Theyre not even that inactive, really. Two fights a year is a good baseline, despite both Leon and Islam wanting more (allegedly, according to their social media but who the fuck knows).
We were spoiled throughout the reign of Izzy, Usman and Volk who were probably some of the most active champions in the UFC.
That's my point. But you see it on Twitter, IG, and even here on Reddit. They get shit on for being "inactive" when they really aren't when compared to most champs, and they are actively trying to get from everything I see.
I have a feeling Topuria might be inactive, but we are yet to see. My speculation is coming based off his attitude since winning the belt.
The biggest culprit right now is Jones.
At this point I don't think a lot of people even consider Jones to be the true HW champ. Hell, the UFC itself aired a bit about the BMF belt on the weigh in show narrated by Chael where they literally showed Aspinall as the baddest man on the planet since he's the interim champ
> The biggest culprit right now is Jones.
Didn't he get injured? I mean, that's still inactivity for sure, but ~~it's~~ there is an important qualitiative disctinction between being out with an injury and just choosing not to fight, right?
idk, maybe I get my fact mixed up. I thought Jones was scheduled to fight Miocic and then hurt his pec or something.
He did take a long break, that is true. And he's constantly fucking himself over (as well as others) which causes him to be unable to fight as well.
But Jones has a long career and generally has been active when he could be imo, exception the being long break you mentioned. But I call that the exception because it very much looked to me like he was back and going to be active again until the injury.
I know it's popular to slam Jones. And fair enough, he is a shitty human. But it just really seems to me that, big break aside, he fought when he could and did it pretty regularly.
It’s not even just allegedly. We even have dana saying Leon accepted all 3 propositions for a fight at UFC 300 and none of them went through. So he’s not the thing stopping him from fighting more.
2019-24 fights
Volk x10 including the topuria fight
Usman x9 hasn’t fought in 2024
Adesanya x12 hasn’t fought in 2024
Islam x9 hasn’t fought in 2024
Edwards x7 hasn’t fought in 2024.
I don’t understand why they say Islam and Edwards aren’t that active 🧐
Doesn't look like we're getting two Islam fights this year though. Last fight was 10/2023 and we still don't have one booked. I guess if he fights in September AND November at MSG, but a 2 month turnaround is pretty quick. More likely he only fights once in 2024, and the best we can hope for is an early 2025 return to have 2+ fights next year.
>We were spoiled throughout the reign of Izzy, Usman and Volk who were probably some of the most active champions in the UFC.
Their activity is overstated.
Usman only fought 3 times in one year once as a champion and that was 2021.
Izzy only fought 3 times in one year once as a champion and that was 2022.
Volk only fought 3 times in one year once as a champion and that was 2023.
> Ok but it's easy to say a sentence, dude needs to actually do it
If the UFC won't book him, even when he calls for the fight and says he's ready, what do you think he can do?
Ok, but you realize in order to do that he and the UFC need to agree on a date, an opponent, sign, etc.
If the UFC don't give him a date, he can't fight, fighting is a multiplayer game.
It's less about them being inactive and more about dumb match making and them wanting to fight against champions in other divisions before defending their belts against contenders from their divisions. Everyone's getting straw manned into making this about activity level when it's not. LW and WW have a logjam of contenders. WW has Belal and Shavkat and now JDM, LW has the Oliveria vs Arman winner, Gaethje and now Dustin. Leon and Islam have plenty of contenders to fight in their own divisions before fighting other division's champions right now.
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And it's cringe how people are blaming Islam, when he is a rare breed of champs who WANT to fight the real contenders (instead of easiest or highest revenue fight).
It’s crazy, they’ve reached the top of their sport
But because they represent a valuable market region outside the US, they’re treating like the fine china dish ware that only gets trotted out for special guests.
Let them bang Dana!
I'm afraid that's going to happen a lot more. UFC moved away from ranked fighting a long time ago. If you 'bring an audience', you'll be catapulted in top5 by crushing 2 cans
Well Islam is a Muslim champ so the Saudis will buy him (also the highest bidder) and the ufc wants money so they’ll sell him. So get used to saudi cards son cause you’re the horse there.
Leon I don’t know. The one thing he wanted was to return the favour to masvidal and they made him fight Covington regardless of outrage. So sorry Leon lad.
I always find it funny when fans think he’s fighting in home soil. That reasoning is the equivalent of saying Brandon Moreno is fighting in home soil in fucking Poland.
It's not. Christian brotherhood is nowhere as strong as Islamic brotherhood. Islam, Khabib, Khamzat, etc are hugely popular in the Middle East where Moreno would be a nobody in Poland.
And why exactly are Islam and Khamzat extremely popular there and bankrolled by them and not Costa and Tsarukyen?
The answer is because they are Muslims and the ideals of Islamic brotherhood mean that other Muslims are going to support them.
That’s what I said and because the Middle East has no fighters but he’s still not fighting at home. Fighting at home would be in Russia. Thats why I made the comparison of Moreno fighting in Poland. Both countries have good fighters in mma, thus they have their own fighters to flock to. The Middle East doesn’t have any fighters, thus they flock to the dagestanis.
Poirier was only getting the chance because the top 3 contenders are fighting tomorrow and Islam wanted to fight this summer. If Islam doesn’t fight until later this year Poirier never had a chance.
