Media Islam proving he is more anyone/anytime than any champ we've seen

[Mohawk Banditó]

Islam could be three weight champ soon. 155 170 185

 

[Lars6]

Lies. Kevin Lee tried to fight him.

Kevin Lee ducked Islam on a few occasions (+ several times in one year, 2019). Kevin told Islam to “get in line”, said that he wants to fight Conor instead, etc. Islam about Kevin:

"I'm interested in this fight any time, anywhere. Even if UFC asks me to wait 3-4 months to give him some rest after his previous fight – I'm ready. If they give me a contract, I'll sign it. I don't care where, I'm ready to fight this guy."

Makhachev said he has been frustrated by Lee's callout antics in the past, and said as a result he'd accept the fight wherever in the world the UFC wanted to stage it.

"He called me out so many times, but then accepted other fights after that," he explained.

"He was talking about me after his previous fight and then a couple of days after he said in one of his interviews that he is not interested in fighting me. I don't understand him. I'm ready to fight him anywhere.”

 

[AL-Tappo McSnappo]

Islam could be three weight champ soon. 155 170 185

Stop

 

[Conan the K-9]

Volkanovski is a clear liar. He told Helwani that he was around 168. That’s a lie.
He looked much bigger in this fight than against Mendez. His weight in the mendes fight was 167 at featherweight.
He has also been caught in his own videos confirming that he has to eat 4000 to 5000 calories each day. He was bulking.
How in the world can he have almost the same weight as in the Mendes fight. That’s impossible. His weight was around 178 or 180.

So you think a guy, who successfully and regularly makes 145, just cut and then rehydrated 25 pounds in 24hrs for his fight at 155? You must know this sounds a little of, no matter how much he was bulking in these 3 months.

176. That is pretty much the max given the 36hr period, not sabotoged by Aussie special Volk rules that definitely would not have been in place if Volk was fighting at featherweight because he has fought in California and officially shown 21lbs scale to cage increase, Jon Jones only added 18 at the same event. Khabib stated he did 21lbs against Gaethje. I'm sure Islam does the same.

This sounds reasonable. Volk said in an interview that he cut like 6-8kg (13 - 17lbs), and he stil wanted to be light and fast. That would make him 170 fight night.
It could be that Islam did cut more, like 20lbs, but was not able to regain everything and ended up being lighter? Something around 170 too?
But then again there should not be such a big weight advantage from 170 to 175 that Volk should be worried about, if they rematch and will have more time to rehydrate.
Paulo Costa rehydrated 29lbs in California. So with IVs that seems to be possible.

Well there's some past info to go on. Volk's documented cage weight was nearly 167 (which is actually more of the mid range for LW's) at FW, so we have to assume it's more at LW. So we at least start at ">168."
I don't know the report, but I saw mentioned somewhere that Islam was documented at 176, (wouldn't have been Cali, I don't think), and since the biggest LW's have seemingly been about 176, that's probably fair.

However, they were both affected by having about 2/3rds of the normal rehydration time, so I don't think Islam would be the usual 176 (which is also why I didn't add more than a single pound to Volks minimum despite the weight jump either).

So the range would fairly be about:
Volk > 168
Islam < 176

I mean, Islam was always going to be a bit bigger, but considering California's average LW on fight night is 168 and Volk already bordered that when he was FW, means the size difference would be no bigger than your standard LW fight

This is also in line with everything else. It makes sense that Volk didn’t need to cut that much and That’s why he was the fresher fighter and will benefit more if he has more time to recover.

There is a huge difference if you feel like shit for half of the week just cutting weight and dieting long before that and then continue to feel like shit for 24-36 hrs before you should perform vs. if you don’t need to cut that much and are in better state mentally and physically because of that.

 

[NoSmilez]

He doesn't have much fights left at LW. He is going to retire soon when he makes a little more bank. Every time he fights, he has to go through that crazy cut. I bet if Russian Usman makes it to the UFC then Islam will retire.

 

[Kyojiro Kagenuma]

Islam willing to rematch Volk, fight anyone at LW or move up to challenge at WW in next fight

Whatever UFC wants he's ready to go.

How can anyone hate on this guy?

No diva display at all.

"How can anyone hate on this guy?"

Cause he's a dogmatic, backwards douche.

 

[electricfuneral]

islam is good but damn, somebody at 170 would find that off button.

 

[Senzo Tanaka]

Not a fan of the guy but at least he’s a fighting champion. He’s willing to fight anyone and isn’t cherry picking. We haven’t had that in ages.

 

[Redando]

So you think a guy, who successfully and regularly makes 145, just cut and then rehydrated 25 pounds in 24hrs for his fight at 155? You must know this sounds a little of, no matter how much he was bulking in these 3 months.

I’m comparing him to the Mendes fight. He was 167 in the Mendes fight.
He looked much bigger in this fight against Mackachev. How in the world can he be 170?
Why did he bulk? For what? To have the exact same weight as in the featherweight?
I think he lied about his weight in the Helwani show.
Just like he lied that he would put the p4p on the line.
I’m the whole build up he never said that he would be lighter than Mackachev. He always told everyone that he is not a small guy and that people would be surprised.

