Zabeast is the clear no. 1 contender right?

[PurpleDrank]

meh
If he’s the next coming of Jesus like you all act like he would have took it
Look at what Krause did a week ago
Fighters fight
Bitches.. well you know

Lol at you calling a fighter a bitch. We dont kbow if Zabit rejected it, it was probably his management. Krause had nothing to lose, Zabit did.

 

[JKS]

He lost the 3rd to Kattar, Stephens was debateable. But he did not lose the 3rd to Kyle, he landed more.

One judge scored the round for Bochniak. All three scored it for Stephens. Regardless of he's not a fighter that hurts his opponents standing and breaks em down like Max does. So I doubt he'll do that to Oretga like Max did.

 

[DarkneT]

Lol at you calling a fighter a bitch. We dont kbow if Zabit rejected it, it was probably his management. Krause had nothing to lose, Zabit did.

Listen dude, ya boy has supposedly been training in combat sports his whole life in a boarding school or whatever the fuck
All to accumulate in going life and death with a part time and now cut fighter like Kyle Bochniak

is it any wonder he doesn’t want 5 round action?
he can’t put anyone decent away with his soft hands and always loses the 3rd round

I know a pretender when I see one

 

[PurpleDrank]

One judge scored the round for Bochniak. All three scored it for Stephens. Regardless of he's not a fighter that hurts his opponents standing and breaks em down like Max does. So I doubt he'll do that to Oretga like Max did.

Thats surprising, Stephens was hitting fresh air alot that round. But judges just see pressure apparently. You're right hes more content to just fight on the backfoot most times. Regardless I think he's a bad matchup for Ortega.

 

[PurpleDrank]

Listen dude, ya boy has supposedly been training in combat sports his whole life in a boarding school or whatever the fuck
All to accumulate in going life and death with a part time and now cut fighter like Kyle Bochniak

is it any wonder he doesn’t want 5 round action?
he can’t put anyone decent away with his soft hands and always loses the 3rd round

I know a pretender when I see one

Just the fact you think he went life and death with Kyle shows your opinion is complete horseshit. But I already knew that. You dont need power when you have skill and technique. He literally just stood with the best boxer in the division, and outstruck him. Also this narrative that he gasses is ridiculous. If his gas tank was so bad how come these guys can barely land clean on him?

 

[DarkneT]

Just the fact you think he went life and death with Kyle shows your opinion is complete horseshit. But I already knew that. You dont need power when you have skill and technique. He literally just stood with the best boxer in the division, and outstruck him. Also this narrative that he gasses is ridiculous. If his gas tank was so bad how come these guys can barely land clean on him?

I’m just bustin balls and you know that

ya boy is gonna get messed up the first time he fights five rounds though, I think even you know that

 

[rjmbrd]

You want volk vs max 2? Why? I can't think of many instant rematches for guys that very clearly lost an uncontroversial 5 round decision.

Volk -vs- Max looked like hard sparring. Neither guy was remotely in danger at any point. Volk put on a solid point fighting game and clearly but narrowly out pointed Max. I think the rematch will be more exciting.

Zabit needs to fight a higher ranked opponent and should finally book 5 rounds. Ortega is rebuilding. KZ needs another win. Yair needs a title eliminator. The timing works out to let that combination of 4 guys workout a #1 contender.

Indexing why I think Max probably deserves it:

- 14 consecutive wins at featherweight
- Arguably most impressive strength of schedule in the divisions history
- 4 title defenses
- Lost a workmanlike point decision where nobody got hurt
- No clear cut #1 contender right now

- Was willing to fight Khabib on zero notice (this should reap rewards regarding booking)

 

[Big Tuppy Hole]

Zabit needs to fight in a 5 rnd fight before hes ever considered the 1# contender.

 

[fortheo]

Volk -vs- Max looked like hard sparring. Neither guy was remotely in danger at any point. Volk put on a solid point fighting game and clearly but narrowly out pointed Max. I think the rematch will be more exciting.

Zabit needs to fight a higher ranked opponent and should finally book 5 rounds. Ortega is rebuilding. KZ needs another win. Yair needs a title eliminator. The timing works out to let that combination of 4 guys workout a #1 contender.