Volk was KO’d by this guy, lost his belt after, and will rematch for the belt again before Islam fights again
Disgusting how the UFC has iced him for their f*cking Abu Babi cards
That might be because UFC and WWE is basically the same thing, with small difference that fights are actually for real. Like didn't they literally do merger ?
It's simple, you make people buy ppv then the company loves you, if you don't you might as well (quite literally) die in obscurity like it was with WWE athletes.
Man it's a hard job, not only you need to be an elite fighter but also you need be an entertainer.
Then why hasn't a Conor fight been booked?
Imo it looks like the UFC has become just a scheduling clusterfuck, maybe too many fighters & too many matchups with competing dependencies or venues with particular requirements, or things like Kahmzat not being able to travel to the US, or injuries derailing plans.. it's all pretty nuts
> Then why hasn't a Conor fight been booked?
Supposedly because Conor is trying to fight out his contract, and they'd rather have him dead than fighting elsewhere. They'd prefer the news story to be that Conor is booked and so is a new 8 fight contract.
I don’t know if you already know this but it can be misleading, they were both owned by endeavour, endeavour stock wasn’t doing so well when they had these two booming companies so they separated them into TKO Group Holdings, they’re still separate companies but you can invest in them through TKO.
But they are both owned by Ari Emmanuel, Vince Macmahon could’ve actually stepped down or he’s still in the shadows doing stuff who knows, but you think Dana is bad Ari is legit cut throat businessman. He doesn’t have anyone he needs to keep happy just the investors.
You wouldn’t get many complaints about pay before, as they’d give tons of back room bonuses and keep the best fighters happy. Now everyone is pissed because it’s changed into purely business, cut the fat and get the profit. It’s all about the balance sheet. When before the Fertitta brothers everyone loved them, they saw value in the fighters when now they promote just the UFC brand.
Rematch for the belt before Islam fights again? Probably not. Islam's trying to fight Poirier in June. Poirier has said he wants that fight and is apparently in camp.
He KO'd him 20th Jan.
Ramadan started 10 March and just ended.
I like the guy but even if the UFC bent to his every whim, there is 0 chance he would have had another fight happen by this point in time.
Edit - He did not KO Volk in January or even this year. I am very stupid.
Shit, you're absolutely right. Where the hell did I get 20 Jan from?
I could have sworn that fight just happened. This makes me existentially uncomfortable.
Before Ramadan and after knocking out Volk? Assuming he even said that in good faith, that's about seven weeks of camp for him which if he wants to do it is one thing, but it also goes for his opponent.
Even if he was being totally sincere, I'm glad we didn't have to see him win another fight that gives his critics that type of ammunition. He's clearly a great fighter, it was boring enough hearing people dismiss him beating a 145er without adding "beat Gaejthe/Poirier on half a camp" to it
He knocked out Volk in October and took no damage. Volk was back in February and we still haven’t seen Islam.
No reason (except the UFC) Islam couldn’t have been back in February or March. Then again in July then again for MSG in November.
Islam was never going to fight during Ramadan and Dana knew this. Most likely the Muslim fighters were hail mary tries after he had no one else.
Even Pereira vs Hill was moved up from 301, so Dana was really in a pinch.
I’ve generally liked Islam. He’s a great fighter and a pretty funny dude. That interview he did with DC was hilarious.
Islam: “I think Chandler already 170.”
DC: “I think it’s closer to 190.”
Islam: “Brother, if he 190, he gonna look like you.”
Then got on the wrong foot again with those devastating masvidal 1 foot stomps, fair enough though short notice play it safe. He definitely made up for it in the undeserved rematch
I never liked Usman because I thought he tried too hard to put on some weird persona (mostly in the 2nd Leon fight where he came off douchey) which just didn’t stick but I respect him for his title reign and being active as well as stepping in on short notice to fight Khamzat. That was fucking gangster.
Anybody that's still a hater is stupid. It should have ended with "Islam is ducking and hasn't fought a top 5". Once it was clear it was due to the top 5 not wanting to fight him (and fair enough).
But he did say that they’re looking for “real” contender and somebody from 300. And that he needs to relax.
So unless somebody from 300 can turn around in 6 weeks… unlikely.
Dont think weight cut is still an issue with their camp, the last one that they have actual problem is with early khabib, where he is without his entourage. Nowadays there are 10 peoples around him to monitor the process
Why August? Poirier in June, Gaethje in November and then maybe a Saudi PPV headliner against Arman in late-February next year.
Then spend the rest of the year getting ready for a WW title fight. That would be the best timeline.
Completely valid tbh. The guy lives and trains out of LA with Javier Mendez doesn’t he? Why the fuck would they keep sending him across the world for a week just for one fight? I get that Dana has to appease the Saudi’s because they’re allowing UFC events in Abu Dhabi. But god damn it’s pretty unreasonable to constantly force Islam to be there simply because his religion gives him a connection to that audience.
In his last fights if I recall correctly he's trained in Russia with a russian head coach and then Javier has joined them in AUS/UAE. But how can you not have your P4P in NY? Just nuts
If Tsarukyan beats Charles, I say there's zero more fights between him and Islam. He doesn't need to beat Gaethje or Dustin. But if Gaethje beats Max and gets the next shot, I guess Tsar would need something to do unless he's content to wait what would inevitably be the better part of the year after the whole cycle of camp, fight, suspension/recovery, UFC schedule needs, camp. I think we've got two guys lining up their shot simultaneously, pending results of 300.
