The belt doesn't really mean much anymore in most cases

It's become very obvious when the clear #1 contender is being passed over in so many divisions.
 
Legendary said:
Rankings are all made up. You are either a top fighter or you are not. Islam proved he was the best fighter in the division when he dropped and subbed Oliveira.

You say 145er like its a chump, he fought VOLK, who is one the best fighters in the sport.

What does who he is rematching have to do anything? He doesn't make the match ups. Anyone with fight knowledge knows the Dustin and Justin never quite pull it off in title fights, and guys like Islam and Charles have shown they are a step above them.
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Islam has literally only fought Charles in the top 5. That isn't changing with the rematch.

We have no idea if Islam is the best LW in the world or if he could just beat Charles and a FW. Great wins yes, but that's only 2. You have to apply MMAMath to say Islam is the best because Islam > Charles > everybody else. We saw with Izzy that's not quite how things work.

Islam has benefitted enormously from the very stuff TS is bitching about. So mind you did Volk and Charles who got a free TS and one after 1 win respectively.
 
markg171 said:
TS made an entire thread bitching about the belt not meaning much because anybody can get a title shot if the UFC wants them too and then praised Islam who himself benefitted from that and is similarly reigning as champion.

It's a pretty obvious double standard.
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Islam won like 100 fights in a row. If anything, this should be the norm. Win consecutive fights, get title matches. Pretty basic stuff. You can really only beat who they put in front of you. Guys like Poirer, Gaethje and Chandler only fight each other
 
Conor exposed this to MMA fans awhile ago.

Look what happens ..

It seems majority of the fighters who become champions just end up by goofy expensive clothing, start speaking like TV characters, feign charisma and confidence, and are looking at real bank match-ups. It's extremely common for champions to chase big pay days, against non-champions like Conor, or fighters not in MMA.

Very few, if any, UFC champions act satisfied or entirely happy. They're looking at how to bank their current opportunites while it lasts.

The belt is a plus 75k to your show's buyrate. It's a promotional sticker that gets moved around.
 
capnlarge said:
Islam won like 100 fights in a row. If anything, this should be the norm. Win consecutive fights, get title matches. Pretty basic stuff. You can really only beat who they put in front of you. Guys like Poirer, Gaethje and Chandler only fight each other
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Islam didn't beat a single top 5 guy when he got his title shot. Beating a bunch of low / unranked guys and only short notice Hooker should never be the standard to getting a title shot. In fact he was even leapfrogging Beneil who had a similar streak but over better competition, was higher ranked, and then to add insult to all of it had to fight on the very same card as Islam/Charles against another contender Islam never faced in Gamrot.

And then had to fight Charles because Islam instead fought Volk. And now Charles gets his rematch after 1 win and Beneil's back to the back of the line with this loss and Justin will probably get another title shot in the meantime.

It's an obvious double standard going on. If you're fine with it cool, but don't bitch about other divisions/champions doing the very same thing and then put your blindfolds on for 155 where it's even more evident.
 
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markg171 said:
{<huh}

  • Islam got a title shot without a single top 5 win.
  • He then got to defend against a 145lber in their first 155lb fight.
  • Now he's rematching the guy he originally fought for the belt a year later.
Wtf are you talking about?
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while you're right, all of that isnt Islam's fault entirely. quite a few high ranked matchups he was connected to fell through. so instead of fighting Dos Anjos (injured) he fought Dan Hooker cause Hooker stepped up on short notice. instead of fighting Beneil (injury), he fought Bobby Green who stepped up on short notice. he was even supposed to fight Drew Dober a few years before he actually did because Drew got injured before that previous date. potentially, Islam wouldve beaten both Beneil and Dos Anjos prior to a title if those injuries didnt happen. he's had some unfortunate luck when it comes to matchmaking.
ultimately he did prove he is a champ by soundly defeating Charles but context matters.
 
loisestrad said:
He beat Yan. Was the UFC supposed to go "nah, wasn't a legit win, lots of sherdogges thought you lost - no title shot for you!". Now, that would have been some bullshit, as opposed to O'malley getting a title shot, which was perfectly fine.
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The most egregious example of favouritism towards Sean was when they just chalked his fight with Munhoz up as a win despite him losing the first round and fouling Pedro. If it was anyone else they likely rebook the fight and run it back, but because it was sugar shins they just moved on because they can’t risk him losing.
 
markg171 said:
Islam didn't beat a single top 5 guy when he got his title shot. Beating a bunch of low ranked guys and short notice Hooker should never be the standard to getting a title shot. In fact he was even leapfrogging Beneil who had a similar streak but over better competition, was higher ranked, and then to add insult to all of it had to fight on the very same card as Islam/Charles against another contender in Gamrot.

And then had to fight Charles because Islam instead fought Volk. And now Charles gets his rematch after 1 win and Beneil's back to the back of the line and Justin will probably get another title shot in the meantime.

It's an obvious double standard going on. If you're fine with it cool, but don't bitch about other divisions/champions doing the very same thing and then put your blindfolds on for 155 where it's even more evident.
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Well, don't worry Islam will get to fight guys like Poirier, Chandler and Gaethje because they are always 1 win from a title shot
 
A few fans may feel like that but unfortunately the majority want title fights and really don't care much about arguing the 2nd or 3rd or 1st or 5th ranked guy who got the shot.

