The case for Poatan being the FOTY

[andgonsil]

- 3 fights, 2 short notice
- Injuries, illnesses and visa issues
- 38 yo, fought younger guys in their primes

- Ilia is young, in his prime, fought healthy vs old lions out of their primes (Volk coming from brutal KO)

 

[markantony20]

Max is very much in his prime.

Volk may of been a bit out of it but his name is still a better quality win than Hill or Jiri both of whom don’t have a single title defence.

 

[stronghulk]

Alex is FOTY, he doesn't bitch about money, fame, injuries. Takes high-risk short-notice fights. He gets in and knocks people out, and gets out. Humble.

 

[markantony20]

That’s not to say that Alex doesn’t have an impressive year and he has activity to his advantage in the contest.

But I think Ilia has better quality wins in a tougher division.

 

[Pascal Bergeron]

Alex is FOTY, he doesn't bitch about money, fame, injuries. Takes high-risk short-notice fights. He gets in and knocks people out, and gets out. Humble.

most those fight were not high risk at all

they were all good stylistic match up

 

[markantony20]

most those fight were not high risk at all

they were all good stylistic match up

I guess you could argue that since it’s LHW anyone could get knocked out at any moment so it’s risky.

 

[stronghulk]

most those fight were not high risk at all

they were all good stylistic match up

In that case im mostly thinking about the Jiri fight, I don't know if Jiri is a good matchup for anyone, awkward.
Jamahal was easy, both on paper and in reality, yes. But he gave us a great KO there at a huge event. At 303, another KO over tough Jiri, and another great finish over a tough Khalil in a great fight.
Yeah, if he fought a wrestler/grappler and showed he can handle that it would ve more impressive, but I still think all things considered he is FOTY. Ilias victory yesterday was great, but I think Poatan still takes it, all things considered.

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

Max and Volk are genuine ATGs who rank very highly on all time p4p lists.

Khalil, Jiri and Hill? not so much.

 

[andgonsil]

Max and Volk are genuine ATGs who rank very highly on all time p4p lists.

Khalil, Jiri and Hill? not so much.

Stipe is an ATG too

 

[AMAZINGUFC]

- 3 fights, 2 short notice
- Injuries, illnesses and visa issues
- 38 yo, fought younger guys in their primes

- Ilia is young, in his prime, fought healthy vs old lions out of their primes (Volk coming from brutal KO)

No
- Pereira won 3 cans
- chikened out Ankalaev

- Topuria won 2 FW GOATs

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

Stipe is an ATG too

Max is 32 and beat the shit out of Justin six months ago, Stipe is a decade older and hasnt won a fight in over 4 years. Great comparison.

 

[bng]

- Pereira won 3
- Torpedo ducking Diego Lopez

fixed

 

[Tweak896]

Hard to choose. On paper destroying Volk and Max back to back is the hardest 2 fights in a row in any division. But Pereira has stepped up and beat 2 former champs and KO'd one of the best standup fighters at LHW on short notice. I'm cool with both winning it. Honestly doesn't matter because they both deserve it.

 

[Squarechoke]

Topuria deserves it because he has two absolute top tier wins, and both in very strong fashion.

Pereira has a great year behind him but his problem is that the LHW division has declined so much and it's pretty much just he that gives it any luster. He doesn't have any possible opponent in the entire LHW division that comes close to beating Volk or Max.

 

[muaythaibeast]

Stipe is an ATG too

Come on, Stipe is probably 8 years out of his prime.
Max is still very much in his prime, and just dismantled a top lightweight he was given no chance against a few months ago.
Volk may have been slightly past his peak, but he just destroyed Yair not that long before, and he was clearly the best fighter in the sport 6 months before.
Even if we were to only put the Volk win on a par with Weidmans win over Silva, its still an elite win.

 

[muaythaibeast]

I want to go Poatan, but realistically I don't think there's any competition.
The guys Poatan beat are decent 205ers.
Bar Islam, Topuria beat the top 2 guys under 170 back to back, both of which are top 20 p4p all time.

 

[pick999]

He made Jamal take a nap

Played soccer with jiris head

Made a burger out of roundtree

 

[RockyLockridge]

Max is very much in his prime.

Volk may of been a bit out of it but his name is still a better quality win than Hill or Jiri both of whom don’t have a single title defence.

yes but Volk was not coming off a win so that helps Alex's case. Jiri Hill and Rountree were all coming off of recent decisive victories.


I see a lot of fans going at it, over this topic Alex vs Illa for FOTY but honestly we should all just hang back and appreicate what a great year for the sport it has been. Jones is fighting stipe next month. Alex and Illa make up 5 PPVs this year that were all great. the O'malley and Dricus PPV's have been good too. thats like 9 decent ppvs this year. Only 301 was kinda meh

 

[Jfreemandrums]

most those fight were not high risk at all

they were all good stylistic match up

All 3 fighters he went against have a 50+% finishing rate and 60+ pounds on the fighters Ilia fought

Not high risk? Just say you're a fucking hater and move on lmao

Alex might light work of 3 absolute killers in like a 6 month span

He's easily Fighter of the Year

 

[Wreckless]

Topuria's wins are more impressive but Pereira has 3 as opposed to 2. They were all title defenses and all on short notice. (Or at least 2 of them were). Guy flew from Australia in the middle of his vacation to fight.

Pereira is FOTY.