Rumored Islam's Head Coach: Islam May ONLY Have 3 Fights Left Before RETIRING

[svmr_db]

You hate to hear it everytime. He's planning a Khabib like exit. As a fan it's pretty anti climatic

He's 33 right now, turns 34 in October. Might be 35 by the time he retires. GSP was 36 when he retired, I'd say it's closer to that situation than Khabib retiring at 32.

How long is Islam supposed to stick around anyways? Nothing wrong with retiring on top if he ends up winning the WW belt & getting 1-2 defenses. He doesn't need to stick around until he loses or leaves on a loss if he doesn't want to.

 

[CatchtheseHands]

Anything except for Usman

Lol I understand why you guys are very against Usman getting a TS but it most certainly is going to happen if Islam wins. Islam only wants the best and who will add to his legacy. Sean Brady who got finished by Belal does not add to his legacy regardless of how much we think he deserves the TS for finishing Leon and being on a small win streak. Ian Garry does not add anything to his legacy either. Where as Usman does. Not to mention the UFC is going to make Usman vs Islam well before they make Islam vs Brady or Garry. Those guys aren't draws, especially Brady.

 

[jeff7b9]

Now that fighters are getting decent pay at the top of the game expect more of this

and honestly it is a good thing. Fighters achieving financial freedom without crippling injury and being able to avoid late career brain damage is a fair reward for winning this real life gladiator shit.

 

[don't ask]

6, longest long win streak in the division's history, most title defences in the division's history

Gotta ask though, did they fix the rankings for you?

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Lol wow you just have been pretty triggered to go through my posts. What if I told you that shitty and arbitrary rankings are still the only metric we have?

 

[RichardHarrow]

Lol I understand why you guys are very against Usman getting a TS but it most certainly is going to happen if Islam wins. Islam only wants the best and who will add to his legacy. Sean Brady who got finished by Belal does not add to his legacy regardless of how much we think he deserves the TS for finishing Leon and being on a small win streak. Ian Garry does not add anything to his legacy either. Where as Usman does. Not to mention the UFC is going to make Usman vs Islam well before they make Islam vs Brady or Garry. Those guys aren't draws, especially Brady.

I dont think a win over Kamaru does anything imo. It would have 5 years ago.

The only time Kamaru drew numbers was against Masvidal who had just claimed the BMF against Diaz. It was more Masvidal than it was Kamaru.

 

[don't ask]

1Arman Tsarukyan (DEFEATED)
2Charles Oliveira (DEFEATED)
3Justin Gaethje
4Max Holloway
5Dustin Poirier (DEFEATED)
6Dan Hooker (DEFEATED)
7Mateusz Gamrot
8Paddy Pimblett
9Beneil Dariush
10Renato Moicano (DEFEATED)


He beat 5 out of 10 and I dont see the rest beting him either tbh so not worried about the WW switch. Also remember a lot of times fighters pulled out on Islam but he still went for last minute change(unlike e.g Jones refusing Chael in short notice)

Thanks for posting this. He also beat Oliveira.

 

[don't ask]

Fighter: *wins belt, defeats everyone the UFC puts in front of him, including the #1 and #2*
Sherdoggers: bUt hE hAs tO cLeAr tHe diViSioN!

Also, people are calling for the Arman fight. Well, Islam already beat Arman once, agreed to rematch and Arman pulled out.
Sherdoggers: bUt aRmAn wOuLd BeAt HiM iN rEmAtCh!

Same shit happened with Khabib. Beat Conor easily.
Sherdoggers: bUt cOnOr wOuLd BeAt HiM iN rEmAtCh!

Some MMA fans are just Karens I guess.

I was annoyed that he jumped the top ten to get the belt and then defended against a FW twice while saying he wanted to move up because he cleared out the division. It looks like he's fought more ranked opponents than I expected since then.

 

[cmw43]

It’s a BS figure, the camp was for like 30 dudes, not just islam. A bunch of them had big fights booked on that ufc card, and in other regional promotions around that same time frame. Khabib spent that money on all of them basically. DC just made a throwaway comment and everybody ran with it.

That makes a lot more sense.

 

[CatchtheseHands]

I dont think a win over Kamaru does anything imo. It would have 5 years ago.

The only time Kamaru drew numbers was against Masvidal who had just claimed the BMF against Diaz. It was more Masvidal than it was Kamaru.

Usman had one of the best title reigns at WW after GSP. Not to mention he just beat the most dangerous striker in the division and the most dangerous striker he's ever fought. A win over him most certainly would mean a lot even now.

So you're saying the only time Usman drew numbers was against Masvidal while also saying a win over Usman would have meant something 5 years ago which was BEFORE he fought Masvidal and would mean he was even less of a draw.. Comon bruh..

 

[rjmbrd]

The dismissal of the Volk win is exactly why Islam made the right call by not fighting Ilia lol. Absolutely zero upside.

Few things you should consider:

1) Volk's claim to fame is taking Max to 3 decisions, at least one of which was very controversial. Nobody gets hurt in his fights, most of the time.