The titles mean a hell of a lot more to the fighters even if they say it doesn't, PPV points are a big deal in this sport to make big money.
 
Blastbeat said:
while you're right, all of that isnt Islam's fault entirely. quite a few high ranked matchups he was connected to fell through. so instead of fighting Dos Anjos (injured) he fought Dan Hooker cause Hooker stepped up on short notice. instead of fighting Beneil (injury), he fought Bobby Green who stepped up on short notice. he was even supposed to fight Drew Dober a few years before he actually did because Drew got injured before that previous date. potentially, Islam wouldve beaten both Beneil and Dos Anjos prior to a title if those injuries didnt happen. he's had some unfortunate luck when it comes to matchmaking.
ultimately he did prove he is a champ by soundly defeating Charles but context matters.
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You don't get credit for who you didn't fight. Only who you did. Islam hadn't beaten anybody of note and still got a title shot simply because the UFC wanted him to have one. As couldn't be more evidenced by giving him it in Abu Dhabi on top of it all.

As to your last point, no. We just saw rather succinctly with Sean/Izzy that MMAMath doesn't work and that actually fighting somebody is the way to see who's better than the other. Islam has only beaten Charles and those unranked/low ranked guys. We have no idea if he's actually the best LW or can just beat Charles. If Charles beats Islam you can say that meanwhile as he actually has beaten all the other contenders and is just missing Islam. Islam's missing everybody.

He's passing the looks test, but not the actual results test.
 
markg171 said:
Islam didn't beat a single top 5 guy when he got his title shot. Beating a bunch of low / unranked guys and only short notice Hooker should never be the standard to getting a title shot. In fact he was even leapfrogging Beneil who had a similar streak but over better competition, was higher ranked, and then to add insult to all of it had to fight on the very same card as Islam/Charles against another contender Islam never faced in Gamrot.

And then had to fight Charles because Islam instead fought Volk. And now Charles gets his rematch after 1 win and Beneil's back to the back of the line with this loss and Justin will probably get another title shot in the meantime.

It's an obvious double standard going on. If you're fine with it cool, but don't bitch about other divisions/champions doing the very same thing and then put your blindfolds on for 155 where it's even more evident.
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Except that they tried to book Islam against higher ranked fighters and they pulled out including Beniel.
 
Gamer2k4 said:
People keep saying this, and it's just not true. Jones worked for three years to naturally bulk up to fit into the heavyweight division. He was in contract talks for months. And then, as soon as Ngannou left, he had a fight. To me that means that Ngannou was the one holding up things, not Jones.
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Dana White said that Jones priced himself out of the Ngannou fight before Ngannou left.
 
markg171 said:
You don't get credit for who you didn't fight. Only who you did. Islam hadn't beaten anybody of note and still got a title shot simply because the UFC wanted him to have one. As couldn't be more evidenced by giving him it in Abu Dhabi on top of it all.

As to your last point, no. We just saw rather succinctly with Sean/Izzy that MMAMath doesn't work and that actually fighting somebody is the way to see who's better than the other. Islam has only beaten Charles and those unranked/low ranked guys. We have no idea if he's actually the best LW or can just beat Charles. If Charles beats Islam you can say that meanwhile as he actually has beaten all the other contenders and is just missing Islam. Islam's missing everybody.

He's passing the looks test, but not the actual results test.
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he did have a 9 fight win streak at least, even though they werent top names thats still a good amount of people to beat in a row in the UFC. its not like they gave him the Pereira treatment. i dont fault Islam for his opponents pulling out even though it makes his record look worse than it is. oh and beating Volk was a pretty good accomplishment too.
lets see what happens when Charles and Islam have their rematch. should be pretty telling.
 
Terrible thread. I wonder if people actually believe half the dumb shit they post.

Jon only moved to HW after Francis left? This is THE WORST narrative going around the forum. Out of the three years Jon took to bulk up Francis was only champion for 10 months and once the fight was ready to go Francis decided to leave the UFC. Neither man is afraid of the other they just know their worth.

LHW is a fucking mess but the ones that are the most deserving are definitely getting their shots.

The UFC "ran Poatan to LHW to save Izzy's star power." You mean the same guy Izzy just knocked TF out? MW just got shook up and will be super interesting over the next year.

Colby may not be the best contender for WW but he is still a top contender and he's a legit threat to the champ.

LW is really interesting and anyone in the top 5 could get a title shot and I wouldn't complain because they're all the highest level the sport has to offer.

FW is really thin at the moment. I don't think the contenders in that division are that good compared to other divisions but it is what it is.

Sean O'Malley beat Petr to earn his shot and will most likely face Chito Vera then who knows, Merab kind of screwed himself by having a boring fight with Aldo and saying he didn't want to fight the champion. No one really thought Sean was going to beat Petr, no one really thought he was going to beat Aljo and, surprise surprise, you don't believe he's going to beat X, Y, Z. Maybe he will.

I could go on but you do realize all of the title challengers are among the best fighters in the world right? You can cry because your favorite fighters aren't getting title shots or whatever but EVERY fighter that is in the GOAT convo is in there due to their title wins.
 
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