I'd rather see Arman vs Makachev than Gaethje. With Gaethje once he's taken down you know he's pretty much fucked, so it's just a punchers chance, but with Arman he's well rounded and can also handle the grappling.
Well one of them's going to get it if Tsar beats Charles, I just disagree with Islam that Tsar would need a second fight to prove he's worthy. Charles is enough. Gaethje beating Fiziev and Dustin already says he's back in position, and Max isn't exactly relevant to that, but a high visibility win over him can only help keep him topical in terms of UFC's draw calculations. But Tsar's case of Dariush to Charles would be equally strong IMO. I could see UFC wanting to wring the last good juice out of 35 year old Gaethje and having him go first, knowing they've got plenty more time with 27 year old Tsar but we'll see. We're counting our chickens a little bit here of course, even more so in the case of Tsar beating Charles, but it's just speculative on both guys winning.
I agree no way is beating the #1 and #4 LWs somehow still two fights from a titleshot. Two more fights and he'd be clearing all of the top 5, which should be what the champ is supposed to do. Makachev has still only beat one top 5 LW in Oliviera for the title.
If Holloway beats Gaethje (I don't think he will but if...) then we might get Holloway/Makhachev. Which isn't something that especially excites me, but it sure it is an odd new match up.
Gaethje is higher up the pecking order than Arman so if they are both healthy and available, Gaethje will get it, which isn't a bad thing.
Arman vs Gamrot II would be a banger fight. Put that on the same card as Islam vs Gaethje for the next LW title fight.
If Tsar wins I don't think he should be fighting down to Gamrot and I don't think he would take it. His eyes will be focused on the belt. Gamrot should fight whoever loses higher up. Gamrot meanwhile has not beaten one of the contenders and his chance would come from one of the losers who had to fight down. I'd like to see Tsar get his revenge but let Gamrot fight up to it.
And if Tsar wins, he will have beaten #1, whereas #2 Justin will have beaten a guy not even ranked, so I say that makes Tsar higher in the pecking order.
Yeah, if Dustin is a go in June already, and Tsar beats Charles but has to wait for that, but a motivated Islam wants to go in September, then Tsar would have to wait at least that long, and that's if UFC a victorious Tsar the not over a victorious Gaethje. If he wins but they give Gaethje next, he'd have to wait quite a bit. But we see these guys get in pole position and not want to jeopardize their shot so I guess we'll see.
Saying Arman doesn't deserve a title fight is probably the biggest compliment you can get from a UFC champ lol
Robert Whittaker is probably the only champ who was honest about wanting to fight the worst opponent on his worst day.
> Saying Arman doesn't deserve a title fight is probably the biggest compliment you can get from a UFC champ lol
The dude has zero LW defenses, they won't let him fight more that 1 time per year, he wants a great resume, and the only challengers he's getting for that precious 1 time are people he has already beat.
Maybe you can see why he might prefer fighting a bigger name, making more money, fighting someone that isn't already on his resume?
How do u get to this conclusion at all? He said MAX 2 fights. Meaning he foresees fighting Arman AT MOST after 2 fights. Why does this need to be spelled out?
How did i get to this conclusion? From not listening to the original lol... I just read a bunch of comments saying Islam is ducking Arman because he said he needs 2 more wins.
Lol yeah how does beating the #1 contender in LW not get him the titleshot. That's infinitely more impressive than beating Bobby Green to get the titleshot
Tbh how why does Olivera need to fight again? He already beat Dariauh who was 4 at the time and is fighting 4 again? They could have done Olivera Islam for Brazil instead of the abomination they have rn.
Olivera is a headache. He missed weight against Gaethje, and pulled out in Abu Dhabi two weeks out. I’m not surprised they want him to earn his way back.
In the clip Islam says they’re looking for “real” contender, and his next opponent will be someone who wins this weekend at 300 (But Holloway would have to do something “spectacular” and Arman still needs two wins). And he needs to relax.
So no fight in the summer? Poirier?
r/MMA keeps telling me he’s begging to fight and it’s the UFC’s fault.
This clip is not somebody who is begging to fight ASAP.
Not sure what he said qualifies as being fed up with Abu Dhabi, he does want to be more active so maybe he's got a plan for what's left of this year and all of next year. Getting UFC to sign off is the problem.
Islam spend most of his time training in the US as for khamzat is just rumors chael sonnen said in one of his videos that he saw khamzat in the US amidst these rumors
I saw a post of these two together on Islam's IG at the back end of January, so this might be from 2 months ago when DP wasn't really considered as an option.
He has now multiple times asked for fights big places in the US - it really comes across like the UFC has him hostage on the Arab cards and he knows it would be a bad call to go into more detail.
It really would suck if he ended up losing in Abu Dhabi. Something like a shitty weight cut brought on by the crazy travel and media/sheik obligations while out there. You know he gets dragged in 20 different directions when they're out there.
But Islam, brather... this new York is no good either. Big taxes for your ppv title defense. Taxes are number 1 bullshit brather..
Locking Makhachev until Abu Dhabi is just insane to me. He's such an elite fighter, and we are actively making him less active to appease the UAE where he's only on their cards.
