Media Throwback: Dan Hooker says fighting Islam Makhachev is "backwards step in competition"
- Thread starter svmr_db
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Damn, I missed the throwback portion of this and was so fucking confused.
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Same mentality a lot of fans have with their stupid “top 10 wins” arguments lol rakings are dumb and meaningless.
The “Hangman” has no intention of being a stepping stone, however, and had some stern words for the 34-year-old Chandler.
“They invested a whole lot of money to get this guy over to the UFC,” Hooker said. “And they are going to throw him in with me who is a bad stylistic match-up. I’m gonna break the toy in five minutes. I can’t say I feel sorry for them.”
“They invested a whole lot of money to get this guy over to the UFC,” Hooker said. “And they are going to throw him in with me who is a bad stylistic match-up. I’m gonna break the toy in five minutes. I can’t say I feel sorry for them.”
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DC is annoying when he talks about Islam though. Him and everyone around Islam have treated the guy like he walks on water, which is why he had a big head and almost got upset by 145lb "short guy." That said, Volk pushing Islam to those limits is a scary thing for the rest of the Lightweight division, he's going to fix some holes and be very tough to beat now.
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Apparently the UFC was trying to make Gaethje vs Poirier II be a TUF thing and its only because Poirier turned it down we got Fiziev vs Gaethje. Arman Tsarukyan vs Damir Ismagulov made no sense and both guys had the potential to be title contenders but nobody else was willing to fight them. Islam Makhachev, I can't say was "avoided" entirely because Makhachev pulled out vs Prazeres, Trinaldo and RDA but Makhachev also had Beneil and RDA pull out against him too but one thing is clear Michael Chandler was afraid of him, Hooker wanted badly to avoid him and Poirier wanted nothing to do with him.
We are going to see a trend of Russian, Caucasian and Central Asian fighters getting avoided in the UFC, not because they are inherently better but they are very good and have a style that a lot of fighters simply cannot deal with. Beyond, they don't get the same kind of rub from the western audience, they aren't often as marketable or popular so promotions don't want them dominating and ranked guys feel like they're a high risk / low reward situation. It sucks but this is quickly becoming the norm.
We are going to see a trend of Russian, Caucasian and Central Asian fighters getting avoided in the UFC, not because they are inherently better but they are very good and have a style that a lot of fighters simply cannot deal with. Beyond, they don't get the same kind of rub from the western audience, they aren't often as marketable or popular so promotions don't want them dominating and ranked guys feel like they're a high risk / low reward situation. It sucks but this is quickly becoming the norm.
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What do you suggest the fighters from these areas you describe above do to solve this problem.
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Well, Khabib was super funny, well spoken and smart, if people go back and watch his interviews with Ariel or the in cage promos he cut...On top of that he had the luxury of being the first guy from that part of the world in the UFC to reach great heights so it was very mythical.
Some like to make it a Muslim thing but I'm not certain of that because there has been and is a lot of elite Christian Russians the UFC has little interest in too. These fighters bring a huge fan base central asia + Russian is around 250m people and guys like Khabib, Islam, Nurullo etc are huge in other countries, I watched Javier Mendes and Umar Nurmagomedov go to Uzbekistan and were greeted by Jalolov and Murodjon (two of their best athletes and Olympic medalists in boxing, MJ is a world champ) or Khabib giving packed seminars in Kazakhstan back in the day. They also cross barriers in the middle east through the Islamic world but I don't think the UFC sees profit in these regions and demographics the same way they do say, Latin America or the UK. Combate, ESPN, SKY sports subscriptions and viewer ratings and there's huge spillover in the Spanish speaking world and with US Spanish speakers, similarly with Brits and Irish to the US and Canadian fan base. You ever wonder why we see so many Brits in the UFC and so few polish? I mean Poland arguably produces a good deal more talent.
It's just money and on a fan level it's nationalism and tribalism and homophily. If WME thought there was more money in the Caucasian demographic they'd be so fucking happy but I guess there's not. Fighters and try to have more global appeal, Khabib knows this and makes his guys learn English. Exciting styles is another thing of course and if the UFC isn't going to promote them, I mean the UFC sucks at promoting its athletes in general they gotta find ways to promote themselves that reach out beyond the Russian and Central Asian world to the west somehow without jeopardizing their values but even small things like posting on social media in both English and Russian, learning English more fluently, putting on highlight reel performances, speaking out on the mic after their fights etc etc. It's tough and not fair but it's life.
