Welterweight could get very interesting in the next year or so (but Belal needs to go).

[Clark Rogers]

I get that MMAth don't work, but I'm not sure Shavkat is really favored after that last match. He showed some holes, and champion level fighters and teams are usually good at exploiting those.

I don't care for the way Belal fights, but he's solid, won't be a pushover. People acting like Shavkat is gonna skate are dreaming, imo.

 

[Elegant]

Can't wait until Belal's head gets dribbled and bounced for the 100th time again so the division can move on

So many fun fights to be had between Shavkat, Garry, Prates, Morales, Leon, Buckley, JDM, Usman, Islam moving up, possibly MVP etc

Get the boring wall n staller/cage pusher outta here

 

[Young Calf Kick]

Two things:
1) Buckley has a top win since he beat perrenial #1 contender Colby. Practially a title in itself!!! LOL

2) how about fuck Islam until he defends against 5 different LWs. He literally is at 1 right now and in no way does Volkanovski count let alone twice. Forget about the fact Shavkat will not have any defenses either. Islam and all other champs need to be dominant champions (IMO min 5 DEFENSES) before talk of a title shot. If Islam were to move up now with 2 (assuming he beats Arman) then he should have to beat a top WW in a title eliminator after he VACATES his title.
Fuck all of this "Double Champ" bullshit...defend your title.

But who should Islam fight at LW after Tsarukyan? He already beat Oliveira, Poirier and Hooker. Gaethje is on the decline so it seems, Holloway would be cool I guess, maybe Gamrot? Other than those names there are not a lot of intriguing matchups. Moving up makes a lot of sense to me.

 

[Young Calf Kick]

Belal has the charisma of my living room wall but the guy is criminally underrated. I don't see Shavkat winning that fight. I don't see why you think Shavkat would be the favorite against Belal. Nothing I've seen in the Neal or Machado-Garry fight would make me think Shavkat would be the favorite. Welterweight is getting interesting but for different reasons. If JDM can beat Leon and Buckley can take out Usman, we will have the beginning of the changing of the guard in the division. You have Morales and Prates coming up. I think Belal will eventually lose but probably not the next fight or two.

Edit: Buckley knocking Colby around has been a good start to the change in the division.

Idk, I think Shavkat will be able to match his grappling and strength and pose a finish threat the likes Belal hasn’t really seen before (unless you count Burns). But I admit, it’s a hard fight to predict and I mainly want to see Belal lose because of reasons mentioned in the OP.

 

[Preston broadus]

Islam will be ww champ in 2025. Khabib trained belal so he knows all his weaknesses.

He'll be mw champ in 2026

 

[Doctor Grudge]

But who should Islam fight at LW after Tsarukyan? He already beat Oliveira, Poirier and Hooker. Gaethje is on the decline so it seems, Holloway would be cool I guess, maybe Gamrot? Other than those names there are not a lot of intriguing matchups. Moving up makes a lot of sense to me.

Holloway and Topuria. And it's not like its pure hypothetical, they're clearly interested. They're both bigger fights and more challenging than him fighting Muhammad.

 

[Meathead Jock]

Belal is here to stay whether or not people like his style. Shavkat won't beat him after what his last performance showed.

Probably doesn't beat him in 2025 based on that fight, but by 2026 father time will change that.

 

[Big Tuppy Hole]

Unfortunately Belal vs Shavkat, will look exactly like the Belal vs Luque fight.

Islam is too soft to fight a fellow muslim brother. He will fight meaningless rematches, with nothing to gain, until a fluke loss destroys his legacy. All this time fighters have been trying to figure out what the Dagestani weakness is, it's having a kind heart.

Shavkat, Garry, JDM have all been exposed.

the future of the division is Buckley, Prates, Morales, and Jacobe

This is a fairly shit take.

How is Shavkat and Luque anything alike.

How has Shavkat, Garry and JDM been exposed?

I do agree that Buckley, Morales and Prates ( my personal favorite of this bunch) have a bright future.

