It seems safe to say Ilia got stripped?

[HeffDoesWant]

Seems very odd that a reigning champiion gives up his belt with no alternative fight lined up nor any injury. And, to do so under 4 months since his last fight.

It's hard to think of any time in UFC history this has happened, besides the GSP retirement.

To my mind, the only logical explanation is Ilia got stripped for refusing some UFC demand.

Possibly a demand that he has to rematch Volk, a dangerous fight with minuscule upside for Ilia.


I simply see no reason for Ilia to vacate his title BEFORE he has a LW fight lined up. He's lost his leverage for no reason.

Maybe it's a huge balls move, like Volks rematch with Islam on short notice, but this feels like a massive failure in career management. So I'm thinking it wasn't his choice.

 

[Reach4theSky]

He doesn't want to make the weight anymore. If he decides to go back down to 145, I'm sure he'll get an immediate title shot. So he always has that in his back pocket..

 

[Gabe]

No way. He vacated because they’re more than likely looking to give him a title shot at 155 and they’re currently negotiating with Islam and Ali. Fight will probably happen international fight week or sometime during the summer.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

No it legitimately seems like he voluntarily vacated.
He's gambling on himself.



Fortune favors the bold

 

[Oscar Madison]

Ilia is just enough of a self-important douchebag to think he can move up and Beat Islam --

and I'm here for it!

No sense fighting bums in FW when he can step up to Greatness by taking on the P4P Champ Islam.

I want to see that fight -- but first he needs to KTFO Arman.

 

[Neck&Neck]

Toppy moves different
Sherdog can’t understand it

 

[HeffDoesWant]

He doesn't want to make the weight anymore. If he decides to go back down to 145, I'm sure he'll get an immediate title shot. So he always has that in his back pocket..

Why not vacate once the LW fight has been announced?

 

[Blanqa Blanqua]

Toppy moves different
Sherdog can’t understand it

This what you talking about?







Sorry I couldn't resist bro

But I actually #hespek his bold move. Confident guy, gambling on himself, challenging himself - gotta hespek it.

 

[Egalite]

I like his style, he came, saw, conquered and moved on.

Opposite of Jones or McGregor who came, saw, conquered, lingered, lingered some, lingered even more, suck up to dana, linger more and get stripped because everyone is sick of them.

 

[Deleted member 110072]

Its possible the UFC do really seem to like Volk.

 

[TheBulge]

He's just the type of person who lives fast and lives in the moment. He wants something, he goes forward to take it and doesn't look back.

 

[IloveTHIS]

dude wants to outdo/be Conor so much its insane.

I think at some point he will even start intentionally getting arrested to complete the Conor mimic

9/10 chance Islam slaughters him and it will have been a massive, massive tactical error. 10% chance he beats Islam, but it still wont outshine Conor because Conor did it first. and theres no possibly way he beats Islam in under 13 seconds lol

but dream/shine on Ilia

 

[Harlekin]

dude wants to outdo/be Conor so much its insane.

I think at some point he will even start intentionally getting arrested to complete the Conor mimic

9/10 chance Islam slaughters him and it will have been a massive, massive tactical error. 10% chance he beats Islam, but it still wont outshine Conor because Conor did it first. and theres no possibly way he beats Islam in under 13 seconds lol

but dream/shine on Ilia

Aldo was Conor's first belt.
He beat Eddie in 8 minutes


Volk, Max, Islam > Aldo, Eddie


Ilia is doing a great job promoting himself, but the UFC will never spent so much money on a single fighter ever again.
Therefore Ilia won't get as big, or at least not as quickly.
They learned their lesson with Conor and Ronda, who didn't fight much as soon as they got the big money.
It's a bad investment.

 

[Blanqa Blanqua]

He's just the type of person who lives fast and lives in the moment. He wants something, he goes forward to take it and doesn't look back.

It does seem like this.

I think at some point he will even start intentionally getting arrested to complete the Conor mimic

I doubt this bit ^. He is a pretty pious guy, and has been more scathing of Conor's behaviour than any other fighter.

 

[Blanqa Blanqua]

Aldo was Conor's first belt.
He beat Eddie in 8 minutes


Volk, Max, Islam > Aldo, Eddie


Ilia is doing a great job promoting himself, but the UFC will never spent so much money on a single fighter ever again.
Therefore Ilia won't get as big, or at least not as quickly.
They learned their lesson with Conor and Ronda, who didn't fight much as soon as they got the big money.
It's a bad investment.

Word, and it was a different UFC back then too... . Fertitta bros had him under their wing, and almost seemed to be living out their short white fight fantasies vicariously through him, IMO

 

[Mammothman]

I like his style, he came, saw, conquered and moved on.

Opposite of Jones or McGregor who came, saw, conquered, lingered, lingered some, lingered even more, suck up to dana, linger more and get stripped because everyone is sick of them.

Jones i still winning tho

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

No it legitimately seems like he voluntarily vacated.
He's gambling on himself.



Fortune favors the bold

"Ilia, we can not go to 155, I advise turning back."


"Audentes fortuna iuvat. Steer to where Islam is."

 

[DapperDave]

Children are not happy unless they can find a victim in every scenario.

Ilia is like, "That weight cut is bad for my health and I do not want to do it ever again."

OP is like "Ilia is a VICTIM of bad UFC!! 911!! I am gay!!!! reeeeeeeeeeee!"

Just sayin is all.

 

[tritestill]

STFU WITH THIS DUMB SHIT. Have a nice day though.

 

[PeterGriffin]

Right now, the UFC is one fight and one cherry-picking champ away from this stupid double-champ nonsense ending. After Jon is gone, none of the current UFC champions... except for perhaps Alex... really have the clout to make such demands, and there's not a better time to put everyone in check and start straightening out divisions.

If the UFC is determined to make champs vacate if they won't defend, that is the best news coming from the UFC in a long fucking time. And if Ilia did vacate to move up, good for him. He's making it about the fight, not the title.

That being said... Ilia marching straight into a LW title shot is a weird move though on the UFC's part. It only seems to benefit and reward Ilia while Islam assumes all the risk. The reason I find it weird is because Islam's not really a dick or unreliable. He just shows up and does his job.

I think it's Ilia and Conor. Doesn't even really need a title on the line to sell well, and it's a good high-profile debut event for Spain. If the UFC gives them PPV points, it's probably worth 5 times what a fight with Lopes or Evloev is, and Conor gets a smaller opponent who won't try to dry-hump him. The UFC will use Conor to get his ass kicked and put someone else over in his final fight(s).