 

[Conan the K-9]

I’m comparing him to the Mendes fight. He was 167 in the Mendes fight.
He looked much bigger in this fight against Mackachev. How in the world can he be 170?
Why did he bulk? For what? To have the exact same weight as in the featherweight?
I think he lied about his weight in the Helwani show.
Just like he lied that he would put the p4p on the line.
I’m the whole build up he never said that he would be lighter than Mackachev. He always told everyone that he is not a small guy and that people would be surprised.

Ok!
I think Islam lied about his Meldonium use, just like he lied about his heart surgery And then he continues to lie about his weight and IV use. It’s all good!

 

[AfroBanana]

Islam calling out Volk means nothing. You know why? Because he already knew Volk was next. Volk was very public about wanting to be a double champ and Dana White had already promised Volk the next title shot. Since Volk was sitting cageside it made sense to invite him in for a little banter.

Calling out Dariush would have been 100% the wrong move in that moment if you're trying to sell a fight with Volk.

Islam did interviews and posted to his social media before the fight. What kind of promotion was he supposed to do that he didn't do?

Well they technically said that wasn’t the case yet and Khabib went off script. Was still rumors of a Charles rematch after the call out and Charles declined then they made Volk official (there was a period of time there).

They also come across as hypocrites saying “we only want to fight the real contender of division” and then “we want P4P title”. They’re not all innocent in this.

Also Javier said Khabib choose this fight particularly many times now. “It’s the fight Khabib wanted for Islam”.

Islam was complaining about not being promoted enough or whatever yet he was being low effort on his end. You do realize Volk was out there doing as much promoting as he can (interviews etc) while Islam was whining that the UFC wasn’t doing enough.

 

[Sean Rhino]

Any time? He fights once or twice a year.

6 fights in 2 years, but let's just ignore that because ISLAM BAD.



Also, that's how often most UFC champions fight, "once or twice a year." If there's anyone you want to blame, it's the UFC.

 

[daniel san]

Fighting a guy in a division below you is "anyone, anytime"? And are there any champs today that wouldn't jump at the opportunity to fight the champ in a weight class above? I don't think Islam is ducking anyone, but I'm not going to give him credit for doing what everyone else is doing.

 

[SeattleFightFan]

Islam willing to rematch Volk, fight anyone at LW or move up to challenge at WW in next fight

Whatever UFC wants he's ready to go.

How can anyone hate on this guy?

No diva display at all.

If he fights a few top 5 LW's in a row, he might catch up to Charles Oliveira's run.

Charles:

Islam Makhachev
Justin Gaethje
Dustin Poirier
Michael Chandler
Tony Ferguson
Kevin Lee​

Islam:

Alexander Volkanovski
Charles Oliveira
Bobby Green
​

I am not hating on him or you when I say, slow the fuck down on the whole "any time anywhere" talk until he defends a few times against ranked opponents.

To all you white and yellow belts...this used to be a common standard! Stop weakening shit. You sound like WWF turned MMA noobs who wanted to crown Brock Lesnar P4P GOAT with a 6-1 record!

I look forward to Islam proving how dominant he is (or not) in the next few years.

TLDR: crown him after he proves it, not before he proves it.

 

[Redando]

Ok!
I think Islam lied about his Meldonium use, just like he lied about his heart surgery And then he continues to lie about his weight and IV use. It’s all good!

I have evidence. I can compare Volkanovski in the Mendes fight (167) with Volkanovski in the Islam fight. The last one is much bigger. He is clearly lying. Even his head is almost twice as big.

 

[matrixremaster]

He doesn't have much fights left at LW. He is going to retire soon when he makes a little more bank. Every time he fights, he has to go through that crazy cut. I bet if Russian Usman makes it to the UFC then Islam will retire.

You mean Khabib's cousin?

He's on contract with Belator.

Islam said he's going to fight for a WW title and I tend to believe him.

 

[NoSmilez]

You mean Khabib's cousin?

He's on contract with Belator.

Islam said he's going to fight for a WW title and I tend to believe him.

He is with Bellator but he is going to leave eventually. He is only there because he can't fight for title in the UFC. He is also rather young. I believe those guys want to keep it in their team. Like how Khabib left so Islam can have a shot.

 

[FIghtxIQ]

The “everybody is ducking me” tweets were Ali every time.

People were ducking him though. Arman said the same thing post fight. A lot of contenders coming up get ducked and fighters above them like to pretend they don't know who they are so they don't have to fight them.

Felder was even talking about how the fighters are ducking him and that he would not be trying to fight Islam if he was still competing. DC said the same about Khamzat, they aren't competing anymore and know that fighters are ducking those specific fighters so they can talk about the duck moves openly.

 

[TouchButtDork]

Islam needs to defend his belt. Volk rematch or not, there will be no 170lbs for a while. Get to work.

Islam just defended his belt. Maybe the kangaroo fucker can defend his?

 

[TouchButtDork]

6 fights in 2 years, but let's just ignore that because ISLAM BAD.

View attachment 970223

Also, that's how often most UFC champions fight, "once or twice a year." If there's anyone you want to blame, it's the UFC.

You could say that Tapout wearing Americans have a little …………. Islamophobia