Islams ww plan is weak..

[xhaydenx]

Islam has about cleared out lw but hasn't faught gaethje or arman and the new exciting unstoppable illia.

How the fuck has Islam just about cleared out LW when he's only fought 4 guys in the top 15 right now?

I mean there's 3 guys in the top 5 he hasn't fought.

 

[AmonTobin]

I don’t care what division he wants to fight in. I suspect it’s getting harder and harder for him to cut to make LW. WW is full of great matchups. I don’t see anything to complain about.

 

[MrBlackheart]

i would like to see him fight every person he hasn't fought yet, before he moves. and like sooner than later.

I wonder if you’re going to use that standard for Ilia.

 

[kingmob6]

Islam can just stay at LW to be honest and fight Topuria/Arman before really really clearing LW. Then one more fight to retirement if he wins.

 

[Aurelian]

I wonder if you’re going to use that standard for Ilia.

There's not really any set criteria for anything. UFC just does whatever the hell they want and I imagine they plan on keeping it that way. They literally just brought in a guy to fight Pantoja for the title who had never even fought in the UFC before.

 

[Lee Danger]

he has more chanches to succeed at ww than against Ilia, imho.

 

[MrBlackheart]

There's not really any set criteria for anything. UFC just does whatever the hell they want and I imagine they plan on keeping it that way. They literally just brought in a guy to fight Pantoja for the title who had never even fought in the UFC before.

Ok if there’s no set criteria then why people claiming that Islam has to “beat Arman, Ilia or whomever" before moving to WW?

 

[Aurelian]

Ok if there’s no set criteria then why people claiming that Islam has to “beat Arman, Ilia or whomever" before moving to WW?

All Islam has to do to get any shot is sell tickets and make Dana and Hunter happy. That's literally it.

 

[bigfootsbreath]

There is a reason of fighters risking their life cutting weight, ''it's his natural weight so he wil be better'' is retarded argument.

Thats why moving up a weight class should never be allowed an insta title shot. Ideally a champ moving up a division, should have 2 fights before a title shot at the heavier division. A top 10 fight and then #1 contender (or top 3 fight) fight. But of course UFC is not a real sport and just a wwe wanna be 'thangy'. If the UFC was a real sport with everything you have to earn in the cage, then my suggestion would be perfect. The UFC is far from being legitimate so they probably try and give Islam an instant title shot at ww. Either way, there is a reason why constantly on the brink of death making that weight cut instead of going to WW, as he knows like khababy knew that they would get asshoe wrecked by WWs.

 

[AL-Tappo McSnappo]

Heres my point.

Islam has about cleared out lw but hasn't faught gaethje or arman and the new exciting unstoppable illia.

Moving to ww means belal leaves and we've already seen everyone at ww lose with only Usmen and Leon clearing and earning the belt.

And now Leon is on a decline Usmen trying to come back and belal will move up.

Islam could possibly reign in a cleaned out division.. when there's better prospects at lw and possibly tougher fights.. Islam is a giant lw and shoulda probably stuck to ww in the first place.


But Islam vs Usmen or belal and shavkat is interesting but that's about it and 1 of those guys is 0-4..

Mw is probably the most anticipated division with the new up and comers. Maybe the hardest division right now.

Islam will move to ww when there will be no ww champion..

tbh, Islam has to put on a lot of muscle to face these big boys.

 

[Hog-train]

From Islam's POV, if he beats Topuria, it'll be claimed he just beat another FW. So it makes total sense for him to want Topuria to prove himself against a top LW first.

It's not this guarantee that Topuria can hang with the top LW's yet. Arman is a bad matchup for him.

 

[IneedSometop]

There's a ton of good fights at WW for him what are you talking about?

Brady, Ian Garry, Shavkat, Buckley. Michael Morales on the come up if he gets passed Burns. JDM could potentially be a sweet ass fight depending how he looks against Belal

 

[Aurelian]

From Islam's POV, if he beats Topuria, it'll be claimed he just beat another FW. So it makes total sense for him to want Topuria to prove himself against a top LW first.

It's not this guarantee that Topuria can hang with the top LW's yet. Arman is a bad matchup for him.

Ehhh, Arman likely gets boxed tf up though Topurias chin might not hold if he gets caught with a bomb.

They're both Georgian anyway. Not sure if they would even fight if not for a title. Isn't that the typical bullshit excuse Russians use to not fight each other?

 

[Hog-train]

Ehhh, Arman likely gets boxed tf up though Topurias chin might not hold if he gets caught with a bomb.

They're both Georgian anyway. Not sure if they would even fight if not for a title. Isn't that the typical bullshit excuse Russians use to not fight each other?

I think Arman can wrestlefuck him to the ground. He has a not insignificant size advantage.

If I was betting, I'd say Topuria but Arman can definitely win.

 

[nostradumbass]

WW has several great fights for Islam, and none of them are Usman. If JDM wins, that's not even the that great of a fight either, but after he wins that and gets the title, Islam/Shavkat, Islam/Brady, and even Islam/Garry would be great fights. Still not sold on Buckley being in title contention with a win over Usman, but the UFC might have him in there too. Those are 5 great fights, though presumably some of them might fight each other in the meantime and that will get condensed to 2 or 3 guys he can fight in the next year before retiring.

How the fuck has Islam just about cleared out LW when he's only fought 4 guys in the top 15 right now?