 

[Big Tuppy Hole]

Holloway and Topuria. And it's not like its pure hypothetical, they're clearly interested. They're both bigger fights and more challenging than him fighting Muhammad.

Both are lighter guys coming up and don't hold the the prestige of beating the champ of a heavier division.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Belal is 36 and MMA math doesn't work. Belal is probably a more favourable matchup for Shavkat than Garry was.

That's not MMA math, that's just called evaluating skills

 

[Young Calf Kick]

Holloway and Topuria. And it's not like its pure hypothetical, they're clearly interested. They're both bigger fights and more challenging than him fighting Muhammad.

Then everybody will say he made a career off of beating blown up Featherweights. That's the whole point. Islam has stated he wants to get rid of the (I think nonsensical) talk surrounding his legacy after 2/3 title defenses being against natural FW Volkanovski.

I'd like to see a Topuria matchup but for the sake of the division(s) that dude should at least attempt to clean out Featherweight first.

 

[SalvadorAllende]

Belal has the charisma of my living room wall but the guy is criminally underrated. I don't see Shavkat winning that fight. I don't see why you think Shavkat would be the favorite against Belal. Nothing I've seen in the Neal or Machado-Garry fight would make me think Shavkat would be the favorite. Welterweight is getting interesting but for different reasons. If JDM can beat Leon and Buckley can take out Usman, we will have the beginning of the changing of the guard in the division. You have Morales and Prates coming up. I think Belal will eventually lose but probably not the next fight or two.

Edit: Buckley knocking Colby around has been a good start to the change in the division.

Bro.. just wait until Usman is healthy. LOL


WW is a great division and Belal is a very very good fighter. Dude just wins fights.

Machado is a few fights away from a TS. Shavkat is up there. Colby is gone. Buckley is looking good and is fun to watch. Hopefully Leon get sparked by JDM who is very good himself. Then you have Morales, Prates, Brady.. bunch of good an exciting fighters. And whenever Belol loses the title Islam will fight for the title.

Just need to whipe this old farts.

 

[Eric Silva 2.0]

Idk, I think Shavkat will be able to match his grappling and strength and pose a finish threat the likes Belal hasn’t really seen before (unless you count Burns). But I admit, it’s a hard fight to predict and I mainly want to see Belal lose because of reasons mentioned in the OP.

Shavkat does pose that finishing threat and besides the Machado-Garry fight he goes for it in all his fights. Where we differ is I think Belal has the edge in grappling. I think Shavkat might have an edge in striking but Belal's striking has come a long way in the past few years. I can't blame you for wanting Belal to lose but I don't think Shavkat gets it done. Either way I can't wait for the fight.

 

[mangokush]

Belal's Canelo hands along with Khabib's Father's plan will dominate Shavkat 50-45

After that sloppy decision win from Shavkat against a short notice Garry

Garry won that fight under PRIDE rules btw

Belal will show Shavkat what a true decision win in the UFC is

The rest of the division can get dat decision smoke from Belal, all those finish merchants will get decisioned when they fight Belal

 

[AL-Tappo McSnappo]

We could very well end up with an Islam Makhachev vs Shavkat Rakhmonov matchup for the title down the line, which would be a dream fight. But how do we get there? Hear me out:

So we've got Belal as the current (36 year old) champion. In this hypothetical, he's actually the one pawn that's ruining the setup. Due to the super annoying "Muslim friendz dont fight Muslim friendz" situation he has with Islam, it's unlikely they will ever get matched up. Islam has already stated he intends to move up to Welterweight rather sooner than later in order to become double champ, which I'm actually fine with should he get past Tsarukyan.

