MMA/UFC Discussion Thread MMA • Page 456

I don’t know if I’d give Gaethje an immediate shot at the belt again. But Tony just lost to Gaethje so shouldn’t be him either. So I don’t know. I’m guessing it’ll be Chandler v someone haha

 

Dana seems at a loss for words

 

Dana said Whittaker gets the next shot at Izzy. I would love to see him change it up but Izzy looks pretty unbeatable.

 

Whittaker looks better now than he did in his fight against Izzy. Maybe it’s because Izzy is that good. But I feel like something was still off with Rob when that fight took place. Excited for the rematch.

 

For 155, I say Dana should tell Conor and Dustin the fight is at LW and have them fight in January. On the same card put Chandler v Gaethje as the co-main. Winner of each fight go for the belt at a later date.

 

Izzy/Whittaker rematch is perfect

 

That Volkov kick was a thing of beauty

 

I agree, but Rob definitely needs to make a big adjustment in the rematch either way. I feel like he needs to incorporate his wrestling even if it’s just to create striking opportunities. Izzy is way too slick and competent for those combos to be effective on their own. They might work well on everyone else, but Rob needs to use all of his tools to get it done.

 

Was super emotional watching Khabib put the gloves down and talk about the promise he made to his mother about not fighting again without his father by his side. He may not have the resume of a GSP or a Jon Jones in the all-time discussion, but there's no doubt in my mind that Khabib is the "best" fighter I've ever laid eyes on. There's never been anyone like him and there never will be.

Side-note: never thought I'd say this, but after what Khabib did to Poirier and Gaethje, McGregor actually looked relatively good against Khabib lol. I'm sure they'll end up making Conor and Dustin for the belt and I still favor Conor over the other top lightweights. If he sticks around it'll always complicate his legacy that he never got another shot against the real best lightweight, but he was never gonna beat Khabib, nor was Tony or any other man alive at 155 lbs.

 

Yeah. I don’t think anyone at 155 was going to beat Khabib. And I don’t think it’s even a case of “well if they fought 10 times maybe he goes 5/5”.

Nobody in that division could handle the pressure, the grappling, etc.
Justin went hard with Tony for almost an entire fight and never gassed. Khabib had Justin gassed out almost three minutes in.

We’ll never see anyone like Khabib again.

 

Considering the crazy injuries Khabib had I’m shocked that he moved so well and was able to pressure like he did. I don’t think anyone at LW has anything to combat his pressure and abilities in all areas of the game.

If his indeed done, he will go down as one of the greats along with Jones, GSP and Anderson. Glad he is retiring early like GSP and going out on top. It’s almost sad to see Anderson hang on this long and I’m glad next weekend will be his final fight.

 

Feels weird now that AKA’s big 4 have all come and gone now. Luke is still around I guess, but he should def stay out of action, and even then he was mostly training w Hooft.

 

Apparently Mousasi/Lima fight this Thursday??? Bellator marketing is terrible

 

Yeah an exciting bout for once. At least for me. I try to give Bellator credit but they struggle at keeping it interesting. I know the UFC rankings are far from perfect, but they do at the very least give the fighters a small form of competitive drive to compete against other top contenders outside of the champs.

 

Bellator has been signing some really good prospects lately from smaller promotions.

They’ve always had some pretty bad matchmaking though.

 

Coker’s technique is to feed a fighter cans until they’ve earned a shot at the champ. Every once in a while a handful of the fighters in the promotion I’m a fan of cross paths, but I feel like 80-90% of the time I’m seeing either hype trains smash cans or ex-UFC post prime fighters clash in rematches/new weight classes.

 

How come Dana hasn't bought out Bellator yet? Seems like something he would have done by now

 

Yeah, Bellator moving the CBS Sports Network was a bad deal as well. I’m sure not a ton of networks were wanting to negotiate with them, but that’s about as irrelevant of a sports network you can get. Their events have been on Thursday’s too which is super random. Might as well have signed up to be on FS2 lol

The matchmaking is so bad. Nobody wants to see prospects versus cans and ex UFC guys that are past their prime over and over again. There’s a handful of guys I’d want to see but they put them against crappy competition. Like Anderson/Manhoef, Cyborg dominating no names, etc. The cards also also super thin as well. They would be better off with less cards so they could stack them more to build interest. Stop having cards every week when you don’t have the roster to do it.


Mousasi/Lima is legit though, with they had more fights like that.

 

There’s nothing worth purchasing. It’s ex UFC guys who are old as dirt, mediocre ex UFC guys like Bader, Bendo, Anderson, etc, prospects that don’t move the needle and homegrown Bellator guys who don’t move the needle. The most marketable star (Cyborg) Dana didn’t want and treated like shit. He got Chandler and knows he can get anyone who’s worth a damn eventually since Bellator is irrelevant now days.

 

There have been some interesting streaks in the company no doubt. But as the UFC got bigger/better it’s really left them no room to compete. In some ways I wish the company would bloom but I don’t see it happening without an acquisition.

 

The only Bellator guy I’d like to see switch over is Nemkov tbh.

 

I’d like to see Pico come to UFC and develop there vs the mess at Bellator.

 

When it comes to current contenders left and truly impressive fighters not past their prime, it’s almost sad.

Heavyweights:
Ryan Bader, who’s now 37 and just was finished by the current LHWC (with no other heavyweights I really think are a challenge to him)
Light Heavyweights:
Vadim Nemkov (beaten every top Bellator contender they have to offer)
Phil Davis
Corey Anderson
Middleweights:
Rafael Lovato Jr (new undefeated middleweight champ that wins via split decision and then retires for his health)
Welterweights, easily their best:
Gegard Mousasi (just dropped down, 35yo prob retiring soon)
Doug Lima
Michael Page (I guess)
Yaroslav Amosov
Neiman Gracie
Joey Davis
Logan Storley
(This division also just lost Rory Macdonald and Jon Fitch this year)
Lightweights:
The Freire Brothers
Brent Primus (now 35 too)
Usman Nurmagomedov (just signed)
Featherweights:
Patricio Freire
AJ Mckee
Darrion Caldwell
Bantamweights:
Juan Archuleta
James Gallagher (I guess)
Sergio Pettis
Women’s competitors with actual experience/stand a chance in a fight with somebody decent:
Cyborg
Julia Budd
Cat Zingano
Ilima Mac

Maybe I’m missing someone good, but as for who’s left there, these are really the only fighters I tune in for. Seems like a lot but its really not when you consider the amount of divisions and how congested the UFC rankings are with good fighters. Bellator can’t have rankings when none of the divisions can even form a top 10.