I mean there's 3 guys in the top 5 he hasn't fought.

No there's not. He's beaten #1, 2, 5 and 6. The only 2 he hasn't fought are Holloway because he just got put there after 1 fight in the division and went back down and is now coming off a loss, and Gaethje who got KO'd last year and took almost a year off.

Ehhh, Arman likely gets boxed tf up though Topurias chin might not hold if he gets caught with a bomb.

They're both Georgian anyway. Not sure if they would even fight if not for a title. Isn't that the typical bullshit excuse Russians use to not fight each other?

Arman is Russian and his parents are Amenian, and he did fight Islam and not for a title. They lived on the Georgian side of the border with Armenia for like 2 seconds and moved to Russia when Arman was a toddler. That would be such a hilariously pathetic excuse for Topuria to duck him. "Can't fight my toughest matchup, bro, his parents lived in the same country as my parents for a couple years in the mid 90s".

 

[Aurelian]

WW has several great fights for Islam, and none of them are Usman. If JDM wins, that's not even the that great of a fight either, but after he wins that and gets the title, Islam/Shavkat, Islam/Brady, and even Islam/Garry would be great fights. Still not sold on Buckley being in title contention with a win over Usman, but the UFC might have him in there too. Those are 5 great fights, though presumably some of them might fight each other in the meantime and that will get condensed to 2 or 3 guys he can fight in the next year before retiring.



No there's not. He's beaten #1, 2, 5 and 6. The only 2 he hasn't fought are Holloway because he just got put there after 1 fight in the division and went back down and is now coming off a loss, and Gaethje who got KO'd last year and took almost a year off.



Arman is Russian and his parents are Amenian, and he did fight Islam and not for a title. They lived on the Georgian side of the border with Armenia for like 2 seconds and moved to Russia when Arman was a toddler. That would be such a hilariously pathetic excuse for Topuria to duck him. "Can't fight my toughest matchup, bro, his parents lived in the same country as my parents for a couple years in the mid 90s".

I don't disagree with that. That's just the typical excuse that's made from people in that part of the world. Like Merab for instance said he wouldn't move up to fight Ilia because he was Georgian.

I don't really think Arman is too tough of a matchup. Like I already said, I think he gets boxed the fuck up. Someone like Poirier would probably be a harder fight.

 

[xhaydenx]

No there's not. He's beaten #1, 2, 5 and 6. The only 2 he hasn't fought are Holloway because he just got put there after 1 fight in the division and went back down and is now coming off a loss, and Gaethje who got KO'd last year and took almost a year off.

#6 isn't in the top 5, bro.

But yeh, I forgot to count Arman. So, there's two guys in the top 5 alone that he hasn't beat.

And why does it matter if Gaethje got KOd last year and had taken almost a year off?

Dober had taken close to a year off before fighting Islam. Hooker was on a 1 fight streak and been knocked out that same year he fought Islam. Green had been KOd the year before. Dustin had been KOd the year before he fought Islam as well.

Gaehtje has had the same amount of fights as Islam has since he came back in 2023, so what does it matter?

There's plenty of contenders for Islam to fight at LW, and that's not including La Leyenda. He hasn't cleared out the division at all.

 

[Ladder Master]

islam lw reign is underwhelming because 2 of his title defenses are agaisnt a fw.....

Many people on Sherdog say... "you are whatever weight class you make weight for"

If Volk weighs in at 155lb that makes him a LW.

 

[nostradumbass]

I don't disagree with that. That's just the typical excuse that's made from people in that part of the world. Like Merab for instance said he wouldn't move up to fight Ilia because he was Georgian.

I don't really think Arman is too tough of a matchup. Like I already said, I think he gets boxed the fuck up. Someone like Poirier would probably be a harder fight.

That's not that part of the world, that's just Merab who won't fight anybody with even a flimsy connection. Alright, it's somewhat understandable to not fight a teammate, but then also saying he won't fight anyone who used to live in the same country even though they neither one of them live there anymore and they don't train together is a bit silly.

Not sure what makes you think Arman would let him make it a boxing match. Arman is bigger, stronger, a much better wrestler and wrestles everybody else, so I don't see why he would suddenly want to make it a boxing match with Topuria. The best wrestler Ilia's fought is Bryce Mitchell ffs, who isn't that great of a wrestler and is much smaller and even physically pretty weak for a FW, and still got him down and kept him there for a couple minutes, so I don't think Arman would have much of a problem.

 

[Aurelian]

That's not that part of the world, that's just Merab who won't fight anybody with even a flimsy connection. Alright, it's somewhat understandable to not fight a teammate, but then also saying he won't fight anyone who used to live in the same country even though they neither one of them live there anymore and they don't train together is a bit silly.

Not sure what makes you think Arman would let him make it a boxing match. Arman is bigger, stronger, a much better wrestler and wrestles everybody else, so I don't see why he would suddenly want to make it a boxing match with Topuria. The best wrestler Ilia's fought is Bryce Mitchell ffs, who isn't that great of a wrestler and is much smaller and even physically pretty weak for a FW, and still got him down and kept him there for a couple minutes, so I don't think Arman would have much of a problem.

Right. I saw that takedown. That's concerning but Ilia defended 8 other takedown attempts in that fight. Bryce went 1/9. In Topuria's time in the UFC his opponents have went 1/14 on takedowns against him. Arman might wrestle him and get it down, but let's not assume that it would be easy.