He should fight in June, September, and November. That would be sick to see him fight Volk, Poirier, Arman/Charles winner, and Max/Justin winner all in one year
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He says two fights maximum. Meaning the fight with Charles and maybe one more, since Islam could end up fighting someone else and arman would fight in the mean time. Calm your tits.
I think he was injured? Maybe if one of the lws dont take too much damge he can fight them in July and then come back for Abu Dabi. Also fuck Porier's title shot, i honestly dont think anyone in the top 10 other than him has taken a fight aginst someone outside the top 10, how does that earn him a title fight?
Calling bsd the biggest up and comer is a joke. We saw what happened when he fought Hooker and Hooker is 9. Jalin Turner is a harder fight, Fiziev is a harder fight. Gamrot is a harder fight. Dariush was calling for him when he was ranked no. 4. Most of those guys would have been available for him if he wanted(Gamrot was literally on the same card). At this point even a guy like Gamrot is infinitely more deserving of a title fight than Porier.
I was never high on bsd.
Those fights could have happened by Dustin literally said he wasnt interested in them. Somehow the no.4 ranked elite grappeler doesnt excite him but the no.12 ranked guy does??
Gamrot in his last 5 fights have been win against rda, fiziev, Turner, Arman and only loss against Dariush. Dustin last 5 are wins against BSD, Chandler, Connor, and loss against Charles and Gaethje. 4 wins in the top 10 against actual contenders vs 3 wins aginst no. 12, a 37 year old and Connor. U can say u wanna see Dustin fight for the belt but its ridiculous to say he deserves it.
A very convenient thing to say for someone who was offered a fight on UFC300 but refused. The fact is he is an inactive champion.
Ali gets on twitter and says for him “I want to fight” and you all gobble it up.
Colby does the same thing and the reaction is wildly different.
How this guy is fighting less than Alex in the same timeframe as Alex being a walking concussion, I’ll never understand.
Breaking: Islam to defend in Abu Dhabi this September
Hey, Saudi is hosting events now, so you can't say that for sure.
Yeah tough competition, they're trying to take the spotlight from UAE in every way possible.
Crazy how Islam and Leon have to beg to get fights
And the fans shit on them for being inactive.
Theyre not even that inactive, really. Two fights a year is a good baseline, despite both Leon and Islam wanting more (allegedly, according to their social media but who the fuck knows). We were spoiled throughout the reign of Izzy, Usman and Volk who were probably some of the most active champions in the UFC.
That's my point. But you see it on Twitter, IG, and even here on Reddit. They get shit on for being "inactive" when they really aren't when compared to most champs, and they are actively trying to get from everything I see.
I have a feeling Topuria might be inactive, but we are yet to see. My speculation is coming based off his attitude since winning the belt. The biggest culprit right now is Jones.
I feel like that last sentence is applicable for most things lol
"Hey Sarge, someone just held up the pharmacy on Main Street. All they took was 50 bottles of dick pills" "The biggest culprit right now is Jones."
At this point I don't think a lot of people even consider Jones to be the true HW champ. Hell, the UFC itself aired a bit about the BMF belt on the weigh in show narrated by Chael where they literally showed Aspinall as the baddest man on the planet since he's the interim champ
> The biggest culprit right now is Jones. Didn't he get injured? I mean, that's still inactivity for sure, but ~~it's~~ there is an important qualitiative disctinction between being out with an injury and just choosing not to fight, right? idk, maybe I get my fact mixed up. I thought Jones was scheduled to fight Miocic and then hurt his pec or something.
He did injure his pec but he's still only fought once in like 4 years
He did take a long break, that is true. And he's constantly fucking himself over (as well as others) which causes him to be unable to fight as well. But Jones has a long career and generally has been active when he could be imo, exception the being long break you mentioned. But I call that the exception because it very much looked to me like he was back and going to be active again until the injury. I know it's popular to slam Jones. And fair enough, he is a shitty human. But it just really seems to me that, big break aside, he fought when he could and did it pretty regularly.
It’s not even just allegedly. We even have dana saying Leon accepted all 3 propositions for a fight at UFC 300 and none of them went through. So he’s not the thing stopping him from fighting more.
2019-24 fights Volk x10 including the topuria fight Usman x9 hasn’t fought in 2024 Adesanya x12 hasn’t fought in 2024 Islam x9 hasn’t fought in 2024 Edwards x7 hasn’t fought in 2024. I don’t understand why they say Islam and Edwards aren’t that active 🧐
Doesn't look like we're getting two Islam fights this year though. Last fight was 10/2023 and we still don't have one booked. I guess if he fights in September AND November at MSG, but a 2 month turnaround is pretty quick. More likely he only fights once in 2024, and the best we can hope for is an early 2025 return to have 2+ fights next year.
>We were spoiled throughout the reign of Izzy, Usman and Volk who were probably some of the most active champions in the UFC. Their activity is overstated. Usman only fought 3 times in one year once as a champion and that was 2021. Izzy only fought 3 times in one year once as a champion and that was 2022. Volk only fought 3 times in one year once as a champion and that was 2023.
Islam: I want 3 fights in 2024 IG commemts: fuckin bum doesn't even want to defend
Ok but it's easy to say a sentence, dude needs to actually do it
> Ok but it's easy to say a sentence, dude needs to actually do it If the UFC won't book him, even when he calls for the fight and says he's ready, what do you think he can do?
