The current state of UFC welterweight division

[Unheralded Truth]

Burns (2) vs Chimaev (11) - April 9
Luque (4) vs Muhammad (5) - April 16
Usman (C) vs Edwards (3) - July 30 (unconfirmed)

Thompson (6) seems to be turning down (8) Brady?
Magny (9) and Jingliang (13) both uninterested in a fight with Rakhmonov (15)

Other notable fighters not booked: Covington (1), Chiesa (10) and Neal (12)

That's it. Not sure how to get some more fights in between those in April and the title fight in late July.
Thoughts on what to do?

 

[Deleted member 359865]

Covington will fight Burns or Chimaev only if Chimaev loses. The rest of the unbooked guys will play gatekeeper or fight each other. Magney will likely fight loser of luque and Muhammad.

I don’t mean this pejoratively, but that’s the UFC formula.

 

[Eric Silva 2.0]

Burns (2) vs Chimaev (11) - April 9
Luque (4) vs Muhammad (5) - April 16
Usman (C) vs Edwards (3) - July 30 (unconfirmed)

Thompson (6) seems to be turning down (8) Brady?
Magny (9) and Jingliang (13) both uninterested in a fight with Rakhmonov (15)

Other notable fighters not booked: Covington (1), Chiesa (10) and Neal (12)

That's it. Not sure how to get some more fights in between those in April and the title fight in late July.
Thoughts on what to do?

Wonderboy vs Chiesa. We all know Chiesa is very picky with his fights. He would have the grappling/wrestling advantage plus he's fighting up in the rankings. Add in the fact that Wonderboy looks on the decline so it seems like a good fight for Chiesa. Wonderboy is one of the nicest guys in the game so he wouldn't mentions Chiesa's mom so all bases are covered.

 

[GOATmaev]

Khamzat would literally beat all of them in one night, set it up

 

[deanambrose]

No such thing as welterweight anymore. It's either RematchDivision or shalloWW division.
For our luck there is Brady, Khamzat, Shavkat and few others coming to save this weightclass.

 

[PhotographyRaptor]

Burns (2) vs Chimaev (11) - April 9
Luque (4) vs Muhammad (5) - April 16
Usman (C) vs Edwards (3) - July 30 (unconfirmed)

Thompson (6) seems to be turning down (8) Brady?
Magny (9) and Jingliang (13) both uninterested in a fight with Rakhmonov (15)

Other notable fighters not booked: Covington (1), Chiesa (10) and Neal (12)

That's it. Not sure how to get some more fights in between those in April and the title fight in late July.
Thoughts on what to do?

There were articles about tweets from Magny showing he’s receptive to fighting Rahkmonov just a day or two ago.

 

[Osiris3657]

Covington fought less than a month ago, you expect him to already have his next fight lined up?

Neal seems to be mentally struggling still with that severe illness he had a year or so ago. Hasn't looked the same since, not surprised he's not as active

Chiesa needs to fight someone below him, he's on a losing streak and doesn't have leverage. If Shavkat doesn't get the Magny fight, Chiesa should be forced to fight him

Honestly hard to blame Wonderboy if he is declining to fight Brady. He's gotten grapplefucked twice in a row and would get wrestled to a decision loss again. He needs to fight down in the rankings, but give him a striker at least. Unfortunately for Thompson, the division, especially ranked guys, are primarily grapplers. It would be fun to see Thompson vs Muslim Salikhov

 

[Sweater of AV]

Honestly hard to blame Wonderboy if he is declining to fight Brady. He's gotten grapplefucked twice in a row and would get wrestled to a decision loss again. He needs to fight down in the rankings, but give him a striker at least. Unfortunately for Thompson, the division, especially ranked guys, are primarily grapplers. It would be fun to see Thompson vs Muslim Salikhov

It's a shame Wonderboy didn't spend more time on wrestling/grappling isn't it?

 

[TriangleMonkey]

Covington fought less than a month ago, you expect him to already have his next fight lined up?

