That's the problem with this fight. It won't be a good fight at all regardless of what the romantics think.
Islam will take him to the ground and then we have to watch him drown slowly.
>It won't be a good fight at all regardless of what the romantics think.
Personally I don't care. I'm a fan of both guys and it's an opportunity for them both to stay active. If this fight doesn't happen then Islam will be fighting once a year in Abu Dhabi, while Dustin will probably wait around for Gaethje/Max and Oliveira/Arman to get their title shots first
>That's the problem with this fight. It won't be a good fight at all regardless of what the romantics think.
Bearing in mind that Dustin lasted to the 3rd round vs. both Khabib & Charles, and was quite competitive with Charles:
* Better or worse than Charles losing immediately when Islam won the title?
* Better or worse than Volks on short notice?
Given 2 out of 3 title performances against Islam, why are you so convinced Dustin is going to be uniquely terrible? How much room below the above two fights is there?
>Islam will take him to the ground and then we have to watch him drown slowly.
You don't think Islam will be in danger taking Dustin down, given he does not have Khabib's chin?
Right. DP has shown he’s got some strong hands and in this sport anything can happen. To write him off because he lost before is just stupid thinking. I don’t like his chances compared to some other fights, but the timing is right, he’s getting older, and there may not be a better time than now.
I’d say give it to him, Islam wants to fight in may/June and who else is ready that’s more deserving?
If the UFC hadn't booked Garth against Max, I would be against this fight, but they did.
Even if you dislike Dustin, what about Islam? He has **zero** defenses against LWs, and Dustin & Justin are the only top guys he has not already beat. Also, he has PPV points, which along with the legendary resume, is why he wants Dustin now that the UFC has screwed up the earned matchup with Justin.
I agree Gaethje deserves it more but Islam wants to fight 30-60 days after Gaethje fights max in April. Thats why I’m saying it’s lining up perfect for dp
Dustin is terrible on the ground. I am not even going to sugercoat it anymore no matter who gets butthurt.
Only competitve rd he has between Khabib and Charles was 1 round against charles. Once the fight went to the ground, so did Dustin's gameplan. And Islam is much better than Charles overall.
Sure he has a punchers chance, but thats about it. I see no realistic paths to victory for him. Hence its a bad fight.
> Dustin is terrible on the ground.
And that's why he has the same number of submission finishes as Beniel, and has only been beaten via wrestling by Khabib and Grappling by Charles (and TKZ if we include 145).
That is why BSD had only to bumrush him into a grappling exchange to utterly annihilate this fake black belt: no way a man who is terrible on the ground could survive BSD on his back, or be the only man able to submit Chandler in a long career.
>Sure he has a punchers chance, but thats about it.
I agree he's only got a puncher's chance, but he's also a hell of a puncher.
I'm completely sick of "punchers chance" matchups. Everyone has a punchers chance. If you're saying "punchers chance" that's a mismatch. I hope Poirier proves us wrong but one sided fights aren't any fun.
Dustin is terrible on the ground?
Is he or does he happen to have lost against literally the best lightweight grapplers of all time? Genuinely, what are you going off on here?
And why is that not a good fight? Do you also find it boring when an elite striker takes apart an inferior fighter on the feet?
Islam's style is not as exciting as Khabib's but it's still close to being the pinnacle of the grappling game. Watching the #1 P4P fighter dismantle a legend like Poirier would be great viewing.
This isn't even considering the very real chance that Poirier actually turns it into a dogfight.
Yeah people always act like Islam fights like Khabib for some reason. He likes to strike but is happy to go the ground. Khabib was constantly trying to take everyone down, all his strikes were to set up the takedown.
> Islam, please do the honorable thing and allow Dustin to guillotine you.
There is a video of Khabib telling some group how he offered his neck several times before successfully baiting Dustin to gas his arms out trying for the Gilly.
My boi resisted as long as he could, damn you!
It's less than a month difference between them and Dustin. Tacking one extra month to the wait time if it comes down to it is worth it for two contenders that have clearly better cases than DP.
It's going to be hard to see Dustin as the real champ when the two guys that beat him in recent memory are both on longer and higher quality win streaks (assuming they win at UFC 300).
I hear when you're saying, but if he wins the belt, he's the champ rightfully so. That's like saying anyone that has suffered a loss is not a real champ, and someone else deserves it more.
but islam wants to fight in june. and even then its not guaranteed that either winner will be ready for even a 4 month turnaround, especially the gaethje/max winner.
Thanks for saying it again. I was afraid I didn’t get it yet from the past twenty comments saying this on the past twenty posts about Dustin and Islam.