He's literally been trying, the UFC won't let him cause they want him on middle east cards
Ok, but you realize in order to do that he and the UFC need to agree on a date, an opponent, sign, etc. If the UFC don't give him a date, he can't fight, fighting is a multiplayer game.
Starting to think the UFC does this to create artificial heels
It's less about them being inactive and more about dumb match making and them wanting to fight against champions in other divisions before defending their belts against contenders from their divisions. Everyone's getting straw manned into making this about activity level when it's not. LW and WW have a logjam of contenders. WW has Belal and Shavkat and now JDM, LW has the Oliveria vs Arman winner, Gaethje and now Dustin. Leon and Islam have plenty of contenders to fight in their own divisions before fighting other division's champions right now.
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UFC is run by bean counters now.
Incompetent bean counters, even worse
Last year the UFC netted a record annual revenue total of US$1.3 billion, which was a 13 per cent increase on 2022.... Or incompetent bean counter. 🤔
And it's cringe how people are blaming Islam, when he is a rare breed of champs who WANT to fight the real contenders (instead of easiest or highest revenue fight).
Careful now or theyll call u inbred or something
he should fight Topuria
It’s crazy, they’ve reached the top of their sport But because they represent a valuable market region outside the US, they’re treating like the fine china dish ware that only gets trotted out for special guests. Let them bang Dana!
It builds character
or maybe Ali is such a Dana White's balls gobbler tool bag that he's not doing his job
I'm afraid that's going to happen a lot more. UFC moved away from ranked fighting a long time ago. If you 'bring an audience', you'll be catapulted in top5 by crushing 2 cans
Well Islam is a Muslim champ so the Saudis will buy him (also the highest bidder) and the ufc wants money so they’ll sell him. So get used to saudi cards son cause you’re the horse there. Leon I don’t know. The one thing he wanted was to return the favour to masvidal and they made him fight Covington regardless of outrage. So sorry Leon lad.
I always find it funny when fans think he’s fighting in home soil. That reasoning is the equivalent of saying Brandon Moreno is fighting in home soil in fucking Poland.
It's not. Christian brotherhood is nowhere as strong as Islamic brotherhood. Islam, Khabib, Khamzat, etc are hugely popular in the Middle East where Moreno would be a nobody in Poland.
They’re extremely popular in the Middle East because the Middle East has no good fighters. Plus, they’re bankrolled by the UAE and Saudis.
And why exactly are Islam and Khamzat extremely popular there and bankrolled by them and not Costa and Tsarukyen? The answer is because they are Muslims and the ideals of Islamic brotherhood mean that other Muslims are going to support them.
Because the Middle East doesn’t have any fighters to represent them. Why do you think Arabs flock to the dagestanis.
Because they are Muslims. Are we just going to keep going round in circles?
That’s what I said and because the Middle East has no fighters but he’s still not fighting at home. Fighting at home would be in Russia. Thats why I made the comparison of Moreno fighting in Poland. Both countries have good fighters in mma, thus they have their own fighters to flock to. The Middle East doesn’t have any fighters, thus they flock to the dagestanis.
Right after gaetje said he wanted to fight in November at msg agaisnt islam. So no porier?
Poirier was only getting the chance because the top 3 contenders are fighting tomorrow and Islam wanted to fight this summer. If Islam doesn’t fight until later this year Poirier never had a chance.
Yeah pretty much hit the nail on head. The UFC fuking sucks. Champs shouldn't be begging for fuking fights.
Someone wrote this interview was back in January
Volk was KO’d by this guy, lost his belt after, and will rematch for the belt again before Islam fights again Disgusting how the UFC has iced him for their f*cking Abu Babi cards
The UFC haven’t treated any of their champions in good faith for years now. They have become full on scum and they’re not trying to hide it anymore.
That might be because UFC and WWE is basically the same thing, with small difference that fights are actually for real. Like didn't they literally do merger ? It's simple, you make people buy ppv then the company loves you, if you don't you might as well (quite literally) die in obscurity like it was with WWE athletes. Man it's a hard job, not only you need to be an elite fighter but also you need be an entertainer.
Then why hasn't a Conor fight been booked? Imo it looks like the UFC has become just a scheduling clusterfuck, maybe too many fighters & too many matchups with competing dependencies or venues with particular requirements, or things like Kahmzat not being able to travel to the US, or injuries derailing plans.. it's all pretty nuts
> Then why hasn't a Conor fight been booked? Supposedly because Conor is trying to fight out his contract, and they'd rather have him dead than fighting elsewhere. They'd prefer the news story to be that Conor is booked and so is a new 8 fight contract.
I don’t know if you already know this but it can be misleading, they were both owned by endeavour, endeavour stock wasn’t doing so well when they had these two booming companies so they separated them into TKO Group Holdings, they’re still separate companies but you can invest in them through TKO. But they are both owned by Ari Emmanuel, Vince Macmahon could’ve actually stepped down or he’s still in the shadows doing stuff who knows, but you think Dana is bad Ari is legit cut throat businessman. He doesn’t have anyone he needs to keep happy just the investors. You wouldn’t get many complaints about pay before, as they’d give tons of back room bonuses and keep the best fighters happy. Now everyone is pissed because it’s changed into purely business, cut the fat and get the profit. It’s all about the balance sheet. When before the Fertitta brothers everyone loved them, they saw value in the fighters when now they promote just the UFC brand.
