Opinion: Islam Makhachev and the Cautionary Tale of Jon Jones

[Kung Fu Kowboy]

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There was no shortage of topics from the incredibly successful UFC 317 show on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Referee quality, rapidly improving prospects, aging champions producing their best showings, vicious knockouts and an epic fight were all fiery discussions to be had. However, none of those were getting nearly as much chatter as the continued ascension of Ilia Topuria to all-time greatness. It’s hard not to have that be top of mind when his run is proving to be of historic proportions.



After knocking out the likes of Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway—arguably the two greatest featherweight fighters in the history of the sport—Topuria moved up to lightweight and proceeded to knock Charles Oliveira out cold, something no one else has been able to do. In the process, he claimed the lightweight championship and had observers comparing his run to the likes of Jon Jones, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Conor McGregor. That’s some lofty company, pointing to the type of run that typically only comes around about every five years at most.

It’s notable that Topuria didn’t wrest away the lightweight title from anyone. The previous champion, Islam Makhachev, opted to relinquish the belt and focus on claiming the welterweight crown from Jack Della Maddalena. Makhachev believed there were no more worthwhile challenges at lightweight and wanted to make his focus on adding a title from another weight class to his resume. I don’t believe Makhachev is running from Topuria, even if there’s an appearance of his doing so. After all, Topuria was the one who set the standard in vacating a title in pursuit of another one; he did so in hopes of clashing with Makhachev. Unfortunately for fans, Makhachev followed suit once Della Maddalena upset Belal Muhammad for the welterweight title. Given that Muhammad is a friend of Makhachev, it was the only green light the Russian needed to say he was moving on to newer challenges. It was well-documented that Makhachev was considering a move to 170 pounds. Muhammad being the champion was the only thing holding him back.


Unfortunately for Makhachev, most fans only go skin deep on the issues. They’re going to see that Topuria moved up while calling for a fight with Makhachev, only for the Russian to subsequently move up himself. That looks very much like dodging, even if what Makhachev claims checks out. It doesn’t matter if it checks out if fans don’t hear it, which can also be their choice. Fans don’t care about the reasons why Makhachev might want to move up; they just want him to fight Topuria.

While it doesn’t take a lot of effort to understand Makhachev’s perspective, it isn’t necessarily fair to say fans are being unreasonable, either. They are the ones who ultimately throw their hard-earned dollars at the promotion, and it’s only logical that they would like to get what they asked for in return. I get that the Rolling Stones taught us all a valuable lesson in reminding us that “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” but when there’s a fight that can be made within reason, it should be done. Given that Makhachev’s entire UFC career has been spent at lightweight, it isn’t a reach for fans to expect him to fight Topuria.

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Opinion: Islam Makhachev and the Cautionary Tale of Jon Jones

Sherdog columnist Dayne Fox examines the tightrope the former Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight titleholder must walk in order to avoid drawing the ire of fans.

www.sherdog.com

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[Pequeño Corey]

Makalchev ducked Ilia confirmed.

 

[rear naked ankle pick]

Makhachev is Aspinal of LW confirmed (ducking real fight)

 

[VinceArch]

Islam vs JDM will be one hell of a fight.

 

[188912345]

What made it look worse was him and his team angling for Gaethje and claiming Topuria "not deserving" it, when he was clearly the most dangerous challenge.

 

[Kung Fu Kowboy]

Makalchev ducked Ilia confirmed.

Makhachev is Aspinal of LW confirmed (ducking real fight)

What made it look worse was him and his team angling for Gaethje and claiming Topuria "not deserving" it, when he was clearly the most dangerous challenge.

 

[Kung Fu Kowboy]

Islam vs JDM will be one hell of a fight.

 

[b00tysweat]

from "Islam only defends against midgets" to "Islam is ducking a midget"

wtf never change sherbros

 

[Pequeño Corey]

from "Islam only defends against midgets" to "Islam is ducking a midget"

wtf never change sherbros

Two things can be true. Ilia is a far more dangerous midget than Volk, though.

 

[moosaev]

What made it look worse was him and his team angling for Gaethje and claiming Topuria "not deserving" it, when he was clearly the most dangerous challenge.

That was Ali trying to double dip and help is other client. Very unfair to put that on Islam.

 

[moosaev]

from "Islam only defends against midgets" to "Islam is ducking a midget"

wtf never change sherbros

These are the same people who shit on Khabib because he didn’t “challenge himself” at 170. If Islam stayed at 155 and beat ilia, they’d call him a weight bully and say he should go up to WW if he has any balls lol. The criticism is dishonest, they just want to see him lose so they can say he was a shit fighter.

 

[KO Shotz]

These are the same people who shit on Khabib because he didn’t “challenge himself” at 170. If Islam stayed at 155 and beat ilia, they’d call him a weight bully and say he should go up to WW if he has any balls lol. The criticism is dishonest, they just want to see him lose so they can say he was a shit fighter.

But then there's ppl like me who want to see him continue to line them up & knock them down. Yet it becomes more & more obvious that he is actively avoiding Ilia.

 

[moosaev]

But then there's ppl like me who want to see him continue to line them up & knock them down. Yet it becomes more & more obvious that he is actively avoiding Ilia.

Yes, and If he beats ilia it will become obvious to you that he’s avoiding challenging himself at 170 lol. The goal post always moves.

 

[KO Shotz]

Yes, and If he beats ilia it will become obvious to you that he’s avoiding challenging himself at 170 lol. The goal post always moves.