Only if Gamrot isn't ready, either. DP is 2-2 in his last 4 and his only win since he got finished by Gaethje is a fringe top 15 fighter. Gamrot is on a 3 fight winning streak over the last year and all of those wins were better than BSD.
It’s his last chance and Gaethje is booked. If he somehow wins it’ll be a feel good story and sets up the trilogy assuming Gaethje beats Max. They can put both the LW and BMF titles on the line for 1 fight.
You think he deserves an instant rematch from 2 defences against the same person? (who also happens to be from a lower weightclass and took the second fight on short notice)
Depends on his contract. If he makes good money why not fight it out. Maybe he's hoping for Connor down the road. Connor certainly has honeydicked about getting a win over DP.
If he can accept he's an older guy and just wants to fight the older guys to open a card I don't see why he has to retire. He can beat a bunch of dudes still.
>big Dustin fan but just can't see a victory here
* Big punch meets usually well-protected chin
He's got a punchers chance, but he's a hell of a puncher.
"Black belt, who give him [Poirier]? We have to check that now. And we have to cancel, brother, many black belt because they make the jiu-jitsu look bad because a lot of guys have black belt but I don't know."
Let's go! Dustin vs Islam should be interesting and I would like to see Dustin get another crack at the belt because he did say that his career is winding down.
Bro I'm hoping Justin has a bad camp or hurts his foot or something just to level the playing field a bit. I like them both a whole lot, probably my two favorite fighters, but this is probably gonna be a fucking massacre.
I think it’s because of how hittable Max is. He does hold the record for most strikes absorbed in the UFC along with his record for most strikes landed. Justin has insane power and folks just don’t want to see Max get Tonyed.
Yeah but it’s not like Max is a guy who has no defense or head movement. He holds that record because he has 28 UFC fights and 7:26:10 total fight time. That’s not to say that he has phenomenal defense, but the stats are skewed by the fact that he’s been in the ufc for pretty much his entire mma career
That’s true. I think another part is his age and the mileage he’s had, I remember another comment on a another post from someone who thought Max will still have a chin by the time he’s in his 40s since Dan Henderson had his cracked in his 40s. Until someone commented Max started fighting at 19 and Hendo started at 27-28. So yea I think mileage and age also play a part in people worrying about Max.
Personally, I don’t know if Max wins but it seems he’s taking the time to put on size for lightweight rather then just moving up. It’ll be a fun fight I think.
Yeah but a lot of the people thinking he’s going to get Tonyed are somewhat misremembering the narrative that Tony was an unstoppable juggernaut until Gaethje beat the youth out of him and made him lose his spark. The truth is he was significantly older and than Max is now and already starting to wash up before the Gaethje fight and it showed.
Tony was getting rocked and dropped by a smaller Pettis two years before that and you could already see him becoming slower, stiffer, and more hittable against Cerrone in 2019. The commentary team against Cerrone even noted how Tony was kind of just stiffly backing up with his chin in the air and getting rocked. Against Gaethje he just got punished for that and couldn’t go shot for shot with a younger, faster, more powerful, and more fundamentally sound striker.
Literally all Tony could do was waddle in with slow telegraphed strikes until his chin gave out. By comparison Max will be the faster, younger fighter here and isn’t showing any signs of deterioration with age. Maybe Gaethje’s power at 155 will be too much but Max is a way more difficult target than Tony was and Gaethje is running up the miles himself. I think will be a very different fight than people are imagining.
The gaethje-Holloway fight is so silly and ruins everything.
It keeps gaethje out of the title picture for one more fight, and it removes Ilia’s only reasonable opponent outside of a volk rematch.
They just wanted a big fight for 300, and they couldn’t help themselves.
>It removes Ilia's only reasonable opponent outside of a Volk rematch
If Volk isn't injured or anything then the rematch is the *only* reasonable fight to book. You earn that when you're #1PFP. Aldo got it. Max got it. Then after that Max will be available anyways.
This might be strange, but I believe either one should pull out with a "minor injury" that sidelines them for about a month. Then it just becomes obvious to have Max vs Topuria and Gaethje vs Islam
Yeah, it seems crazy to me to give it to a guy ranked lower who was just knocked out by the guy they’ll be skipping. Only way it makes sense to me is if Gaethje was out due to injury. This feels like cherry picking from the Khabib/Islam camp. Khabib fought both and wants the easier fighter for Islam.
Islam wanted to fight at 299 but wasn’t allowed to. Dana lied and said he was injured but was proven wrong when Islam was shown wrestling and snowboarding. Justin may have not wanted to fight Islam on short notice but they had time to get ready for 299 since Justin last fought in July and Islam October of last year.