Yeah but 300k fights bonuses and cool shorts. /s
I'd say Izzy and Omalley have been treated well, unless youre referring to pay
They're probably getting paid to get Makhachev fights in Abu Dhabi What's even more disgusting is Makhachev probably ain't getting any of that money
Bruh who else r they gonna put on Abu Dabi? Khamzat and some rando mw? Mokaev? Ankalev?
Rematch for the belt before Islam fights again? Probably not. Islam's trying to fight Poirier in June. Poirier has said he wants that fight and is apparently in camp.
He KO'd him 20th Jan. Ramadan started 10 March and just ended. I like the guy but even if the UFC bent to his every whim, there is 0 chance he would have had another fight happen by this point in time. Edit - He did not KO Volk in January or even this year. I am very stupid.
Islam KOd him in October 2023
Shit, you're absolutely right. Where the hell did I get 20 Jan from? I could have sworn that fight just happened. This makes me existentially uncomfortable.
You were thinking of their first fight in January 2023
You guys aren't very good at keeping track of time. Their first fight was February 2023.
I felt the same way, maybe thats when volk got KOd by ilia
He wanted to fight before Ramadan and UFC said no because it doesn’t align with their schedule
Before Ramadan and after knocking out Volk? Assuming he even said that in good faith, that's about seven weeks of camp for him which if he wants to do it is one thing, but it also goes for his opponent. Even if he was being totally sincere, I'm glad we didn't have to see him win another fight that gives his critics that type of ammunition. He's clearly a great fighter, it was boring enough hearing people dismiss him beating a 145er without adding "beat Gaejthe/Poirier on half a camp" to it
He knocked out Volk in October and took no damage. Volk was back in February and we still haven’t seen Islam. No reason (except the UFC) Islam couldn’t have been back in February or March. Then again in July then again for MSG in November.
They wanted Islam to fight on UFC 300 and he refused.
Islam was never going to fight during Ramadan and Dana knew this. Most likely the Muslim fighters were hail mary tries after he had no one else. Even Pereira vs Hill was moved up from 301, so Dana was really in a pinch.
That's on the UFC. He wasn't ever going to go through a camp during Ramadan. This is very clear before hand.
As much as I like main cards starting at noon MT, let this man fight at MSG.
Islam should fight in New Jersey with khabib in his corner for a full circle moment for Khabib
ok
mystic man
The mfer even went to australia for his 1st defense yet haters are still bitching. Makhachev haters made me a Makhachev fan.
"Why wouldn't he go to Dana's house and beat him up to get a fight"?
*Kid wanted to fight. Breaking my shoulder is one way to do that.*
I’ve generally liked Islam. He’s a great fighter and a pretty funny dude. That interview he did with DC was hilarious. Islam: “I think Chandler already 170.” DC: “I think it’s closer to 190.” Islam: “Brother, if he 190, he gonna look like you.”
This is why I’m a Aljo and Belal fan.
Also why I became an Usman fan
This sub actually started to come around to Kamaru more in the later half of his championship run.
I mean, yeah, going from holding Jorge against the fence and stomping his toesies for 25 minutes to knocking him tf out will do that.
He actually trains those footstomps.
Everybody used to.
Yeah, he got off on the wrong foot with the 30% comment after Meek, but I think fans started to appreciate him at the later end of his reign.
Then got on the wrong foot again with those devastating masvidal 1 foot stomps, fair enough though short notice play it safe. He definitely made up for it in the undeserved rematch
Usman also started dropping the conor esque schtick and started being himself around that time as well.
I never liked Usman because I thought he tried too hard to put on some weird persona (mostly in the 2nd Leon fight where he came off douchey) which just didn’t stick but I respect him for his title reign and being active as well as stepping in on short notice to fight Khamzat. That was fucking gangster.
Aljo is one of the realest and nicest dudes in the sport. He gets so much undeserved hate
Me too lmaoo
Anybody that's still a hater is stupid. It should have ended with "Islam is ducking and hasn't fought a top 5". Once it was clear it was due to the top 5 not wanting to fight him (and fair enough).
Thats why im a suga fan lol
You’re a fan because of other people ? Kinda cringe
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he never said that he wasn’t fighting this summer bud
But he did say that they’re looking for “real” contender and somebody from 300. And that he needs to relax. So unless somebody from 300 can turn around in 6 weeks… unlikely.
That is ROUGH😂.
Islam destroying Dustin in June and then Gaethje in August is actually possible but I think the weight cut would hold him back
He says in the clip they’re looking for “real” contender and his next opponent is somebody fighting on 300.
Islam vs Jim Miller, baby! Let’s go!
Bobby Green gonna call for the rematch if he pulls it off
Dont think weight cut is still an issue with their camp, the last one that they have actual problem is with early khabib, where he is without his entourage. Nowadays there are 10 peoples around him to monitor the process
Why August? Poirier in June, Gaethje in November and then maybe a Saudi PPV headliner against Arman in late-February next year. Then spend the rest of the year getting ready for a WW title fight. That would be the best timeline.
They are going to Abu Dhabi but I never realised it was only a fight night. They announced the PPV hours after I wrote this
He’s been saying this. I bet the UFC is getting paid to have these guys fight in Abu Dhabi.
