I have a different take on this matter, interestingly. I actually think Islam isn't a champion that the UFC would love/cradle like Jon Jone, Khabib etc.
Ok let's take Dana as an example. He'll go crazy over certain fighters' wins/performances in the post fight pressers (for example, he was blown away by Max's performance this past weekend -- And Max fully deserves it).
But then, when it comes to fighters like Poatan and Islam, Dana usually doesn't get as fired up, when complimenting their wins. He's very complimentary towards them, for damn sure, but he doesn't get super fired up about them.
Ok but back to the topic of Islam: Yes I know Dana has complimented Islam about the "Anyone, anytime, anywhere, I'll fight" mentality and even put Islam's quote in the UFC PI or something. But you can just tell that Islam is not a UFC "pet" or "favorite".
There are only a very rare select few, who are cradled/protected in the UFC.
So i respectfully disagree about the UFC protecting Islam and trying to give him smaller guys and/or short notice guys. It's always just business for the UFC. Regarding the smaller-guy perspective, well, for Islam-Volk 1, Volk was already slated to fight the winner of Charles-Islam beforehand. For Islam-Volk 2, this fight wasn't supposed to happen if Charles didn't get a cut.
Lastly, as a sidenote: Come to think of it, I can understand if people (i don't mean you) also feel that Islam is protected due to the "Abu Dhabi scales". But people need to use their rational minds and realize that Islam has mentioned before that he wants to fight more in the States. He doesn't beg to fight in Abu Dhabi; UFC as a business wants him to, and they have the final say.