Nobody likes Belal (except for @HHJ). However, he isn't going to step aside just because his friend Islam wants to move up and fight for the title. In other words, someone has to go and take it off him. We all hope it's going to be Shavkat, so let's hope that fight gets rebooked soon. Shavkat would be the favourite against Belal, but in case he loses, Belal would probably face the winner of JDM vs Edwards. Belal disposed of Edwards pretty easily, so a rematch wouldn't be favourable. JDM needs to win against Edwards, but that's a very tough matchup for JDM aswell. In short, it's pretty much All Eyez On Shavkat. I think the other top 10 guys are currently too far off from a title shot. Unless something crazy happens #5 Brady won't get it just by beating #8 Burns, #3 Usman is on a 3 loss skid, #6 Buckley needs a top win, #7 Garry just lost against Shavkat, #9 Colby is about to (thank god) fade out of existence (how the fuck is he even #9?).

Which top 5/10 ranked matchups do you want to see at Welterweight?

Belal is the champ for a reason, guy is the hardest worker.

 

[Lawrence]

Two things:
1) Buckley has a top win since he beat perrenial #1 contender Colby. Practially a title in itself!!! LOL

2) how about fuck Islam until he defends against 5 different LWs. He literally is at 1 right now and in no way does Volkanovski count let alone twice. Forget about the fact Shavkat will not have any defenses either. Islam and all other champs need to be dominant champions (IMO min 5 DEFENSES) before talk of a title shot. If Islam were to move up now with 2 (assuming he beats Arman) then he should have to beat a top WW in a title eliminator after he VACATES his title.
Fuck all of this "Double Champ" bullshit...defend your title.

I'm fine with Islam jumping the que after he defends this weekend, So long as he relinquishes his belt when he moves up.

 

[World eater]

I don’t know why people have a hard time remembering Belial’s name, dates all the way back to the Old testament. Nice guy as well.
Jokes aside, can’t wait for Shavkat to dethrone him.

 

[dipstickjimmy]

But who should Islam fight at LW after Tsarukyan? He already beat Oliveira, Poirier and Hooker. Gaethje is on the decline so it seems, Holloway would be cool I guess, maybe Gamrot? Other than those names there are not a lot of intriguing matchups. Moving up makes a lot of sense to me.

He has only defended against Porier of that list. Let's see him defend his belt. Maybe he could fight more then once every 6-9 months???
Champions are supposed to DEFEND their belt. All the greats have had rematches. Matt Hughes fought GSP 3 times. Might Mouse fought Benavidez x 2 and Cejudo x 2, Fedor fought Big Nog 3x, Frankie Edgar fought Gray Maynard 3x and the 2 rematches were 2 of the best fights of all time!!! Same with Matt Hughes rematching Frank Trigg.

If Islam wants to VACATE rather then defend I have no issue with it. Islam is about to set the LW defense record at 4 which is a) not really 4 with two of them against the same FW and b) not very high. Maybe if he wants to be great he should run thru the top 10? He has 1 defense against the current top 10. Has only fought 3 of them.

Also Fuck Topuria and even the most remote hint at him moving up and getting a title shot. Same goes for DDP, Belal and even Alex. They should all have to get at least 5 defenses against 5 different #1 contenders (Khalil doesn't count) to get an immediate title shot consideration or they vacate, get a top 5 opponent then a title eliminator.

 

[dipstickjimmy]

I'm fine with Islam jumping the que after he defends this weekend, So long as he relinquishes his belt when he moves up.

I'm not. He isn't GSP or Jon Jones. If he really is done at LW then a title eliminator at best. IMO anyone who isn't a Dominant champion (5 title defenses against actual #1 contenders) isn't dominant. If Islam can't win a couple of contender fights at WW why should he get a title shot? Look at Volk. He was dominant sort of (with 4 defenses but 2 against Max who he beat for the belt) but got beat at LW then gets gifted another shot and gets smoked. Would he really be able to EARN a LW shot fighting LWs?

Why have divisional champs if we are going to bounce around and give out title shots outside the division? Look at TJ. Pretty good BW but moved down and got smoked because he didn't belong in that division and had no track record. Made his BW title and the Fly W title look like a joke.

 

[Azure]

So your solution to make wew good is to remove the guy nobody can beat?