[maximus__]

Wait, you think Islam should have to fight 3 times in 4 1/2 months for a 16 fight win streak while the rest of the division sit out for months and years after getting a 1 or 2 fight win streak?


Lol, the entire top 5 have all "fought their way to a title shot"? How does that work, exactly? It doesn't, obviously, you mean they all want title shots and refuse to fight for it. Islam has been more active than every person in the top 5, who all want 1 fight with each other then sit out for a year for a free title shot.
Charles got demolished just a year ago, had 1 fight and was given another title shot that he didn't show up for, so Islam fought someone else.

Gaethje's had 5 fights in 3 and half years, lost 2 of them and refuses to fight again because he beat another guy on a 1 fight win streak.

Arman has nothing close to a streak similar to Islam's. He lost to Islam directly 30-27, just lost to Gamrot last year, and just got his first ranked win like 4 days ago. Islam didn't lose a round for like 7 years before he got a title shot.

Gamrot is also on a whopping 2 fight win streak with one of his opponents winning the first round and getting injured.

There isn't 1 of them who didn't just lose last year, and they're all demanding title shots on 1 or 2 fight win streaks as 4-1 underdogs, but the only active guy out of all of them who fought 3 times in 1 year against p4p top 5s is the guy who gets the complaints?

He is the champion. His only real job is to fight contenders and defend his belt.

Islam is the one who said he wants to fight more. He made it out of the Volk fight without taking a single sig strike.
Yes I do want him to do the smart thing, use the full camp he just had for Charles and fight Charles. He is supposedly that far ahead of him, why wouldn't you do it?

He could have taken a couple weeks off and rolled straight into his next camp and still had a full 3 month + camp and made January.

What's the difference between fighting 2x at the start of the year vs 2x at the back half of the year. In 2021 he fought March, June and October. Why not just do the same October to Jan when your opponent is a guy you have already prepped for.

Gaethje just fought the guy above him in Poirer, the other guy is Charles who is matched after beating the only top 5 guy he hadn't in Dariush. Gaethje beat 6 and 2. Charles defended the belt multiple times and went 4-1 against the top 5 pre Arman vs Dariush.

They need to go outside the top 5 unless they fight Arman for another shot. Arman and Poirer should fight whilst the other 2 fight Islam. over the next year.

I don't understand why you wouldn't want him fighting top 5 guys at LW ? He has generally fought 2x a year, walked through his matches with no damage and there is no reason he couldn't be more active.

He isn't Khabib, he doesn't automatically acquire Khabibs wins over Gaethje and Poirer. Hell skip Charles and just throw Gaethje in there as a fresh match up for all I care. Just get some movement on the belt again, it's like having Mcgregor back in there, fighting everyone but guys in his division.

I want to see good fights for the LW belt. If it was a thread about Leon, I would say the same about him. That Colby fight is trash. Atleast guys like Izzy and Usman regularly defended their belts if they were healthy.

 

[nostradumbass]

He is the champion. His only real job is to fight contenders and defend his belt.

Islam is the one who said he wants to fight more. He made it out of the Volk fight without taking a single sig strike.
Yes I do want him to do the smart thing, use the full camp he just had for Charles and fight Charles. He is supposedly that far ahead of him, why wouldn't you do it?

He could have taken a couple weeks off and rolled straight into his next camp and still had a full 3 month + camp and made January.

What's the difference between fighting 2x at the start of the year vs 2x at the back half of the year. In 2021 he fought March, June and October. Why not just do the same October to Jan when your opponent is a guy you have already prepped for.

Gaethje just fought the guy above him in Poirer, the other guy is Charles who is matched after beating the only top 5 guy he hadn't in Dariush. Gaethje beat 6 and 2. Charles defended the belt multiple times and went 4-1 against the top 5 pre Arman vs Dariush.

They need to go outside the top 5 unless they fight Arman for another shot. Arman and Poirer should fight whilst the other 2 fight Islam. over the next year.

I don't understand why you wouldn't want him fighting top 5 guys at LW ? He has generally fought 2x a year, walked through his matches with no damage and there is no reason he couldn't be more active.

