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

[Bradillac]

Who at 155 has a chance against him?

And not his fault he fought against the fighters he has, he fights who the UFC tells him too. The truth is he has ZERO competition at 155. Screw title defenses, move up for fights that are actually challenging.

How can people still say shit like this after what Volk did to Islam? Plenty of guys in the division can beat him, and a few of the guys at 145 probably could too. Bottom line is that Islam is currently one of the weaker LW champs in UFC history. His resume is laughable, and he has a long way to go to pass the like of Oliveira.

 

[Pious Augustus]

Max has to beat a few more LW's to get a shot but Islam gets to go straight to the WW champ?

Islam already beat 11 lightweights and he said after 2 more wins anyways.

It's funny because the same haters were demanding Khabib to move up cuz they're too desperate for him to lose.

 

[nonoob]

There is only one path to greatness, and it goes through everyone.

Not for him, following Pico's sad ducking example, set up perfectly with Dana's help.​

I miss the days when we had clear cut title contenders and champs who had to fight multiple times a year.

We had great examples of courageous champions, sadly missing at this time.

 

[Istryker]

He still hasn't defended against a lightweight. If he gets through Poirier and Arman there will be Gamrot.

LMAO

 

[Clark Rogers]

"Max needs to win a couple in this weight class to earn a shot at me..."

"I think I deserve a straight title shot at 170"

Funny how that "earn it at this weight" thought changes when convenient.

 

[d'Coda]

Max has to beat a few more LW's to get a shot but Islam gets to go straight to the WW champ?

Max isn't even a champ! Besides, Islam would ragdoll Max however he wanted.

 

[d'Coda]

"Max needs to win a couple in this weight class to earn a shot at me..."

"I think I deserve a straight title shot at 170"

Funny how that "earn it at this weight" thought changes when convenient.

Maybe if Max were a champion...

 

[d'Coda]

How this lame fuck has so many fans is beyond me.

You like losers, eh?

 

[GluttonforPunishment]

Lol@ all the islam whiffers trying to plead his case. Such a joke.

 

[omawho402]

Aside from Jones, Islam is the best fighter in the UFC currently. Him having to fight Dustin Poirier is an insult to the intelligence of real fans.

The only way Islam will truly be challenged is moving up in weight, those who know, know. The rest are just haters.

 

[Strijfy]

'Bottom line is that Islam is currently one of the weaker LW champs in UFC history. His resume is laughable, and he has a long way to go to pass the like of Oliveira.'

but yet he whipped Oliviera..
logic at its finest.

 

[Jihad-MMA]

lamest title reign in the history of UFC LW division.

what a joke.

-Oliveira
-Volk
-Volk
-Poirier
-Arman

 

[Arcticman]

The conor mc tapper meat riders in here complaining about title defenses and fighters moving up weight for others belts.... the irony when your little overrated manlet started the whole belt hopping shit.

Its common sense that after islam had to defend he's belt twice for volk he is going to want the same thing in return, only fair.

 

[TempleoftheDog]

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

Maybe Islam doesn’t want to break Khabib’s shared record of 3 defences? He’s sure pushing for a WW TS. If he actually beats Dustin then signs for one more LW defence. That would at least answer that question.

Because it does seem a little odd that he wouldn’t want to become the UFC LW GOAT. Two more defences would be a new record. But three, or especially four more shatters the previous record of three. And Islam would be the undisputed UFC LW GOAT.

It seems like an obvious accolade to aspire to. And 100% possible to obtain. He’ll be a good betting favourite over any LW in the next couple of years. If he keeps defending.

That second Islam/Alex fight never should have happened considering all the facts.. Short notice, recent surgery, drunk for the previous month, etc.

The first fight was legit, and it was known beforehand that the winner was defending against Alex next. But Islam should have defended against Gamrot, in his last fight. Because he was the backup fighter. And an actual LW contender preparing for that fight.

The WW division needs to get back on track from all the Usman, and Colby fuckery. It doesn’t need to be held up any more in the near future.

I’d like to see Belal, and Shavkat get what they’ve already earned. Even JDM, and Garry might be deserving with 1, and 2 more wins respectively.

But whatever. The UFC will do what makes the most money probably. And they bend over backwards for that UAE/SA money.

 

[nostradumbass]

You're saying it was "well known" by using an article that says Dana gave a one sentence answer of "it makes sense" and not "yeah we're doing that next".

Meanwhile in reality the UFC was completely blindsided by Islam and Khabib calling out Volk that Volk was in his seat when it happened and Volk had to ask security who had to ask the UFC for permission to let Volk into the cage.



Instead of, you know, that having been the plan all along if that's what they were actually going to do.

Lol, that was "blindsided"? They even knew it would be in Australia in the first quarter of 2023. This is from 2 weeks after his last fight with Max in July of 2022 where he says his plan is to fight the winner of Islam/Charles in Australia in the first quarter of 2023. Ariel asked if him fighting the winner was official, and he said it's not locked in but that's what he's planning to do and the UFC seem to agree, and he was planning on having the conversation with them shortly after, then says he thinks Charles would be the bigger fight if he won but he's happy to fight Islam if he's the one with the title.

And the next contender after Charles was Poirier, who he's fighting now and suddenly Poirier is a bum and squash match and was never my friend.

 

[Xoleth]

Fuck this entire era of champs.

Bunch of fucking spoiled brats that want free title shots without defending.

Also fuck Conor for starting this bullshit.

He defended twice.
And he plans to defend again twice.
I 100% do agree with what you said, but it doesn't apply to Islam.

There should be a rule.
You want a TS in another division? Defend at least 3 times in your division.

 

[RonDante]

I would say that RDA is pretty close to Charles. He had that crazy run of dominating Nate, Bendo, Pettis, and Cerrone.

Volk at FW is a beast. Volk at LW is 0-2. In no way do I consider him a better win than Poirier at LW. You have to account for size. Poirier is a top 10 LW GOAT and has a deeper resume, including a much more dominant win over Holloway.

Barboza > Hooker, we all saw their fight.

I don't consider Islam's win over Arman because it was Arman's UFC debut and as you say he was green. That's not as good a win as Khabib's win over a top 10 Michael Johnson for instance, even though Arman went on to be better than Michael Johnson.

Islam needs only 2 title defenses to break Khabib's record but imo he needs at least 3 to be considered greater than Khabib.

Poirier barely beat holloway in the rematch when max was fat and took the fight on short notice. He admitted he was close to being finished too. Then 19 year old max in his debut. Volks max wins > poirier max wins

 

[Greyscale]

I'm running out of fights in my division, says Makhachev, and hopes that Bekzat Alimkhan goes up in weight and faces him on short notice, or Horcher comes out of retirement for a superfight.

 

[RockyLockridge]

-Oliveira
-Volk
-Volk
-Poirier
-Arman

yeah lame as fuck, and he's probably going to find a way to fight moicano after poirer.

You like losers, eh?

Nah, I just perfer a fighter with balls, not a snake who will only take fights once all his viable opponents are booked, or will fight a Ranked person in his division rather than a FW on 2 weeks notice.


And winning has nothing to do with it. he's the tyron woodley of LW. If he was to lose in his next 3 fights we would not remember him as a great champ.

 

[RichardHarrow]

This is some strawman bullshit, don't lump multiple people together like we all have the exact same opinions. I even said it's not about activity level and it's more an issue of bad match making and champions not wanting to defend their belts against contenders in their own divisions.

Ok but since he won the belt he was due to rematch Olives who received a cut.

Apparently Armans team backed out as well.

He fought and rematched the p4p no 1 and imo Volk was far more a threat than anyone in his own division per his great performance in the first fight.