Rumored Jamahal Hill vs Israel Adesanya is being worked on

Soggust said:
Didn't Khamzat earn it?

He's got 5m+ followers on insta. He's a super compelling matchup. He beat the number 2 guy in the 170 division and was due for a title shot.

Because he hasn't beat a ranked guy at 185 despite being 4-0 at MW (2-0 ufc)? Sure, that's fair.

But then you see why it's a tough argument to suggest that the gameplan instead be to give Izzy a shot at 205 where he hasn't beaten a ranked guy and he is already 0-1?
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Yes, I am as big a Khamzat fan as anyone on here and think he would beat Izzy but I think it's a hard sell to Izzy when the guy has no ranked wins in the weightclass to get a titleshot against him. If he beats him with 0 ranked wins, it's not really that big a deal.

He can just as easily argue he deserves a titleshot at 205 just as much as Khamzat does at 185. He's one of the UFC golden geese so he will get what he wants.
 
chinarice said:
Yes, I am as big a Khamzat fan as anyone on here and think he would beat Izzy but I think it's a hard sell to Izzy when the guy has no ranked wins in the weightclass to get a titleshot against him. If he beats him with 0 ranked wins, it's not really that big a deal.

He can just as easily argue he deserves a titleshot at 205 just as much as Khamzat does at 185. He's one of the UFC golden geese so he will get what he wants.
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You don't think the prior 0-1 at LHW hurt's Izzy's case a bit? Because I think I would 100% be in agreement with you if he hadn't gone up previously to fight Jan.

Meaning - If we flip it and Khamzat had previously went up to 185 a bit earlier in his career and lost to a...Paulo Costa, let's say.....I don't think I would have this same take. Part of going up is the unknown of how they handle bigger matchups and, as a fan, there just doesn't seem to be a huge reward for Izzy.

If he loses, again 'he's a MW height bully blah blah blah'. If he wins, it's 'well Hill wasn't that good. They tailored an easier matchup for Izzy after Jan's win etc'.

Although when it comes to convincing Izzy, I absolutely agree with you. Izzy should/would be lobbying for LHW, clearly, and the UFC is probably more than happy to oblige to satisfy a star.

Again, I get it. I just don't love it.
 
Smells like desperation to make Izzy double champ. They already tried that against Jan. No thanks. Stay in your own divisions
 
Izzy is emulating GSP picking favorable title fights
 
I think he just heard the rumors about on social media like the rest of us did, so far Dana hasn't mentioned a peep about Izzy moving up to LHW again and said that specifically that the Whittaker/DDP winner will challenge Izzy for the title at UFC 293 in Sydney.
The only issue with that is Whittaker/DDP is only two months away from UFC 293 so that winner might not be ready to do that quick of a turnaround. Then I could possibly see them throwing Strickland in there instead if he gets by Magomedov if he doesn't get to banged up.

Anyways IMO I just don't see Hill/Izzy happening anytime soon, I feel like they would want to give Izzy more time to properly build into his frame this time around and September really isn't that far off.
 
Why is Izzy getting another immediate shot at 205? He should have to fight a contender this time

He also just reclaimed the MW belt and should focus on his 1st defence
 
RockyLockridge said:
I pointed it out immediately after Whittaker vs du plessi was booked
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Yeah I mean you either book DDP vs Izzy which doesn't make much sense because he hasn't really earned one yet

Rob totally could have the trilogy but I can see Izzy not really being keen on fighting someone a 3rd time that he holds 2 wins over.

If DDP beats Rob, he certainly would be next for Izzy though at MW. That's the only MW fight that interests Izzy at the moment anyway.
 
kellier said:
Why is Izzy getting another immediate shot at 205? He should have to fight a contender this time

He also just reclaimed the MW belt and should focus on his 1st defence
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Against who? He wants to stay active and probably wants to do whatever makes most sense for his career right now.
 
MCarpo said:
When Anderson Silva was the champ and wanted to fight at 205, they gave him guys like James Irvin and Forrest Griffin, and not direct access to the champ. Izzy, meanwhile, has fought exactly once at 205, and he was beaten soundly. So his next foray into the division is another title shot?
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If Anderson actually wanted to fight fir the belt, Dana would have allowed it. Anderson did not want to challenge.
 
Man this is the same shit as the rumoured volk Islam rematch. Now it’s been a while since I saw that fight but I had Islam winning the first 4, so going off that this adesanya situation is part of this annoying push to just keep giving these guys shot after shot to become double champs since mcgregor dc cejudo and nunes made that a thing that you have to do
 
pick999 said:
Hill is a legit champion
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aaaa....nope.

he is the single champ i would not recognise on the street.

LHW is so bad, so so bad. I was thinking Jones is the problem, but damn. The division is at its worst.
 
MCarpo said:
When Anderson Silva was the champ and wanted to fight at 205, they gave him guys like James Irvin and Forrest Griffin, and not direct access to the champ. Izzy, meanwhile, has fought exactly once at 205, and he was beaten soundly. So his next foray into the division is another title shot?
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Machida was the champ back when Silva fought Griffin.
 
They really need to stop with the champ vs champ fights. Its holding up the line for other true contenders
 
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