Media Islam Makhachev unimpressed with Leon Edwards: "We have to change the champion"

fortheo said:
I understand, but if you explain the reason why islam chose to fight a FW, you're admitting that he chose to fight a FW, which is what the criticism was in the first place. Islam flat out said he could have chosen to fight Gamrot or poirier, but he chose Volk and volk should feel lucky that he gets the chance. He had good reasons, I'm sure, but at the end of the day, the criticism still is fair.
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No it isn't. The Gamrot fight will never approach the numbers for a potential superfight with the P4P king IN HIS NATIVE AUSTRALIA.
The Volk fight did not happen because Islam was actively looking for a FW to fight with. To insinuate that this was the case is daft.

That was the biggest fight to make. PERIOD.

And Volk was already tapped as the next fight for the winner of Islam v. Charles, as announced BEFORE the fight.
 
Islam vs Leon does bigger numbers than either of them fighting contenders in their own divisions so watch it go a card in Abu Dhabi or, inshallah, London in the near future.
 
Islam vs Leon is the biggest fight for Leon / WW division, and that one drums up way more excitement than Shavkat/Belal WW title fight, without a doubt. The problem is, UFC faces an Islam legitmacy problem, in that Islam has 0 LW title defenses against any ranked LW fighter, which is a little ridiculous IMO, when you try to hype him up. HOwever, casual mass will ignore that and see SuP3RD00PER FiGhT3! and will watch, myself included. This match up is the biggest one you can make, draws the most viewers, and adds more legitimacy to either Islam or Leon. It's a win-win situation for the UFC.
 
not really against this fight, but i feel like he will never defend if he win, i believe he can beat leon but shavkat or belal i doubt it, so those opportunistic double champ need to stop, if you move up, move up
 
dominion said:
Good. Weight bully understanding he needs to move up and cement his greatness. He will outshine Habib if he holds the title at WW
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i sort of agree with this. but since he’s already champ at lw, he should at least show he can beat the record. after that, it would probably mean more for his legacy if he moved up to ww and became a dominant champ there. but he’s naturally closer to mw, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
 
Islam has 1 top 5 win in his entire career.

He should try getting another 1 some time.
 
duke_droese said:
Size difference might be too much. MMA has this autistic gap between 155 and 170. Imagine a 154 lbs boxer going straight up to challenge the 168 lbs champ. It won't happen. They're too scared to go up to 160, let alone 168.

Even GGG didn't dare to go up to 168 from 160.

It also puts guys like Colby, Burns etc in no mans land because they're too big for 155 but too small for the highest level at 170 lbs
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Wait til you find out there's an equal 15lbs gap until MW.

And then a 20lbs gap for LHW.

And then a 60lbs gap for HW.
 
Don't see Islam beating Leon.

Would be crazy to see, you got Belal on a 10 fight unbeaten streak 9-0-NC with 5 straight top 10 wins, you got Shavkat at 6-0 with all finishes, 3 straight top 10 wins. And neither would get a shot.
 
he defended against Volk x2, 2nd time on short notice. if he wants it, give it. Him vs Belal on Fight Island would be a huge fight for the UFC.

Lot of guys he could fight at 155, but no standouts imo

Gathje vs Armen for TS
Olivera vs Gamrot (once he beats RDA) for the next TS
 
JKS said:
Don't see Islam beating Leon.

Would be crazy to see, you got Belal on a 10 fight unbeaten streak 9-0-NC with 5 straight top 10 wins, you got Shavkat at 6-0 with all finishes, 3 straight top 10 wins. And neither would get a shot.
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I'm not a big fan of MMAth but after Leons performance against Colby, I think Islam wins it.
 
markg171 said:
Not that hard when you're not fighting any top 5 LWs.

Stats are cool cause you can just make up whichever one you want without any context.
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He beat the guys who are ranked #1, #4 and #9, #14 and #15 and didn't lose a round to any of them.

Do you think you couldn't beat those guys without losing a round, since it's "not that hard"? How many other guys at LW do you think would run through those guys without losing a round?
 
nostradumbass said:
He beat the guys who are ranked #1, #4 and #9, #14 and #15 and didn't lose a round to any of them.

Do you think you couldn't beat those guys without losing a round, since it's "not that hard"? How many other guys at LW do you think would run through those guys without losing a round?
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You're doing that cool thing with stats again. Arman wasn't #4 when Islam beat him. He wasn't ranked at all. In fact he wasn't even in the UFC, he got in on short notice to fight Islam as a replacement. You don't get to retroactively call an unranked guy #4.

One of the scores was also 29-28 so yeah, Islam did lose a round there.

Nice try though. Maybe they should rematch or something so we can see what the fight's like between the champ and #4, and not on short notice for Arman.
 
What happened to fighters actually defending the belt in their own division?

Anyway, Islam sees this as a "safe" fight, hence the callout.
The worst that will happen (likely) is a UD loss against a bigger guy.

We wouldn't see the same energy if it was a big WW who was also a knockout artist with night-night power in either hand, that can be guaranteed.
 
markg171 said:
Wait til you find out there's an equal 15lbs gap until MW.

And then a 20lbs gap for LHW.

And then a 60lbs gap for HW.
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That's just like in boxing. 175 to 200.

154-175 is where most normie men fall. Which means mma would be better off with an extra weight class.
 
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