Media Islam Makhachev: I'm getting out of fights in my division, nothing exciting there. Hoping to get Leon fight with 2 wins.

[AmalgamOpus]

I don't mind what he said, let him beat those two and move up for the Leon scrap. You can make an argument for Gamrot I guess but he probably has nothing for Islam anyways so why wait. I'd way rather see him move up and challenge for the 170 belt in a super fight.

 

[Striker Fox]

That is speculation. It is fair and logical speculation, but speculation all the same.

What isn't speculation is islam saying he could have chosen gamrot or poirer instead of volk.

If Volk accepted to step up short notice, Islam would've expected he'd be in good fighting shape, which is clearly a much harder fight than guys like Gamrot and Poirier.

Islam would've steamrolled Poirir and Gamrot regardless, so who really cares. Islam wanted the harder fight that night which was Volk.

 

[aali14]

Choosing $ over legacy, suit yourself

 

[chinarice]

These guys chasing title fights in other divisions when they haven't defended or have like 1 title defense are ridiculous.

UFC's fault though. They supported this dumb shit. It would be cool if they had champs who dominated their division and had no reasonable challenger at the time then sure but that's basically never the case

 

[moosaev]

Islam KOd him my guy. In fact he's Islam's only clean KO in 6 years. Now imagine him taking punches from Poirier or Gaethje. He doesn't have Max's chin.

So Islam doesn't get credit for KO'ing Volk because it was short notice, and Volk doesn't get credit for how he performed in their first fight because he got KO'd in their second fight on short notice? LOL. Ok bud.

 

[moosaev]

are you pulling my leg? On the off chance that you are not, if the best FWs could beat the best LW at any given point, we would have seen it more than what you are implying. Volk and max are not a good metric to use because they are in top 3 greatest featherweights to ever to do it. Yair and Emmett are examples of some of the best featherweights and they have a chance of getting smoked by Bobby green and Jim miller…..more so than finding a spot for themselves in the top 10 otherwise they would have made the jump to the light weight.

OK, now that we've established this, then perhaps we should ditch the "Islam only fights FWs" line???? Thanks for proving my point lol.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

Why don’t these neckbeard mountain guys want to smash the title defense record?

 

[fedoriswar37]

LOL there's a solid 4 5 guys he should fight. These fighters nowadays need to struggle and just fight

 

[Koro_11]

He beat Oliveira like he owed him money. Get over it.

I don’t think you understand what “defended” means.

 

[markys00]

Nothing wrong with a fighter seeking the biggest opportunity he can get. If he beats Poirier & Tsarukyan he should get a shot at whoever's holding the welterweight belt next year.

Why? He hasn't even gotten close to cleaning out the division. Barely even started, tbh

 

[fedoriswar37]

This guy is going to tie the LW title defence record without ever having fought the #1 contender, let alone contenders #2-4.

And this motherfucker has the nerve to say he's out of fights.

Appreciate the talent, but Islam's obviously a stupid asshole who loves how dumb his fans are.

100%. It's not strange to see Champs lose to contenders that they were expected to beat handedly.

 

[fedoriswar37]

Meh. Really he should be fighting Arman. The guy on a win streak who just won a #1 contender fight.

It (Poirier) would be a defense over an actual ranked LW. So that is good I suppose, but it continues the pattern of not fighting the best most qualified challenger which is weird.

Beating a 35 year old Poirier doesn't do a ton for Islam's resume.

Dustin's still good. Champs need these type of wins on their resume. It also keeps him active and rewards Poirier for taking a super dangerous fight vs St.Denis.

Arman just got a big win against Oliveira and is the clear cut No1 now. He'll likely fight the winner. I'm not sure why people are so ticked off about the Dustin fight it lines up well for the division

 

[Barteh]

People begged for champs to jump weight and this is the result. Nobody wants to defend they just want to get a free title shot. That’s why we have no long reigning or established champions. Seems tide is turning and people are getting tired of it fortunately.

We wanted dominant champs like GSP and Aldo to move up for a bigger challenge, we didn't want any of this shit.

Hell, nobody even wanted the GOAT Anderson vs. Jones because we all realized he'd stand very little chance anyway.

 

[CrimsonFan]

Hopefully Dustin beats him

 

[mister piscadinha]

poirier fight is such BS, dude is 35 and 1-1 in his last 2
islam's title reign is reaching usman levels of padding
he should fight max, arman or gamrot

 

[Thepaintbucket]

Man I guess it's true you just can't please everyone lol.

Ideally I'd want the champion to defend and to clear his division before moving up but nothing is ever an ideal situation in the real world. If he doesn't want to defend but is willing to fight the next champion up, I am okay with it. Leon is a highly accomplished opponent.

 

[chiefwiggum]

Yea and how did Poirier fair against Olives ? Do you have your Xanax ready for when Islam beats Dustin ?

I don’t think Dustin wins or should even get the fight. . I’ll be watching but I’m. It crazy about this matchup.

 

[Bobby Boulders]

He's a very skilled fighter, but completely unlikable, aside from that. He's like a Dagastani Conor.

 

[13Seconds]

@svmr_db fighting for Islams fucking life in the first page lol. He won't give you a hug dude.

As for champ champ fights, im still sick of those. Much rather see him build his legacy at LW unless he's simply too big for the weight cut. Tough situation if he is, because Shavkat dwarfs him and finishes him.

 

[StoicBeau]

He beat Oliveira like he owed him money. Get over it.

Cool story. Still hasn’t defended against a LW. Get over it.