Media Shavkat Rakhmonov's manager says talks are ongoing to keep him on UFC 310, hopes to fight Usman for interim title

[PeterGriffin]

just move the fight to UFC 312 Belal vs Shavkat

Yup. Clear the path for Pereira to save the UFC's ass again.

 

[TriangleMonkey]

I dont care about the fake belt at all, just give us the best damn fight you can make and Usman is Ok by me

 

[agibmxmma]

Should be Shavkat vs Garry, Brady vs Usman, MVP vs Leon, JDM vs Buckley

 

[RockyLockridge]

Shao Khan will take over Earthrealm's welterweight anyway

Shao Khan ducked Jax, and this is pretty much a known fact at this point.

 

[Mick Dojang]

Belal fought in July. Does an interim belt make sense so soon? I mean, anything to make Shavkat fight, but unfair to Belal who has a real medical issue going on.

From a rules/norms of the sport standpoint - no

From a Dana standpoint - yes

Belal is a good fighter but he's not an interesting draw, whereas Shavkat is someone people are legitimately excited to watch. Same situation with Kayla at bantam

I could imagine UFC wanting
- Amazonian black magic shaman at LHW/HW
- Steppe nomad at WW
- Olympian judoka muscle mommy at bantam

Instead of the alternative:
- Normal guy at LHW (unless it's jiri I guess)
- Normal guy at WW
- Normal girl at bantam

The closer it can get visually to pro wrestling/street fighter, the more of a crowd it draws. Some Guy vs Some Guy doesn't make Dana money

 

[Alpha_T83]

What about this one?

View attachment 1070107

Barely 4 months after Ngannou won the undisputed title lol.

That one I believe was unique. This was discussed in another thread actually.

There is every indication that Dana and Ngannou were in a contract dispute. I'm a big critic of Dana, but when your HW champion comes to you and says he's going to refuse to defend his belt, what do you do? Dana obviously didn't want to strip him of the title, or he would have. So he did the next best thing.

And we can definitively prove that some contract negotiations occurred: Francis Ngannou did something that I have not seen happen in the modern UFC, which is to end your UFC tenure on a championship fight that you won. Normally the UFC "champion's clause" automatically extends a fighter's contract by 1 fight if they are the champion. This means it should have been theoretically impossible for Ngannou to defend the title against Gane and then leave the UFC. The fact that he was able to do so means he and Dana negotiated a contract exception for the champion's clause to not apply to Ngannou. I believe there was an exclusive negotiation time period, after which Ngannou was stripped & allowed to fight elsewhere.

 

[Big Tuppy Hole]

I don't like Belal and like Shavkat so I'm fine with this. But any other time I'd call this unfair and ridiculous.

 

[Adamant]

If it gets a belt on Shavkat faster, good.

 

[Adamant]

Should be Shavkat vs Garry, Brady vs Usman, MVP vs Leon, JDM vs Buckley

Absolutely.

 

[svmr_db]

Should be Shavkat vs Garry, Brady vs Usman, MVP vs Leon, JDM vs Buckley

Wrong.

MVP doesn't deserve to fight Leon & JDM shouldn't have to fight down the rankings.

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

It makes sense and I said before that this is the fight to make, for a few reasons.. Usman is a wrestler like Belal, its not a huge style change, its not like he is facing a totally different style like Thompson or MVP long range distance point fight kicker.

Its the same matchup really, but I think Usman has sharper and faster hands than Belal in the striking, but the grappling is similar.

I think its a huge test for Shavkat, and it will be a great fight. I still think Usman has a lot left in him, not convinced he is finished like some do, I really think if the Khamzat fight was 5 rounds he would have ended up winning like a 3-2 decision, thats with taking the fight on 10 days notice and a different weight class etc etc.

 

[_manhattan]

Belal fought in July. Does an interim belt make sense so soon? I mean, anything to make Shavkat fight, but unfair to Belal who has a real medical issue going on.

For a bone infection, six week recovery is on the optimistic side... some recoveries take almost a full year before just to get back to normal. Its extremely taxing and draining on the body, and why he has a no physical exertion order. While the injury itself may be healed, your energy output could still be pretty much sapped.

Belal is a high exertion athlete, I'm doubtful he'll be as he was in so short a time. In this instance, I'm okay with an interim

 

[Oscar Madison]

Khabib's Title Shot against Al Iaquinta is the most basic standard for judging Title Shot opponent legitimacy.

2024 Gatekeeper Usman is fine by that "celebrated Khabib decision victory over Fat Al" standard.

 

[Ace70 V2]

Belal fought in July. Does an interim belt make sense so soon? I mean, anything to make Shavkat fight, but unfair to Belal who has a real medical issue going on.

Depends on how long he'll be out. But as we've seen, it's really based on Dana and Co's feelings.

 

[Rio Ferdinand]

Honestly fuck belal.

That guy fights once a year and is now holding the belt hostage.

 

[SuperAlly]

Whilst Belal is ducking, the real fighters in the division stepping up to let the hands go

 

[JoeRowe]

Should be Shavkat vs Garry, Brady vs Usman, MVP vs Leon, JDM vs Buckley

Why would Garry get the shot over JDM?

 

[Mammothman]

Lol it's like Leon vanished from existence hahahah

 

[svmr_db]

Lol it's like Leon vanished from existence hahahah

 

[KO Shotz]

I don't like the idea of an interim fight between Shavkat vs Usman, but I do like the idea of Shavkat vs Usman. If Belal is going to be out for a year or so, then an interim makes sense. Other than that if Belal will be back before a year, then just make Shavkat vs Usman as a regular fight.