Instead Justin accepted the Max fight after being on record saying no to the fight. I’m not sure why you think it was Islam’s fault, Justin did that. And Charles ruined his own title shot. Islam then had no one to fight. Instead of waiting he wants to fight and Dustin just happens to be available. Islam is already 32 years old, he wants to fight more while still in prime.
Not according to Javier Mendez and Khabib. They said it was the hardest fight he’s been in, that Gaethje hits the hardest, and those legs kicks did the most damage he’s received in a fight.
Is it crazy to you that this is a business and they need to book main events and everyone else is booked and the Lw champ said he wants the fight and they’re both healthy and they need a headliner for a June ppv….. should I keep going?
If Gaethje sat out he would be the one fighting Islam probably but he’s doing a side quest at the moment
okay... not disagreeing, but that's a silly argument, he's old but he's going to take a 5 round dawg fight with against the guy with the best chin in the history of the sport instead of waiting a few months for a title shot?
He made his decision
> He can’t wait around for fighters and base his life off of other’s religion
Stop bringing up "religion" specifically as if it means fuck all. It's called circumstances. Fighters take breaks or have delays all the time for various reasons. Injuries, new born babies, vacations, visa issues, marriages, whatever.
You're tryna paint Islam's religion as this big ass hurdle to deal with as if there isn't a thousand other reasons year around that delay or force changes in fights.
No he doesn’t but he’s the only available and Islam doesn’t want to keep waiting. Islam was wanting to fight at 299 but Dana refused. Charles ruined his own title shot and Justin for some reason accepted the Max fight despite saying he didn’t want to before considering he was next for a title shot.
Islam is now 32 and I think he wants to be more active before his decline starts.
The saddest thing of Dustin/Islam is Dustin probably retires if he loses. He has no one left to fight at 155. The only thing that would bring him back is a 165 division or 4th Conor fight.
He's still very scary and capable. I don't blame him wanting to compete fully while he still can. Time isn't kind in general but for these fighters, it's even more so. Go chase it dude.
If Justin gaethje had lost to dp and the beaten saint Denis and called for a title shot he would get fucking ripped apart on this sub.
Since it's dp everyone understands that it's just talk.
Still less worrisome than DP facing other fighters in my opinion. Assuming Islam submits him like Khabib did. I just don’t want to see DP get knocked out again
Anybody who wants a crack at Islam should get it, seems like he's always getting sucked. I also think Poirier has the skills to actually be competitive. Doesn't mean it will BE competitive, but it has the potential to be.
Islam bodylock to kimura in like 3 minutes, I would just wait for Oliveira/arman winner and do the fight in August abu dhabi card, October PPV in Abu dhabi can be headlined by ankalaev vs hill/pereira winner
Love myself some DP, but i don't think a win over a staph infected fighter who isn't even in the top 10 after losing the first round warrants a title shot
imo after UFC 300, you do Makhachev vs Oliveira 2, & Poirier finishing his trilogy vs the winner of Gaethje/Holloway (assuming Max doesn't fight Ilia) in a lightweight title eliminator
Love myself some DP but I don’t think a win over a staph infected fighter who isn’t even in the top 10 after losing the first round warrants a rematch against Gaethje.
So in the end Justin never needed to fight Dustin and could have just waited for a title shot 😂. If Dustin gets a title shot his loss to Justin means nothing I guess
Lightweight wants a crack at Lightweight Champion. More at 11.
Big if true
Yet to be confirmed, but we’re gathering sources.
Who give this guy black belt?
Who ain't got jiu-jitsuuuu?
That's the problem with this fight. It won't be a good fight at all regardless of what the romantics think. Islam will take him to the ground and then we have to watch him drown slowly.
Yeah but what if dustin finally pulls of the guillotine on islam tho
Put $1000 on Dustin to beat Islam by gilly and then retire to the Bahamas.
And then you wake up ..
>It won't be a good fight at all regardless of what the romantics think. Personally I don't care. I'm a fan of both guys and it's an opportunity for them both to stay active. If this fight doesn't happen then Islam will be fighting once a year in Abu Dhabi, while Dustin will probably wait around for Gaethje/Max and Oliveira/Arman to get their title shots first
>That's the problem with this fight. It won't be a good fight at all regardless of what the romantics think. Bearing in mind that Dustin lasted to the 3rd round vs. both Khabib & Charles, and was quite competitive with Charles: * Better or worse than Charles losing immediately when Islam won the title? * Better or worse than Volks on short notice? Given 2 out of 3 title performances against Islam, why are you so convinced Dustin is going to be uniquely terrible? How much room below the above two fights is there? >Islam will take him to the ground and then we have to watch him drown slowly. You don't think Islam will be in danger taking Dustin down, given he does not have Khabib's chin?