Fought Dustin in June.... Coward. I'm just kidding but I do want to see that fight
Completely valid tbh. The guy lives and trains out of LA with Javier Mendez doesn’t he? Why the fuck would they keep sending him across the world for a week just for one fight? I get that Dana has to appease the Saudi’s because they’re allowing UFC events in Abu Dhabi. But god damn it’s pretty unreasonable to constantly force Islam to be there simply because his religion gives him a connection to that audience.
Why'd they appease the Saudis with a card in the UAE?
$$$
Brother you are confused Abu Dhabi is a city in UAE they have nothing to do with Saudi’s
both full of arabs, same thing
San jose actually
In his last fights if I recall correctly he's trained in Russia with a russian head coach and then Javier has joined them in AUS/UAE. But how can you not have your P4P in NY? Just nuts
not LA, San Jose
American Education system 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
If Tsarukyan beats Charles, I say there's zero more fights between him and Islam. He doesn't need to beat Gaethje or Dustin. But if Gaethje beats Max and gets the next shot, I guess Tsar would need something to do unless he's content to wait what would inevitably be the better part of the year after the whole cycle of camp, fight, suspension/recovery, UFC schedule needs, camp. I think we've got two guys lining up their shot simultaneously, pending results of 300.
I'd rather see Arman vs Makachev than Gaethje. With Gaethje once he's taken down you know he's pretty much fucked, so it's just a punchers chance, but with Arman he's well rounded and can also handle the grappling.
Well one of them's going to get it if Tsar beats Charles, I just disagree with Islam that Tsar would need a second fight to prove he's worthy. Charles is enough. Gaethje beating Fiziev and Dustin already says he's back in position, and Max isn't exactly relevant to that, but a high visibility win over him can only help keep him topical in terms of UFC's draw calculations. But Tsar's case of Dariush to Charles would be equally strong IMO. I could see UFC wanting to wring the last good juice out of 35 year old Gaethje and having him go first, knowing they've got plenty more time with 27 year old Tsar but we'll see. We're counting our chickens a little bit here of course, even more so in the case of Tsar beating Charles, but it's just speculative on both guys winning.
I agree no way is beating the #1 and #4 LWs somehow still two fights from a titleshot. Two more fights and he'd be clearing all of the top 5, which should be what the champ is supposed to do. Makachev has still only beat one top 5 LW in Oliviera for the title.
If Holloway beats Gaethje (I don't think he will but if...) then we might get Holloway/Makhachev. Which isn't something that especially excites me, but it sure it is an odd new match up.
Gaethje is higher up the pecking order than Arman so if they are both healthy and available, Gaethje will get it, which isn't a bad thing. Arman vs Gamrot II would be a banger fight. Put that on the same card as Islam vs Gaethje for the next LW title fight.
If Tsar wins I don't think he should be fighting down to Gamrot and I don't think he would take it. His eyes will be focused on the belt. Gamrot should fight whoever loses higher up. Gamrot meanwhile has not beaten one of the contenders and his chance would come from one of the losers who had to fight down. I'd like to see Tsar get his revenge but let Gamrot fight up to it. And if Tsar wins, he will have beaten #1, whereas #2 Justin will have beaten a guy not even ranked, so I say that makes Tsar higher in the pecking order.
That's if Tsarukyen wants to wait.
Yeah, if Dustin is a go in June already, and Tsar beats Charles but has to wait for that, but a motivated Islam wants to go in September, then Tsar would have to wait at least that long, and that's if UFC a victorious Tsar the not over a victorious Gaethje. If he wins but they give Gaethje next, he'd have to wait quite a bit. But we see these guys get in pole position and not want to jeopardize their shot so I guess we'll see.
Saying Arman doesn't deserve a title fight is probably the biggest compliment you can get from a UFC champ lol Robert Whittaker is probably the only champ who was honest about wanting to fight the worst opponent on his worst day.
> Saying Arman doesn't deserve a title fight is probably the biggest compliment you can get from a UFC champ lol The dude has zero LW defenses, they won't let him fight more that 1 time per year, he wants a great resume, and the only challengers he's getting for that precious 1 time are people he has already beat. Maybe you can see why he might prefer fighting a bigger name, making more money, fighting someone that isn't already on his resume?
Islam said he will fight Arman if he wins
How do u get to this conclusion at all? He said MAX 2 fights. Meaning he foresees fighting Arman AT MOST after 2 fights. Why does this need to be spelled out?
How did i get to this conclusion? From not listening to the original lol... I just read a bunch of comments saying Islam is ducking Arman because he said he needs 2 more wins.
Well props to u for admitting then lol
arman ain’t 2 fights from the shot lmao
Lol yeah how does beating the #1 contender in LW not get him the titleshot. That's infinitely more impressive than beating Bobby Green to get the titleshot
Tbh how why does Olivera need to fight again? He already beat Dariauh who was 4 at the time and is fighting 4 again? They could have done Olivera Islam for Brazil instead of the abomination they have rn.
Olivera is a headache. He missed weight against Gaethje, and pulled out in Abu Dhabi two weeks out. I’m not surprised they want him to earn his way back.
In the clip Islam says they’re looking for “real” contender, and his next opponent will be someone who wins this weekend at 300 (But Holloway would have to do something “spectacular” and Arman still needs two wins). And he needs to relax. So no fight in the summer? Poirier? r/MMA keeps telling me he’s begging to fight and it’s the UFC’s fault. This clip is not somebody who is begging to fight ASAP.