He isn't Khabib, he doesn't automatically acquire Khabibs wins over Gaethje and Poirer. Hell skip Charles and just throw Gaethje in there as a fresh match up for all I care. Just get some movement on the belt again, it's like having Mcgregor back in there, fighting everyone but guys in his division.

I want to see good fights for the LW belt. If it was a thread about Leon, I would say the same about him. That Colby fight is trash. Atleast guys like Izzy and Usman regularly defended their belts if they were healthy.

I would also like to see good fights for the LW belt, but they don't have any. All they have are guys who can't string together more than a win or 2 and Gaethje's entire UFC record would be 8-5 with 3 title shots. Islam needed a 10 fight win streak before getting a title shot, Khabib needed 9, Tony had 12 never did become champ, and Gaethje is getting his 3rd with only 8 total wins and a bunch of losses?

If the Colby/Leon fight is trash, I don't see how you can think Gaethje or Charles are super exciting matchups. Colby/Leon is pretty even odds, and the guys you're suggesting fight for the LW belt would all come in as like 4-1 underdogs that they'd have a hard time selling with guys who just got choked out last year fighting one of the best grapplers in the UFC.

If it was actually good fights you're after, then they should book Islam against the winner of Colby/Leon, which would be very even odds, and Gaethje/Charles can fight for an interim that gets promoted to real champ if Islam wins, whichever one wins can fight Arman, Islam can fight Belal after Ramaddan, and if Islam loses, they can unify after ramaddan with at least some kind of win streak and Islam coming off a loss to make the odds closer and the fight more sellable, and Belal can fight whoever beat Islam.

That's the next six months of title picture for 2 divisions where all the fights are pretty close odds no matter who wins.

 

[legedema]

He's right they can't beat him if he won't fight any of them. He's a great fighter and a favorite to beat them all but he wins fights on twitter to avoid title defenses and his fans eat this up. Anyone can get beat unless they avoiding fights.

Between going to WW and retirement he maybe defends 1-2 to times?

just name one guy who UFC offered him and he avoid to fight ?

 

[maximus__]

I would also like to see good fights for the LW belt, but they don't have any. All they have are guys who can't string together more than a win or 2 and Gaethje's entire UFC record would be 8-5 with 3 title shots. Islam needed a 10 fight win streak before getting a title shot, Khabib needed 9, Tony had 12 never did become champ, and Gaethje is getting his 3rd with only 8 total wins and a bunch of losses?

If the Colby/Leon fight is trash, I don't see how you can think Gaethje or Charles are super exciting matchups. Colby/Leon is pretty even odds, and the guys you're suggesting fight for the LW belt would all come in as like 4-1 underdogs that they'd have a hard time selling with guys who just got choked out last year fighting one of the best grapplers in the UFC.

If it was actually good fights you're after, then they should book Islam against the winner of Colby/Leon, which would be very even odds, and Gaethje/Charles can fight for an interim that gets promoted to real champ if Islam wins, whichever one wins can fight Arman, Islam can fight Belal after Ramaddan, and if Islam loses, they can unify after ramaddan with at least some kind of win streak and Islam coming off a loss to make the odds closer and the fight more sellable, and Belal can fight whoever beat Islam.

That's the next six months of title picture for 2 divisions where all the fights are pretty close odds no matter who wins.

Because the champion at 155 hasn't defended against most of his own top 15. He hasn't done the work to be fighting up at 170. He might be a favourite against plenty of these guys (like most champions) but he hasn't fought anyone except Charles, Arman (4 years ago) and Hooker in his own top 10. His other 2 ranked wins will be back out of the top 15 again within a year in Dober and Green. All other fights are fresh matchups.

Gaethje has only fought ranked guys his entire UFC career and avenged one of his losses vs Poirer in his last fight. He has 4 UFC losses only, avenged 1 and the other two are no longer in the UFC and were both previous champs in his division. He isn't losing to scrubs. He beat 6 and 2 in his last streak and holds a win over current 6. He took that step back outside the top 5, won that fight and then rematched a previous loss and won by headkick to be the number 1 contender.

Charles is the same and holds recent wins over 2,3,5,7 currently. With all those wins being top 5 when he fought them. He went back fought the only guy he hadn't beaten and finished his win streak to earn that shot.

Both guys have done enough.

Islam is the favourite but he still actually needs to fight ranked guys in his division. He doesn't get to acquire both Khabibs wins and Charles wins and claim them as his own.

