Max was foolish for coming back to FW

[Koro_11]

I never understood why he wanted this fight, he has moved up to 155, had success and re ignited his career with a memorable win over an iconic LW.

He could have angled for the Makhachev fight, McGregor rematch or at least an Oliveira rematch who he has a win over, all very high profile fights with a lot of potential upside.

Instead he goes back down to FW to challenge a guy who was in many ways similar to the guy who already beat him 3 times... in fact he had just knocked that guy out. Yeah, basically a younger version of Volk with KO power, what could go wrong?

Now he's nowhere... is anyone excited to see him go back to knocking off FW contenders like Yair and Arnold Allen?

At LW there was a lot of potential and fresh matchups, Islam might be vacating the division anyway... now all those opportunities are gone.

Recapturing the FW title would have been impressive, but then we would be looking at Max vs Volk 4, I just saw no happy endings here at all. Fortunately Ilia won and the division can kinda move on, but I would have liked to see Max spice up 155 a bit.

 

[Steve Fox]

Max is a legend and can fight whoever he wants. Also has the BMF title which is meh for Sherbros but guarantees him a main event. He just needs to be away for 6 months to a year and all is well. A move up like he says should be good, have fun and proper fights. Can't wait for his return.

 

[KID Yamamoto]

I agree. I think the proper bulk up to 155 then cutting to 145 the same year was a very bad idea. Max didn't look amazing in there. Slow feet and very slow reactions. He gets tagged often but he was only there to be hit.

Oh well. Tis life

 

[dildos]

Max was the fw king before volk took that from him.
Of course he would have thought he could have beaten topuria.
It wasn’t foolish at all. He just got unlucky taking a chance he thought he could have won.
What’s so hard to understand about that??

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Not necessarily. It was probably better to take this shot in the long run cuz the LW title shot is still within his potential grasp, while his likelihood of a FW title win was only going to get worse and worse and probably disappear forever if he didn't take it now.

I mean, Islam vs Arman isn't going to happen until early next year. Holloway has plenty of time to rest and plug himself back into LW, and what kind of division will he find himself in at that point? Against the winner of Charles-Chandler probably, cuz there'd be nearly no one else. Justin probably won't have fought by then and Max should still be in front of him momentum wise. Same goes with Dustin. Worst I could see is him fighting Hooker.

 

[Koro_11]

Max is a legend and can fight whoever he wants. Also has the BMF title which is meh for Sherbros but guarantees him a main event. He just needs to be away for 6 months to a year and all is well. A move up like he says should be good, have fun and proper fights. Can't wait for his return.

It’s not only meh for Sher Bros, it’s just objectively meh and meaningless.

What’s even more funny is that some of you are coping with this narrative that Max still somehow has that title because he didn’t put it on the line or whatever… man Ilia just took everything Max had, including the imaginary title, Max lost it the moment he refused to engage in the centre of the octagon in that first 10 seconds. And if there was any doubt, he most certainly lost it when he got his head, bounced off the canvas.

 

[Hank Grill]

Dude is in his early 30s and a former champ he can do whatever he wants. It's the name of the game I'm sure he doesn't regret not trying for the belt again, he's never been a coward.

 

[Steve Fox]

It’s not only meh for Sher Bros, it’s just objectively meh and meaningless.

What’s even more funny is that some of you are coping with this narrative that Max still somehow has that title because he didn’t put it on the line or whatever… man Ilia just took everything Max had, including the imaginary title, Max lost it the moment he refused to engage in the centre of the octagon in that first 10 seconds. And if there was any doubt, he most certainly lost it when he got his head, bounced off the canvas.

Haha the only one coping here is you. Max lost a fight, got knocked out. It is what it is. The fact that he didn't engage with Topuria speaks more to how mature he is for not going in stupid games. Losing, doesn't take anything away from what he accomplished, from completely dominating Aldo, to give a beating to Ortega and putting a clinic on Gaethje. At the end of the day, the BMF gives him a main event and full blown highlight from the UFC. You can say whatever you want, Topuria is the new man of FW, no doubt but Max is above that. He is a legend and will keep on making that sweet money based on his name and legacy alone.

 

[C0NCH3TO]

Me too, from the second I read he was going back to fw I knew he just made a terrible
move. He had momentum at 155 and threw it away.

 

[xn7]

better version of himself at 155 but comparatively who knows

 

[Lord Pyjamas]

No Max was foolish for losing a fight.
Why do these people even take them?

 

[Koro_11]

Haha the only one coping here is you. Max lost a fight, got knocked out. It is what it is. Doesn't take anything away from what he accomplished, from completely dominating Aldo, to give a beating to Ortega and putting a clinic on Gaethje. At the end of the day, the BMF gives him a main event and full blown highlight from the UFC. You can say whatever you want, Topuria is the new man of FW, no doubt but Max is above that. He is a legend and will keep on making that sweet money based on his name and legacy alone.

Sure, and I’m happy for him, he’s a legend and bad mo fo no matter what. That said, pretending Max still has a title after last night is naive.

 

[Steve Fox]

Sure, and I’m happy for him. That said, pretending Max still has a title after last night is naive.

You are the one saying that he lost everything, when he didn't.. He lost a fight versus the new man of the division.

 

[The Siege]

Cutting back down to FW at his (fight) age against an elite hot prospect was a bad idea.

Ilia would have still won due to the skill disparity (if Ilia couldn't KO, he was going to wrestle Max to a DEC or possibly GnP finish), but the bulk up and then cut down in a short period of time had to have effected him.

 

[Koro_11]

You are the one saying that he lost everything, when he didn't.. He lost a fight versus the new man of the division.

Ok fair enough, he obviously still has all his past accomplishments, but he has no claim to being a badder mo go than Ilia was my point.

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

I agree with you. He has to cut so much weight and he is getting older, its much harder as you age. I think he should stay at LW from now on, far too much weight loss.

The pre fight presser you could see how spaced out he was, his eyes were so glazed, he clearly cut a lot of weight, yes I know he always looks like that because he cuts a lot but like I said he is getting older, and the weight won't come off as easy. He should stick to LW I think

 

[Goatenstein]

He would have had a better chance at stopping Islam late than outboxing Topuria.

 

[nostradumbass]

He would have had a better chance at stopping Islam late than outboxing Topuria.

No he wouldn't. He was outboxing Topuria for the first 2 rounds, Islam would choke him out within a couple rounds.

That was also his best path to even get to a LW shot. He still needed another fight or 2 at LW to get one, and would have been in a better position to get it by being the FW champ with a win over Gaethje than by having to take out more LW contenders.

 

[Guy LeDouche]

I was saying this was a huge oversight on his part the entire lead up to this fight.

Skillset size aside for either fighter, the biggest factor in this fight was weight cut. Max taking 10lbs off after properly bulking to look fantastic at LW was dare I say, A stupid move. At his age guys usually settle into a comfortable weight class. Because weight jumping is a young fighters game. You can’t be dehydrating yourself like that the older you get.