Neal seems to be mentally struggling still with that severe illness he had a year or so ago. Hasn't looked the same since, not surprised he's not as active

Chiesa needs to fight someone below him, he's on a losing streak and doesn't have leverage. If Shavkat doesn't get the Magny fight, Chiesa should be forced to fight him

Honestly hard to blame Wonderboy if he is declining to fight Brady. He's gotten grapplefucked twice in a row and would get wrestled to a decision loss again. He needs to fight down in the rankings, but give him a striker at least. Unfortunately for Thompson, the division, especially ranked guys, are primarily grapplers. It would be fun to see Thompson vs Muslim Salikhov

 

[Unheralded Truth]

Covington fought less than a month ago, you expect him to already have his next fight lined up?

No, I don't... Did I say anything making you believe that to be the case? I simply just added his name since the thread was about the division he's in.

Neal seems to be mentally struggling still with that severe illness he had a year or so ago. Hasn't looked the same since, not surprised he's not as active

Chiesa needs to fight someone below him, he's on a losing streak and doesn't have leverage. If Shavkat doesn't get the Magny fight, Chiesa should be forced to fight him

Honestly hard to blame Wonderboy if he is declining to fight Brady. He's gotten grapplefucked twice in a row and would get wrestled to a decision loss again. He needs to fight down in the rankings, but give him a striker at least. Unfortunately for Thompson, the division, especially ranked guys, are primarily grapplers. It would be fun to see Thompson vs Muslim Salikhov

Alright, now two of you have said the same thing about Chiesa vs Rakhmonov, that it's a fight that should be made. Sounds good to me.

What should be done about Brady then? Wait for the loser between Luque and Muhammad, maybe?

 

[Joshuaace]

What about Masvidal? Sherdog tells me his star just got brighter.

 

[Eric Silva 2.0]

What about Masvidal? Sherdog tells me his star just got brighter.

Ideally, Khamzat smokes Burns and then Dana changes his mind, books Khamzat vs Usman for the title next and let Masvidal fight Leon on the undercard. Leon vs Masvidal is the fight to make.

 

[Joshuaace]

Ideally, Khamzat smokes Burns and then Dana changes his mind, books Khamzat vs Usman for the title next and let Masvidal fight Leon on the undercard. Leon vs Masvidal is the fight to make.

I wasn't serious. Masvidal has no place fighting legitimate contenders at this point. His name may still have ppv value, but let's not fuck up the meritocracy of the rankings anymore than we already have.

 

[mjfan23]

Well at least they have khazmat

 

[Herwald]

Burns (2) vs Chimaev (11) - April 9
Luque (4) vs Muhammad (5) - April 16
Usman (C) vs Edwards (3) - July 30 (unconfirmed)

Thompson (6) seems to be turning down (8) Brady?
Magny (9) and Jingliang (13) both uninterested in a fight with Rakhmonov (15)

Other notable fighters not booked: Covington (1), Chiesa (10) and Neal (12)

That's it. Not sure how to get some more fights in between those in April and the title fight in late July.
Thoughts on what to do?

Luque/Belal 2 is kind of a weird fight at this point. But since it's booked already, whatever.

Magny should be fighting Wonderboy. Thompson's been wrestlefucked enough lately, matching him with Brady would be a waste.

I think a lot of people are waiting for this Khamzat/Burns fight to play out first. Cause, if Burns wins, he's kinda positioning himself for another title shot. If Zat wins - Burns has to go down and deal with guys like Brady while Colby would have to figure out what to do with this Zat guy cause he'd be pushed for the title.

 

[Eric Silva 2.0]

I wasn't serious. Masvidal has no place fighting legitimate contenders at this point. His name may still have ppv value, but let's not fuck up the meritocracy of the rankings anymore than we already have.

"let's not fudge up the meritocracy of the rankings anymore than we already have"
Meritocracy??
Conor says hi
Don't get me started.

 

[StoneColdSteveAustin]

And Colby will be calling out LWs and fighters coming off loses.