Nope. He could've fought Ilia & if successful then nobody would have a solid argument against him leaving. He would've literally cleared out all the legitimate competition in the LW division. There was never any rush for Islam to go to WW because that division is stacked. There was a superfight brewing with a new contender who is at a champion level who specifically wanted to fight Islam, vacated his belt & entered 155 solely to fight Islam. Yes, Islam gutted 155, but there was one more fight left last minute & it was a massive fight, & for some it looked to be Islam's toughest challenge. But he avoided it, made demands for a potential fight with Ilia, then left.

 

[PeterGriffin]

Really, it breaks down to this... if you are a fan of Ilia, Islam is just ducking and scared and running. If you are an Islam fan, he's worrying about and putting himself first. While I agree both Ilia and Islam moved up in quest of a second title, their motives are not the same.

Islam wants to shoot for his own goals and gives zero fucks about Ilia. He wants the 170lb strap and double champ status. Makachev SHOULDN'T give a shit about Ilia or care about him at all or entertain him, and Islam musing about welterweight isn't new. I don't even believe JDM even really factors into the equation at all beyond the fact that it means Belal no longer holds the title.

And isn't that EXACTLY what Ilia is doing too? Worrying about himself, or putting himself first?

Honestly, to me, Ilia's whole move to 155lbs reeks more of Conor vs Alvarez and Jones vs. Miocic kind of cherry-picking, like Ilia found the one target he really believes he beat. It ALWAYS seemed like it was about Islam personally, and never so much the belt.

No one is going to argue Topuria's striking and power in a firefight, not anymore. But until he gets dragged down and dirty by a real 155'er, Ilia's grappling will forever be questioned because it is the one remaining real unknown about his overall game. I guess I am in the minority here, but I really want to see Paddy vs Ilia, and that fight interests me way more than Islam vs. Topuria. I think Paddy's legit, and I think if Ilia can't put Paddy away fast, he's in big trouble. If Ilia doesn't realize that Paddy can go 25 hard minutes while at 175-185 lbs, he's in for a rude-awakening when he ends up buried beneath a heavier, stronger guy. The way Paddy handled Chandler and Green was damned impressive.

And let's be real here, it's always been Ilia chasing or talking about Islam. Islam's already the A side, and will probably always be. IWhether or not Ilia tries WW, or Islam comes back to LW after an unsuccessful attempt at 170lbs... the UFC is going to give Islam that fight anyways regardless of what Ilia wants. There is striking while the iron is hot, and then there is shooting yourself in the foot. Rushing to make an Islam/Ilia fight is bad business. Build up those two divisions a little bit please. For fuck sakes, the UFC gets a little blood pumping, and they immediately go out of their way to handicap themselves. The WW division is rolling again, don't fuck it up.

I don't think any amount of money the UFC or Dana threw at Islam was going to make Islam change course. I'm starting to believe Dana simply doesn't know how to deal with principled Europeans and Russians. Throw a pile of money at Khabib, or Fedor, or Islam... and Dana's fucking mind-blown and can't understand why money gets refused. They are not the same. Topuria has a much easier road ahead of him at 155lbs than Islam does at 170. Let's se e how Islam reacts to him getting tagged clean by a proper WW. Shti's going to get real for both fighters no matter what and I love that both are challenging themselves.

 

[Kwic]

That fight will only get better because of Ilia KOing Charles.
If Illia moved up and Islam dominated him everyone would say he was undersized, not good at LW, Jai Herbert almost knocking him out at LW etc.
Not much to gain for Islam at that point to be honest.

However, now that Illia proved himself at LW that fight become so much better.

Of course I also wanted to see the fight but I r I still hope we get to see it.
If Islam wins the title at 170 and granted Illia title shot that would have been one of the biggest fights in the UFC history.

 

[Tweak896]

Ehh I do believe the report the UFC didn't want one of their 2 stars to lose because those greedy fucks rather have 2 headliners than 1 with a blemish. Also probably having Belal as champ was an eye opener for Islam that his shot at WW title wasn't infinite.

Definitely was some bullshit arguing with people that Topuria beating Max and Volk at FW, should mean something at LW. Same logic as Islam. Plenty were saying it was a whole different experience and you can't possibly compare the 2 divisions.

Topuria/Islam would've made 2025 a great year. UFC dropped the ball on Jones/Aspinall. Can't believe how many mega fights they let walk.

 

[Poirierfan]

Islam vs JDM will be one hell of a fight.

If Volk can rock Islam, JDM definitely can. I think there's a chance Islam gets KO'ed.

 

[moosaev]

Nope. He could've fought Ilia & if successful then nobody would have a solid argument against him leaving. He would've literally cleared out all the legitimate competition in the LW division. There was never any rush for Islam to go to WW because that division is stacked.

Even now nobody has a solid argument for him leaving, just sour grapes. Everyone wanted to see that fight, but Islam been asking for a shot at 170 for 2 yrs now, he was asking for it while Ilia was still fighting guys like Bryce Mitchell.

 

[KO Shotz]

Even now nobody has a solid argument for him leaving, just sour grapes. Everyone wanted to see that fight, but Islam been asking for a shot at 170 for 2 yrs now, he was asking for it while Ilia was still fighting guys like Bryce Mitchell.

Yet in reality Ilia moved up to 155 to challenge Islam after demolishing Volk & Holloway. Islam had a new contender that was a fresh matchup & a legitimate challenge, & yet he chose to leave the division instead of completely cleaning out his division.