2) Topuria has 8 UFC fights with 6 finishes. He MURDERED Max and Volk back to back and made it look easy. This isn't like Volk point fighting Aldo and Max to stinkers, its simply not comparable. What Topuria did is unique.

3) Islam because of unfortunate timing and circumstance, has not enjoyed an impressive strength of schedule. Two of his four 'defenses' are against the same featherweight, and a third is against the #10 ranked guy. The Topuria fight is better than all of those on paper and in reality.

In any event Islam is clearly the best lightweight of this generation, by way of easily dominating Do Bronx. That is the single best win available in recent years and he did it with style.

I think it was a wise time to go for the welterweight belt (against a boxer) style wise.

 

[rjmbrd]

A top 5er like poirier would be celebrated on anyone's resume.

I'm decades into MMA and a big fan of Poirier and do not remotely agree with this. He was on a one fight win streak over an unranked opponent, and a 2-2 run.

It goes without saying he did not deserve the title shot and the fight - albeit fun - should not have been booked.

Everyone celebrated Volk as the best fighter in the world after the first fight, and how he has the best chance out of anyone at LW.
and now he's reduced to a "featherweight"

"Everyone" lives in your head, which is fine, but you are proposing your opinion is the same as everyone else because we all have internal bias and see what we want to see.

It isn't an opinion Volk was a featherweight. He objectively, literally was and is a featherweight.

He would go on to get murdered in his next fight at 145lbs, so he wasn't even the best featherweight at the time.

Oliveira was on a 10 fight win streak, but that doesn't count as it's just a title fight and doesn't mean anything because it's not a title defence.

Did you read my post?

I said Islam is clearly the best because he has the #1 win at lightweight in this generation of fighters. Finishing Do Bronx is the best win 155lbs had to offer.

 

[rjmbrd]

I know people scoff at this point, but it would mean more to me if Oli got to take the break he wanted to take before that Islam fight

Oli was coming off of a crazy, brutal, run at LW, said he wanted to fight in February (going off of memory) but he had no leverage because of that bullshit weight cut debacle, and they forced him to fight several months earlier which gave him virtually no break

Do I think Islam would’ve won and is better? Yes, but this is the shit that ruins the sport for me, they wanted Islam to win because he had Khabib’s massive fanbase built in so they forced Oli to fight when they knew he wasn’t ready… and on top of that DC let it slip that Islam had a million dollar camp even though he probably hadn’t even made a million total his entire career

It is what it is, but Islam had serious advantages going into that fight

I agree with you completely. He was forced to fight on their timeline and their venue. Such is MMA in the world where its run by the UFC who operate like the circus coming to town instead of a professional sport.

Also agree Islam is better than Charles and he proved it, would also like to have seen that fight play out in more equitable circumstances for both parties.

 

[Kal-El]

Beat JDM.

Go back down to beat Ilia if he wins.

Then one last big one and ride off into the sunset.

I can see it.

Ilia would be a nice easy finish for his career after a tough JDM, that's the real test.

 

[KO Shotz]

If Islam goes 3-0 at 170 he'll be undeniably a GOAT.

Rather it be he stays at 170 or bounces around, if he doesn't catch a loss he'll be a GOAT. Going up to 170 is already better than Khabib imo.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Mighty Mouse? His division was trash lol

Joe b x2, Dodson x2, horiguchi, cejudo and bagauntinov are all high quality

Moraga, Cariaso, Weis, Elliot, and borg are lesser competition but they were all destroyed in impressive fashion. None of these guys ever had any consistant success against mighty mouse. anyone who wasn't an absolutely elite fighter got completely outclassed by him.

Mighty mouse is an undeniable top 3. Islam can NEVER EVER pass him. would need atleast 7 more title wins before he could step to the mouse.

 

[TriangleMonkey]

We lucky if we get 3 more

I’d say closer to two more

And thats only IF he beats Jack, which I think he can

 

[Alpha_T83]

We lucky if we get 3 more

I’d say closer to two more

And thats only IF he beats Jack, which I think he can

Yea, I think if he beats Jack he probably only defend the welterweight title once before losing interest and retiring.

The only scenario that could change is if he beats JDM, defends 170 once, and Ilia Topuria wins + defends the 155 belt. We could see a superfight between Islam and Topuria before he retires. However, I don't see both guys winning + defending those belts. One of em is gonna lose.

 

[RockyLockridge]

So yeah, ilia’s title reign at 145 don’t really hold up if you scrutinize.

I never claimed it did. actually said the opposite, in the very post you are quoting.

Illa and islam have this in common; Their percieved skill levels supercede their legacies

 

[KillerIsBack V2]

Shit career full of last minute replacement opponents…
I hate it…

 

[Hotora86]

I was annoyed that he jumped the top ten to get the belt and then defended against a FW twice while saying he wanted to move up because he cleared out the division. It looks like he's fought more ranked opponents than I expected since then.

To be fair he didnt GET the belt.
He won it. In decisive fashion.
If you beat the champ - you are the champ.
Nothing undeserved about it.