Why have an interim fight when you have a healthy champion who hasn't defended against anyone in his division? At that point he should vacate if he wants to fight at 170. We don't know how he will go against these guys because he hasn't fought any of them. For example Volk had cleared his division, rematched Max 3x and they have to rush Ilia, just to give him a fight at 145. Islam hasn't done that in his division at all.

WW has a clear contender in Belal who should be getting the next fight at 170. He has run out of top 10 guys to fight at this point almost. If he fight Shavkat or Ian Garry he will have basically cleared his division and then if he won the belt, would have nobody to fight.

 

[maximus__]

just name one guy who UFC offered him and he avoid to fight ?

Islam?

RDA. He was the final one to pull out when the match was offered at 170 after talking crap online. The fight was pretty much good to go and then it didn't get made on Islams end. Not necessarily ISlam, but his camp shut that one down, because RDA was actually an experienced WW vs Islam.

 

[Dave Poodle]

Islam?

RDA. He was the final one to pull out when the match was offered at 170 after talking crap online. The fight was pretty much good to go and then it didn't get made on Islams end. Not necessarily ISlam, but his camp shut that one down, because RDA was actually an experienced WW vs Islam.

Why are you making up nonsense? He offered to fill in at a week and a half notice if he could get a title shot out of it. Dana refused and you're pretending that's him pulling out of a fight? Plus you're completely fabricating a reason to make him seen scared. Come on, you can do better.

 

[maximus__]

Why are you making up nonsense? He offered to fill in at a week and a half notice if he could get a title shot out of it. Dana refused and you're pretending that's him pulling out of a fight? Plus you're completely fabricating a reason to make him seen scared. Come on, you can do better.

No he didn't. He said he had a number of small requests and hasn't commented specifically what they were. He just denied the 1 million claim from RDA.

http//mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2022/03/ufc-news-islam-makhachev-shrugs-off-dana-white-claim-turned-down-dos-anjos

I never said he was scared, he just pulled out of a fight against a ranked LW fighter at WW, after that fighter had a reasonably successful career at WW. Not taking that fight was smart, but he still pulled out last and for the weakest reason.

Personally I think Islam was keen and then Khabib and team jumped on it. They all had flashbacks to Martins and weren't willing to take the risk. RDA was still new in his return to LW, that WW ability would have been a poor match up at that time.

The end result is he called RDA out, agreed to 170 and then overnight the fight didn't get made. RDA said he was in and instead we got Moicano. That's a duck when he was the one calling him out and RDA called his bluff.

 

[User9992]

You can't lose the belt to the top 5 if you don't fight them.


All jokes aside, I hope he is active in 2024. NO reason he can't fight Charles, Gaethje and someone like Arman or Gamrot that year, break the title defence record and then look at 170 if he wants to cement that legacy.

Charles don't want a smoke with Islam. Especially not in Abu Dhabi.

 

[User9992]

No LW can beat Islam at this moment. Only Tsarukyan has some chances, if he fights Islam next year he will lose. He needs 1-2 years.

 

[Dave Poodle]

No he didn't. He said he had a number of small requests and hasn't commented specifically what they were. He just denied the 1 million claim from RDA.

http//mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2022/03/ufc-news-islam-makhachev-shrugs-off-dana-white-claim-turned-down-dos-anjos

I never said he was scared, he just pulled out of a fight against a ranked LW fighter at WW, after that fighter had a reasonably successful career at WW. Not taking that fight was smart, but he still pulled out last and for the weakest reason.

Personally I think Islam was keen and then Khabib and team jumped on it. They all had flashbacks to Martins and weren't willing to take the risk. RDA was still new in his return to LW, that WW ability would have been a poor match up at that time.

The end result is he called RDA out, agreed to 170 and then overnight the fight didn't get made. RDA said he was in and instead we got Moicano. That's a duck when he was the one calling him out and RDA called his bluff.

As I said, that's just making stuff up because you don't like a fighter. To call negotiations over a very short notice fight a duck is ridiculous.
I can understand your previous point about wanting him to fight more often. The unfortunate problem is UFC and their middle eastern partners want him to fight on cards there so they seem to save him for those events. He spoke about that earlier this year.