Indexing why I think Max probably deserves it:

- 14 consecutive wins at featherweight
- Arguably most impressive strength of schedule in the divisions history
- 4 title defenses
- Lost a workmanlike point decision where nobody got hurt
- No clear cut #1 contender right now

- Was willing to fight Khabib on zero notice (this should reap rewards regarding booking)

That's the most logical argument I've seen for the instant rematch, but I gotta say I'm still not that interested in it at all, especially when it comes at the cost of match ups like Max vs. KZ or Max vs zabit or Max vs Yair, which stylistically are much better fights than Max vs. Volk II in my book. I would have preferred Max vs. KZ and zabit vs. Yair in april/may, and the most impressive winner faces Volkanovski when he's ready. I'm also not a fan of people counting on the the rematch happening on that Aus card because Volkanovski has said many times that his hand might be worse than he thought and he does not know when he'll be ready to fight. Hopefully everything falls into place soon, though.

Also, I really am curious if there's ever been instant rematches for a guy who clearly lost a five round decision. I'm not saying that as a rebuttal or anything, but I'm curious and it's bugging me.

 

[youllneverwalkalone]

The difference is that Max is able to hurt and damage his opponent standing, accumulation of strikes leads to finish. In fights with Aldo 2x, Pettis, Ortega you see him break those guys down and TKO em. Zabit does not, his strikes aren't as damaging and his opponents don't get worn down. That's why in his fights with Stephens, Katter, Bochniak he lost the 3rd round, his opponents are still able to come after him later in the fight.

You may be right, and I certainly agree with you that Zabit has not yet demonstrated to be as effective a striker as Max.

However, we do not know how he does in a 5 rounder - for sure his preparation and gameplan would be different - so I would not assume too much. Also, I would not say he lost the 3rd round against those guys (slowing down =/= losing), except maybe with Kattar. But imho Kattar is a hell of an opponent, his ranking is very deceiving. I actually give Zabit a lot of credit for even taking that fight.

 

[strebitel86]

Zabit should have the ts now.

 

[Doug Money]

Nope

 

[Doug Money]

Zabeast vs el Pantera, winner gets the next ts.
Ortega vs Zombie THEN Zabit vs Yair loser for ts; same applies for the Korean Zombie.

 

[YouCrazyIntheHeadMan]

Imho Zabit schools Ortega possibly even more than Max did. Zabit might be a higher level grappler than anybody Ortega has faced so far, which doesn't really matter anyway cause there is no way in hell Ortega would be able to take him down. Zabit is going to hit him at will in the first part of the fight and accumulated damage is going to do the rest.

Finaly someone sober, the only weakness we saw from zabit is getting tired in the third... Guess what? Improving cardio is easy compare to strenght and technique. Zabit is future champ!

 

[Andreh]

Zabum will

While I think he is overrated, I see no way for Ortega to win this fight unless his striking has improved drastically.
No way Ortega can take down and submit Zabit and I do not see him outstriking him at all.

This. Ortega sucks, that's the only reason Zabit will win.

Zabeast is more like Zabum, overrated as fuck, even Yair would win with no problems. Too much hittable for all his size and has no gas, didn't show anything special until now to make me think different.

Hoping for his hype train derailment soon.

 

[DanAndroid]

He really doesn’t deserve anything but a 5 round fight headlining a ESPN card.

 

[Hotora86]

The only other fighter that I can see that's deserving a shot at the title too is Yair, however, he lost not to long ago and they both have recent wins in the top 10, sharing one of those wins in Stephens.

While a win over no.4 KZ is better than no.10 Kattar, Yair is technically only a 2 fight win streak, while Zabit is 18-1.

There should be an eliminator between the two if the UFC brass doesn't think either is deserving over the other. Hopefully Yair doesn't run from him this time.

I'd also like to say that FW is unbelievably stacked, might be my favorite division, so many contenders.

Zabit is getting the Khabib treatment - he will need 10 wins to get the TS.
Dana hates Russia / Dagestan confirmed.

 

[Masturbin]

Zabib will never get the belt.

He always fade hard in the 3th imagine how much he will fade in the 5th

And with his pilllow hands and weak killer instinct he won't be finishing someone anytime soon.

 

[ignorant MMA fan]

As I said, Yair does have one better win, but they share an opponent in their last couple of fights, so it's not like he has it by a landslide.

If his level of comp isn't good enough, then him and Yair should definitely fight for an eliminator.

That or KZ.

I think this is why there isn't a concise #1. We can cite Yair and Zabit's lack of high profile victories. Then we can't really pick KZ because Yair defeated him. There's a counter argument for everyone. It's an exciting year for the division if only these guys could remain healthy and compete.

 

[FlyingDeathKick]

If fights were only 2 rds Zabit would be hard to beat.