It looks like Volk vs Yair II is being made instead of Volk vs Evloev, the crazy thing is that it should have been Evloev vs Volk for the title in the first place, he's undefeated and already beat Lopes. Its clear the UFC avoids and prolongs certain fighters their paths to rankings and titles while also clearing the way and fast tracking other more marketable guys....its just like boxing in all the worst ways.
Islams the p4p best fighter in MMA but his title reign sucked, Moicano isn't a top 10 caliber guy, Poirier is the past TWO LW champs leftovers and the Volk rematch was idiotic and pointless in the way that it was scheduled. Its not Islams fault Arman pulled out the last second but that was the most valid fight out there and the UFC refused to reschedule it. Now Topuria is in the division and Paddy is actualizing his star power before our eyes...Lightweight just got interesting for the first time in years and the champ left. Great timing idiots.
Topuria is the same is Islam but worse, talks shit and has a beef with Evloev his entire career...Evloev is 19-0 and 9-0 in the UFC...of course he dips before taking that fight. What else? Jean Silva looks like a worldbeater and is surging...but no he doesn't face actual contenders in their primes who are surging, he beats the old guard...an absolutely aged and battered Volk who was coming off a 5 round war and then a huge headkick KO loss while jumping up and down weight classes in at 34-35 and Holloway, who while being a great win...I dont know, I wanted to see something new.
I was listening to Jack Slack the other day talk about how exciting the premise of the contender series was and that he tried to follow it the first few seasons but gave up when he realized it mostly "sucks shit" and I've shared this stance myself...I follow the prospect scene of the sport and the contender series does about a D or C grade at best at actually acquiring the best up and coming talent in the world...its not good.
Signing Patchy was awesome and Pico wasn't a bad signing but there's a reality that not only do they do a terrible job Signing the best prospects, they pass on signing high dollar world class talent too like Vartanyan, Keita, Parnasse, Hughes, Soldic, Baki, Doumbe etc. All the time. Guys like Gamrot are on the record saying they had to take a paycut to get a UFC contract, nuts.
Every PPV is so bad it's insane, I haven't watched a full card in ages. The talent in the sport globally is deeper than ever but these UFC cards are at an all time low. We evaluate cards differently but for me I want relevant divisional fights, showcases of good talent, prospects in fights that answer questions and actual quality prospects not your 8-1 cans that are pushing 30. I also want contenders and whatnot too of course. Pass on the women fighting, straight up.
Just disappointed that as the sport is more global than ever and more mainstream than ever, the UFC is worth 12.3 Billion and still pays its fighters like trash and the quality is just getting worse.