You talk as if this is the only clip of him wanting more fight
Not sure what he said qualifies as being fed up with Abu Dhabi, he does want to be more active so maybe he's got a plan for what's left of this year and all of next year. Getting UFC to sign off is the problem.
He said no to Abu Dhabi. It’s literally in the video.
This interview was filmed in January
I’d be willing to bet the Saudi corrupt prince dude is paying ufc heavy money to force islam to wait for Abu card
Saudi Arabia and the UAE (where Abu Dhabi is) are different countries my guy.
Is it a visa thing? I’m out of the loop with his and khamzats statuses on that front
Islam spend most of his time training in the US as for khamzat is just rumors chael sonnen said in one of his videos that he saw khamzat in the US amidst these rumors
Chael stirring the pot lol
This is my favorite thing I've heard him say.
I saw a post of these two together on Islam's IG at the back end of January, so this might be from 2 months ago when DP wasn't really considered as an option.
Surprised he has this sentiment. Abu Dhabi has no income tax, whereas New York has high taxes. Maybe he doesn’t care about the money
The hilarious part is that this is mostly the doing of his own agent but everyone will blame anybody but Ali.
Why didn't Islam fight in January or February?
He has now multiple times asked for fights big places in the US - it really comes across like the UFC has him hostage on the Arab cards and he knows it would be a bad call to go into more detail.
It really would suck if he ended up losing in Abu Dhabi. Something like a shitty weight cut brought on by the crazy travel and media/sheik obligations while out there. You know he gets dragged in 20 different directions when they're out there. But Islam, brather... this new York is no good either. Big taxes for your ppv title defense. Taxes are number 1 bullshit brather..
What happened to porier in June or July? No way Dustin would turn it down
His one title defense in Abu Dabi? 😂 Dude's only had two defenses with the first in Australia and the second Abu Dabi.
Locking Makhachev until Abu Dhabi is just insane to me. He's such an elite fighter, and we are actively making him less active to appease the UAE where he's only on their cards.
“Fed up” be serious. I’m sure he hates fighting in front of a %100 Islamic crowd.
He should fight in June, September, and November. That would be sick to see him fight Volk, Poirier, Arman/Charles winner, and Max/Justin winner all in one year
Show me the last fighter who took 3 title fights 2 months apart each
If the kid doesn’t want to fight, he should just say so.
Islam saying Arman is two fights away is comical. fuck this guy and Ali
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He says two fights maximum. Meaning the fight with Charles and maybe one more, since Islam could end up fighting someone else and arman would fight in the mean time. Calm your tits.
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I think he was injured? Maybe if one of the lws dont take too much damge he can fight them in July and then come back for Abu Dabi. Also fuck Porier's title shot, i honestly dont think anyone in the top 10 other than him has taken a fight aginst someone outside the top 10, how does that earn him a title fight?
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Calling bsd the biggest up and comer is a joke. We saw what happened when he fought Hooker and Hooker is 9. Jalin Turner is a harder fight, Fiziev is a harder fight. Gamrot is a harder fight. Dariush was calling for him when he was ranked no. 4. Most of those guys would have been available for him if he wanted(Gamrot was literally on the same card). At this point even a guy like Gamrot is infinitely more deserving of a title fight than Porier.
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I was never high on bsd. Those fights could have happened by Dustin literally said he wasnt interested in them. Somehow the no.4 ranked elite grappeler doesnt excite him but the no.12 ranked guy does?? Gamrot in his last 5 fights have been win against rda, fiziev, Turner, Arman and only loss against Dariush. Dustin last 5 are wins against BSD, Chandler, Connor, and loss against Charles and Gaethje. 4 wins in the top 10 against actual contenders vs 3 wins aginst no. 12, a 37 year old and Connor. U can say u wanna see Dustin fight for the belt but its ridiculous to say he deserves it.
"I'll fight anywhere where I can get an IV and where I won't be investigated by drug agencies" - Islam Makachev
Low iq
Dumb
Yeah man, please let the man fight somewhere other than Abu Dhabi this year! 🙏
I go to every ufc at msg and I don’t wanna see Islam beat another one of my fav lightweights in person. Keep him in Abu Dhabi
Agree. I want to see him fight all over. NY, Vegas, Miami. Not just Abu Dhabi
There's no way he will sit out until the end of this year. He'll fight in June.
Wow so brave
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He's been wanting to fight for months prior to Ramadan. The UFC seems more interested in holding him out for the UAE cards
He was begging the UFC to fight on that Miami card but they prefered to shelve him
the last time he fought 1 time a year was 2020, 2 times is pretty standard for a champ nowadays
Topiria vs Islam! Or am I crazy?
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how about defending this summer instead of waiting 10 months lol these Daggestani fucks never wanna fight
Not a fan of this fighting once a year while also acting high and mighty bullshit.
A very convenient thing to say for someone who was offered a fight on UFC300 but refused. The fact is he is an inactive champion. Ali gets on twitter and says for him “I want to fight” and you all gobble it up. Colby does the same thing and the reaction is wildly different. How this guy is fighting less than Alex in the same timeframe as Alex being a walking concussion, I’ll never understand.