Perhaps it's recency bias, but has there ever been such an egregious case of "special protection" than what's going on with Poatan?

[FrankDux]

Seems like it's not only general consensus among fans but fighters that Alex is getting special protection. You can always throw Conor in the mix but he's just an outlier because he's Conor. What are some of the more egregious cases of "special protection" in UFC's history?

 

[jeff7b9]

Hasn't he fought champions in 7 of his 9 UFC fights?


Do we know if Ank turned it down at any point as he has done before? I'd like to get all th facts here but I'm not buying immediately into this "Alex is ducking" a guy who was offered to fight Alex and turned it down (possibly twice).

Note that Ank is next fighting in Abu Dhabi, which is where he was trying to coerce the champ to fight him

 

[svmr_db]

I'm sure somebody will point to O'Malley vs Vera 2 but Chito had wins over champions, in main events & a win over O'Malley. Far less egregious than this.

 

[Pechan]

Jiri finished Glover on the ground, Jan wrestle fucked Izzy, Hill was a former champ with one lost in the promotion and also a younger striker, at MW he fought and beat two champs and the guys he got before Sean where regular MWs not some cans they signed just for him.

 

[FrankDux]

Hasn't he fought champions in 7 of his 9 UFC fights?


Do we know if Ank turned it down at any point as he has done before?

Highly doubt it when you take it at face value he's saying things like this:

 

[Goatenstein]

Seems like it's not only general consensus among fans but fighters that Alex is getting special protection. You can always throw Conor in the mix but he's just an outlier because he's Conor. What are some of the more egregious cases of "special protection" in UFC's history?

No there's just a lot of crying haters.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Islam hasn't fought a single number one contender since winning his title. Worst than poatan if you ask me, who has fought every former champion the division has had post Jones other than his coach glover.

 

[Fight Professor]

UFC simply wanted to match Ankalaev and Rakic to delay 2 boring fighters. They just did it a couple of fights too late. Any decision controversy probably results in a rematch.

We could have seen Jiri-Walker and Ankalaev-Rakic if UFC had timed things better.

 

[fandangler101]

Alex just fought a murders row of former champions. Please, stop getting upset about random shit.

Fighters like Ank have shown they only want preferential Abu Dhabi cards.

 

[FrankDux]

No there's just a lot of crying haters.

I think if you're Ank, the crying and hating is 100% justified.

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

It isn't general consensus among fighters, it's consensus among the guys he beat that want a rematch.
It's also people seeing Ank and going "Dagestani = elite grappler" when the guy averages one TD per fight and whose only submission on his record is a loss to Paul Craig.

Facing nothing but champions is not being protected and it isn't Alex's fault that there literally isn't an elite wrestler in 205. They said he was being protected at 185 as well. From who? Marvin Vettori? Which grappler besides Ank would you pick against Poatan at 205?

Islam hasn't fought a single number one contender since winning his title. Worst than poatan if you ask me, who has fought every former champion the division has had post Jones other than his coach glover.

Undeniably true. The only LW Islam has fought was Dustin. He was angling for a fight with Max as well recently.

 

[PrideNverDies]

Highly doubt it when you take it at face value he's saying things like this:

That's just Ali on his Twitter account lol

 

[don't ask]

Seems like it's not only general consensus among fans but fighters that Alex is getting special protection. You can always throw Conor in the mix but he's just an outlier because he's Conor. What are some of the more egregious cases of "special protection" in UFC's history?

You're going to have to explain to people that it's possible for someone to fight top fighters and still be protected from being grappled. They don't seem to grasp that a fantastic striker being fed inferior strikers that won't really try to grapple him (whether or not it's happening here) is a very real way a kickboxing champion can be protected while fighting former MMA champions in MMA.

 

[RockyLockridge]

UFC simply wanted to match Ankalaev and Rakic to delay 2 boring fighters. They just did it a couple of fights too late. Any decision controversy probably results in a rematch.

We could have seen Jiri-Walker and Ankalaev-Rakic if UFC had timed things better.

Rakic is good tho, I expect him to beat ankalaev

 

[burningspear]

You take what this life gives you, it isnt his fault.

 

[Istryker]

No and he looks like a chicken weight bully talking about DDP. What a HUGE waste of time none of these late year UFC matchups are intriguing other than Top-Max

 

[FrankDux]

And BTW, this isn't a knock on Pereira. I'm not throwing shade at him whatsoever, he's doing what he's told essentially.

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

Max, Conor, Khabib, Israel, and now Alex have all gotten the "they're being protected from wrestlers!" screed. Funnily enough, during Chuck's prime it was "They're just giving him grapplers who can't strike!"

 

[Istryker]

Islam hasn't fought a single number one contender since winning his title. Worst than poatan if you ask me, who has fought every former champion the division has had post Jones other than his coach glover.

Volk2X and Dustin>>>>>>>>>>> Jiri 2X and hill (coming off an Achilles injury)

 

[MisfitsBR]

Poatan will fight 3 times between Ank last fight and next.

Protection is when the guy doesn't even fight... fighting will always be risky.