Why Khamzat will never be the star Poatan is

[Luthien]

Poatan is weirdly huge in South Korea

Crowds will chase after him there and K-Pop idols always want to do dances with him

 

[DiazSlap]

Hea an a.azing grappler on level of Lhabib and likely better than Mak.

He fights once a year
Has the looks of Rosas
Unless he finishes his opponnet in rd 1 its not most exciting fight unless your just a huge grappling fan.

Khamzat right now ia as big as he will be unless he starts being active then he has a chsnce but not Pwreria level.

You know Raul Rosas respects the appearance of Khamzat, Joe…

 

[Streeter]

You know Raul Rosas respects the appearance of Khamzat, Joe…

Imagine being in a room with Khamzat and knowing your the ugly duck in that room ........ poor Rosas.

 

[richardjohnson]

I think there’s an argument to be made that he already is a bigger star.

 

[Söze Aldo]

Poatan is weirdly huge in South Korea

Crowds will chase after him there and K-Pop idols always want to do dances with him

Khamzat wouldn't be allowed to step off the plane there.

 

[BoxingFan653]

Hugging s*#%s man

The crowd immediately starts booing when a good stand up fight goes to the fence

Poatan vs Izzy > Khamzat vs DDP

Here I was opening the thread hoping for a legit argument from OP. Again he has only one hugging fight albeit the most important fight of his career.

 

[RockyLockridge]

they are both huge stars, no need to take from either

 

[Ibm]

In the east side (middle east, russia), he is a super star.

 

[STAY GOLD]

If you didn't enjoy his domination of DDP I would ask you this:

What other boring fights has he had?

They can’t name any others because Khamzat hasn’t had any other boring fights so they need to use the only one boring he’s had to try and dunk on him.

Poatan isn’t as big a star as Khamzat. Sadly some of you folks are so deep in the MMA bubble that you think Poatan is a Messi level celebrity.

 

[Thy]

cause he don't fight enough.

 

[Ayreon]

The difference between Pereira and Khamzat is that Pereira saves the UFC's PPV by stepping in when someone pulls out, on the contrary, the UFC must find someone to save the PPV when Khamzat pulls out.

 

[Bork Neslar]

Pereira has a more mainstream appeal. Chimaev seems to mainly attract bad people from bad parts of the world.

 

[HNIC215]

This is an underrated aspect…

Alex looks badass.

This would matter if you were a 5 year old child LMAO

Or some sort of man groupie - maybe from the Conor exodus.

 

[Rampage_Jackson]

This would matter if you were a 5 year old child LMAO

Or some sort of man groupie - maybe from the Conor exodus.

Khamzat objectively looks badass so the point is silly regardless. the UFC literally markets him looking like a badass with his staredowns lol

 

[Pequeño Corey]

- Inactive as fuck
- Kadyrov boy toy
- Prone to sickness
- Classless

-Islamist

 

[bartleby929]

its because he is muslim and poatan isn't muslim. white americans dont cheer that hard for foreign muslims (not me, i like khamzat as champ)

 

[Alpha_T83]

The difference is that Pereira fought @ UFC 303 with a hand injury and just after having a serious virus.

We all know Khamzat would have pulled out like the little bitch he is.

 

[Bowel-forged Stool]

Pereira has fought 12 times since the whole Khamzat / Diaz BS.... Damn.

 

[rjmbrd]

Thats why its a shame ilia, after an incomparable 3 fight stint has gone all precious on us.

I think its the UFCs fault. The rightful contender was Arman, and they refused to book him for the title.

So you aren't left with any specific fight Topuria has a mandate for, or is even excited about. Currently:

#1 Islam - left the division
#2 Arman - UFC refuse to book him for title
#3 Holloway - Topuria just murdered him
#4 Charles - Topuria just murdered him
#5 Justin - LMAO his ranking is a joke
#6 Hooker - Not yet
#7 Pimblett - Not yet


So we get Hooker vs Arman that should produce a contender.

IMO they should have just booked Pimblett considering his win streak and the landscape in general. I can see why they didn't, but his next fight should be a title eliminator.

 

[rjmbrd]

Khamzat won't be a star like Alex for a long list of obvious reasons, setting aside that he's one of the most dynamic and thrilling strikers to watch in the history of the sport.

Just wanted to add here, yes Khamzat's last fight was a brutal Jon Fitch style stinker. It was tedious to watch by the 4th round and clearly risk averse point fighting. What is important to remember is we judge fighters by their body of work, not a single fight.

On average, Khamzat has been a lot of fun to watch, frankly 'must watch' TV for fight fans. He put on a single stinker point fight, unless he makes a habit of it, his star will continue to rise.