Media Umar Nurmagomedov says Hunter Campbell came to Dagestan to convince Islam Makhachev to move up to 170

[Orochimaru 大蛇丸]

ya man im sure you were there. thanks for telling us what actually happened.

I didn’t say what happened, only what obviously didn’t happen

 

[LoveMyMMA]

This is very believable.

UFC is on the decline.

It's smart of them to have two big, household names be UFC champs simultaneously.

I honestly don't think UFC really wanted to make Islam vs. Topuria either, because they would end up sacrificing one of their cash cows that way.

WW lacks starpower - Shavkhat isn't marketable, Khamzat moved up, Belal is Belal, Ian is a cuck, etc. Bringing Islam to that division is gonna do wonders.

 

[fortheo]

My take, which seems obvious to me but I haven't seen it mentioned yet:

• They didn't need to convince islam to move to WW -- they needed to convince him to leave his belt.
• Islam always wanted to go to 170lbs, but while keeping his LW title
• When islam found out he had to give up his LW title, he was very hesitant to still go to 170lbs
• Hunter came to convince Islam to give up his LW belt. That's the part that he needed to convince islam before going to 170lbs

 

[CC27]

This wasnt something out of the blue, he's literally been talking about it for how long now that he wants to move up so how much begging is needed.

I guess the only thing you can point to from UFC's POV is when Topuria shocked everyone by moving up UFC didnt want to see either guy lose and would rather have Islam and Topuria as champs.

WIth Topuria moving up and Islam still at LW you get a big fight but then one of them loses and having each of them ruling a div is better for business. Still though UFC really doesnt do that esp to champs, begging guys to vacate titles.

Its one thing for them to be like you missed weight twice, you want to stay here you move up and its another to push a guy to leave a title behind.

Might be them trying to save face that Islam ran from Topuria.

 

[jeff7b9]

Yeah, 20 seconds of reading reading is hard for you apparently. Good luck with your sad comedy career.

And I wish you well in eventually learning to grasp the difference between that which is banter and serious debate

Is English your first language Mr Dumbass?

 

[nostradumbass]

And I wish you well in eventually learning to grasp the difference between that which is banter and serious debate

Is English your first language Mr Dumbass?

That's your attempt at a save after admitting that 15-20 seconds of reading is too much for you? Doesn't sound like English is any language at all for you.

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

Hunter Campbell has two names that could easily be used as a christian name and surname, therefore i don't trust him.

 

[Kevster]

About as believable as Pereira’s “hacked” story.

 

[Pious Augustus]

After Islam finishes JDM, people will say JDM was just another WW.

From: Just another FW
To: Just another WW he should've fought another FW

 

[HP_Nut]

They didn't have to convince Islam to move up, they were trying to tell Islam politely that if he moved up, he would have to vacate the 155 belt. Islam thought he was calling the shots & could move up to 170 for a title shot & still keep the 155 belt. Islam absolutely believes JDM is a good style fight for him, & he knew from training he'd likely get the better of Belal too. They didn't have to convince the moving up to 170, they did have to tell him he'd be vacating the 155 belt

 

[FrappeDuRocma]

If this is true, the it's an actual genius strategy by Hunter. You force Islam to move up to 170 and fight Belal, and at least you get rid of 1 champ that can't sell PPVs. Especially at 155 pounds, Islam was cockblocking a ton of fighters that can sell PPVs if they were champion, but can't be champion because they can't beat Islam.

No, you did not watch the video, the plan was to defend against Topuria, if Belal won, since he lost, Islam moved up.

 

[jeff7b9]

That's your attempt at a save after admitting that 15-20 seconds of reading is too much for you? Doesn't sound like English is any language at all for you

If someone feels the need to fact check a post which ends:

"Put cart in front of horse.
Become flabbergasted when horse doesn't push, repeat."

I don't need to read their 200 word essay to know they are a retard.

I get the impression that you belive this interaction is one in which you come off as highly intelligent, so feel free to triple down on not grasping sarcasm.

 

[agibmxmma]

Your guess doesn't really make any sense and doesn't fit the timeline.

Topuria won the FW belt about 15 months ago, Belal won the WW belt last July, Topuria fought Max in October and didn't vacate the FW belt until February, and Hunter Campbell went to Dagestan like 6 weeks ago right fore JDM/Belal.

There are a lot of moving parts, but Islam had just defended against Poirier and was most likely waiting for Leon Scott to beat Belal so he could fight Leon later in the year since he was nearly a -300 favorite, but Belal won and Islam/Belal wouldn't fight each other, so he stayed at LW to fight Arman who wanted 6 months to prepare for Islam.

Islam signed to fight Arman for January(though Arman pulled out the day before), right after Evloev beat Aljo and Shavkat beat Garry, so Shavkat was the plan to take out Belal, and they probably didn't want to risk Evloev beating Topuria, so they offered Ilia a title shot at LW if he vacates.

The plan shifting was probably the 6 months between Belal winning and when Islam was supposed to fight Arman. Arman was out of the picture after his stunt, so Islam took a replacement and was probably waiting for Shavkat/Belal, so they promised Ilia a title shot but they had to wait on Shavkat/Belal to find out against whom. Shavkat got injured, JDM stepped in as an underdog, Islam was waiting to see if Belal would still be the WW champ which was the odds favorite to happen, and Hunter Campbell went to Dagestan to talk Islam into fighting the winner no matter who won, Islam probably said only if JDM won, and they probably landed on him fighting JDM if he won, or a date to fight Topuria if Belal won.

There's not really any other reason they would have waited so long for Topuria to vacate the FW belt and not give him any contender fight for like 9 months if they weren't waiting to see where the WW title was for Islam to move up. Topuria's pretty marketable, so fighting Islam was a last resort if everything else fell apart, since Islam would have most likely ragdolled him and choked him out which would do nothing for Islam and would leave Topuria without any title. Charles isn't a great wrestler and is older, so that is much more favorable for Topuria, and Islam now has a more interesting fight with JDM then probably make Brady/Shavkat for Islam to fight the winner.

+1

 

[HuskySamoan]

They wanted to get rid of both champs, who don’t sell well, 155 and 170. JDM is going to finish the work.

Hes going to pop his head off with an arm triangle from guard.

 

[AL-Tappo McSnappo]

 

[AstralPanda]

I don't see Islam doing that well at 170.

lol

 

[Conan the K-9]

Hes going to pop his head off with an arm triangle from guard.

Sounds good!
That will be JDMs third submission win, and first arm triangle. I think he has two RNCs right now on his record.

 

[NoSmilez]

Islam needs to get out of the way so Paddy can become the champ of 55.

 

[SamuraiBro]

There is a scenario where both Ilia and Islam lose their upcoming fights. MMA world will be flipped on its head.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Maybe math isn't a strength of yours, but 4 is more than 3, which is more than 2, and they are all more than Jones' 1, so no, I didn't leave it out, I said Islam has more defenses than them because he does.

Funny story: I once had to explain to Mark that the champ and top 5 of a division is 6 total people because it's 1+5, and that it's not "five" because you don't start counting at zero.

He either didn't get it, or realized he was getting caught in his own bullshit so he pretended not to get it, but he legitimately needed counting that you can do on one hand explained to him.

He gets annoyed that I bring it up from time to time, but there's not enough drugs in the world to make a guy forget needing to teach kindergarten math to an adult