What's the deal with Islam?

[fortheo]

That assumes Islam won't fight in between now and then.

Also months to prepare is not short notice.

When they just got beat up and need to spend a month to recover and are facing a champ who sat out in order have twice the amount of time to prepare, it kind of is short notice, relatively speaking. O'malley used this technique effectively against Sterling. Woodley used it on Maia. It's a common, sly tactic that champs use to get an advantage. Whether Islam will do that or not remains to be seen.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Dana is saying he's injured, Ali is saying he isn't and is waiting for an opponent in March.

Why don't they just make Islam v Gaethje? I feel like they're doing what they did last year, save Islam for later in the yr. What gives?

I've said they'd do this from the start and I was not wrong this is why I never wanted islam as champ. They just want him to fight in Saudi and yas island every year.

Maybe WME is in bed with AD, And that's the deal they made.

 

[RockyLockridge]

When they just got beat up and need to spend a month to recover and are facing someone who sat out in order have twice the amount of time to prepare, it kind of is short notice, relatively speaking. O'malley used this technique effectively against Sterling. Woodley used it on Maia. It's a common, sly tactic that champs use to get an advantage. Whether Islam will do that or not remains to be seen.

Izzy tried it on dricus, glad it backfired.

and I've ALWAYS respected izzy, but dricus vs whittaker shouldn't have happened. It should have been dricus vs izzy that night winner

 

[checktheknuckles]

I swear, people think setting up fights is as easy as ordering pizza on Doordash

Sherdog must be filled with middle school aged kids

It is easy. UFC being shit at it don't mean its hard.

 

[cmw43]

The real king of waiting for title shots was gifted one less than a month ago

Id say Stipe is the king of waiting for gifted gifted title shots.

 

[lweiberg]

It’s a fan fiction of Christianity which is a….well you can take a guess lol

 

[Iroh]

he said he can fight anytime before and after ramadan. So basically until mid march he's free. Then he'll be free to fight in May/June. Plenty of time for them to have scheduled/announced fights.

Not to be nitpicky, but I don't think he wants to start his camp during Ramadan, right? So I would say he is willing to fight before Ramadan and a full camp of like 1.5- 2 months after Ramadan. Agree?

 

[moosaev]

Not to be nitpicky, but I don't think he wants to start his camp during Ramadan, right? So I would say he is willing to fight before Ramadan and a full camp of like 1.5- 2 months after Ramadan. Agree?

I would say he could start his camp 2-3 weeks after the end of Ramadan. So late April/early May he starts camp, which would make him ready for mid/end of Jun.

 

[FlyingDeathKick]

Dana's word vs Ali's... That's a tough one.

 

[Xoleth]

I like the fact that UFC is giving Gaethje a third title shot. Even though:
- he lost badly to Khabib;
- he lost badly to Charles;
- he would fight a guy that beat Charles and as good as Khabib.

All it tooked is a majority decision against Fiziev and a great KO against a guy who also lost badly against Khabib and Charles, but hey, he beat Conor who is 3-3 in his last 6 fights from 2016 to 2024.

 

[LoveMyMMA]

he is a dagestani, is normal

lets legit competion kill each other off while never fighting a contender.

fighting once a year due to injury's and of course ramadan.

its not a coincidence, its a well thought out and proven game plan to make ali, the rat, lots of money.

its not about sports, its about making money.

This guys actually crying LOL

 

[LoveMyMMA]

Another Dana lie! Who’s surprised?

Islam wanted that March card but there was no way UFC was gonna let O’Malley NOT headline that Miami card.

 

[Rio Ferdinand]

I can't see the UFC stacking 299 even more with Islam vs Gaethje. I'm sure they want Sean O Malley to be the main focus as they continue to build him up.

So its likely that Islam only fights until after UFC 300. Maybe on 302 with Conor? But the counterargument to that is you don't need to put anyone significant on a card with Conor.

301 doesn't seem likely either since its rumoured to be in Brazil. Surely they headline 301 with Alex, unless he is in talks to fight at 300. It might be a long time till we see Islam. Yikes.

 

[StonedLemur]

I thought it would at least be on Saudi card, but I guess not.
I get why they can't for 299, that shit is stacked as hell. Tbh I thought it had a nice slot for 298(main event over Volk/Topuria), it's too late now tho.

Hopefully we get some news soon for it

It should headline 299, and take the 299 headline and move it to 300.

 

[Noraaq]

Islam likely doesnt want to rematch Charles after how the first fight went down so Dana just made that up to pressure Charles into accepting the fight vs Tsarukyan.

I expect the UFC to announce Islam vs Gaethje soon.

 

[richardjohnson]

Id say Stipe is the king of waiting for gifted gifted title shots.

Personally I have more patience for a former champ and future hall of famer being given preferential treatment as opposed to someone who is best known for getting their jaw broken.

 

[haj02]

he is a dagestani, is normal

lets legit competion kill each other off while never fighting a contender.

fighting once a year due to injury's and of course ramadan.

its not a coincidence, its a well thought out and proven game plan to make ali, the rat, lots of money.

its not about sports, its about making money.

What a horse shit narrative. Everyone avoided Islam and Khabib on their way up, even to the point of Chandler pretending he didn't know who Islam was. As soon as they are on top then people try accuse them of being the ones doing the ducking. Who exactly did Khabib let kill each other off? And who are these dangerous contenders that Islam is avoiding?

 

[balkanbomber85]

When they just got beat up and need to spend a month to recover and are facing a champ who sat out in order have twice the amount of time to prepare, it kind of is short notice, relatively speaking. O'malley used this technique effectively against Sterling. Woodley used it on Maia. It's a common, sly tactic that champs use to get an advantage. Whether Islam will do that or not remains to be seen.

The very same happened also last year... he fought in Australia in February and since then knew he would fight on the AD card. I know he said in some interviews that he wanted to fight before summer and Dana wouldn't let him but I highly doubt that Dana would really prevent a champ from fighting. Was most probably more like that Dana asked if he would be sure he could still make it then to AD and that Islame didn't want to promise it. In the meanwhile both, Charles and Volk had fight, and although Charles fight was on 10th of June the UFC still did not announce the rematch until 2 months later. All while Islame knew since February that he would fight in AD, then from June 10th knew he would fight Charles... Dude had officially the longest preparation time a fighter ever had (who did not wait for an injured fighter).

This year it will be exactly the same situation! All potential challengers will have a fight somewhere in Summer while Islame will prepare for his next TD in AD in October...

 

[jeff7b9]

I swear, people think setting up fights is as easy as ordering pizza on Doordash

Sherdog must be filled with middle school aged kids

Why would you order a pizza with Doordash when just about every pizza joint already delivers?

Doesn't Doordash have additional fees?

Are you one of those psychopaths that pay for porn?

How many OnlyFans subscriptions do you pay for???

 

[Sean Ryan]

its a religion

He really needs to start using the nickname "Radical."