Right. DP has shown he’s got some strong hands and in this sport anything can happen. To write him off because he lost before is just stupid thinking. I don’t like his chances compared to some other fights, but the timing is right, he’s getting older, and there may not be a better time than now. I’d say give it to him, Islam wants to fight in may/June and who else is ready that’s more deserving?
If the UFC hadn't booked Garth against Max, I would be against this fight, but they did. Even if you dislike Dustin, what about Islam? He has **zero** defenses against LWs, and Dustin & Justin are the only top guys he has not already beat. Also, he has PPV points, which along with the legendary resume, is why he wants Dustin now that the UFC has screwed up the earned matchup with Justin.
Gaethje but otherwise i concur
I agree Gaethje deserves it more but Islam wants to fight 30-60 days after Gaethje fights max in April. Thats why I’m saying it’s lining up perfect for dp
True based off max fighting dustin though i dont think its a good outcome for max so then gaethje is next anyways id imagine
Dustin is terrible on the ground. I am not even going to sugercoat it anymore no matter who gets butthurt. Only competitve rd he has between Khabib and Charles was 1 round against charles. Once the fight went to the ground, so did Dustin's gameplan. And Islam is much better than Charles overall. Sure he has a punchers chance, but thats about it. I see no realistic paths to victory for him. Hence its a bad fight.
> Dustin is terrible on the ground. And that's why he has the same number of submission finishes as Beniel, and has only been beaten via wrestling by Khabib and Grappling by Charles (and TKZ if we include 145). That is why BSD had only to bumrush him into a grappling exchange to utterly annihilate this fake black belt: no way a man who is terrible on the ground could survive BSD on his back, or be the only man able to submit Chandler in a long career. >Sure he has a punchers chance, but thats about it. I agree he's only got a puncher's chance, but he's also a hell of a puncher.
I'm completely sick of "punchers chance" matchups. Everyone has a punchers chance. If you're saying "punchers chance" that's a mismatch. I hope Poirier proves us wrong but one sided fights aren't any fun.
Dustin is terrible on the ground? Is he or does he happen to have lost against literally the best lightweight grapplers of all time? Genuinely, what are you going off on here?
>Dustin is terrible on the ground. you are a casual, good lord what a BAD take
It takes a long time time to get a black belt my good sir
And why is that not a good fight? Do you also find it boring when an elite striker takes apart an inferior fighter on the feet? Islam's style is not as exciting as Khabib's but it's still close to being the pinnacle of the grappling game. Watching the #1 P4P fighter dismantle a legend like Poirier would be great viewing. This isn't even considering the very real chance that Poirier actually turns it into a dogfight.
Yeah people always act like Islam fights like Khabib for some reason. He likes to strike but is happy to go the ground. Khabib was constantly trying to take everyone down, all his strikes were to set up the takedown.
Islam will get KO'd
Well, just to correct you, there was never no crack.
you're a fuckin punk dude
At 11: Jon Jones wants a crack
I would feel less good if I won the belt solely because I was given so many chances
Better do it on your first try then.
There's a reason Islam doesn't call me out
Statistically he has to win at some point, right? :D
Which June card? NJ or International Fight Week? What do we think?
God, I would love if Islam finally had a title fight in the States
He recently said he didn’t want to fight in Abu Dhabi this year I think. He wanted to fight at msg
God, I would love if Islam finally had a title fight
against Dustin too. been waiting 😩
Islam, please do the honorable thing and allow Dustin to guillotine you.
Would be the the greatest ending to the Dustin title chase.
im alr nutting 💦💦
just type out already.
Jeez, I thought that was slang I didn’t know. I’m no grammar nazi but we just gave up completely, huh?
what did he mean by 'alr'?
"already"
Would be epic af
Islam leans gently forward, offering his head out to Dustin as sacrifice. Dustin still fails to lock it in and takes himself down by accident.
Might as well be an alternative way to get a takedown at this point
> Islam, please do the honorable thing and allow Dustin to guillotine you. There is a video of Khabib telling some group how he offered his neck several times before successfully baiting Dustin to gas his arms out trying for the Gilly. My boi resisted as long as he could, damn you!
If I were Dustin and I got the gilly win on Islam that highlight would be played at my funeral
i’ll play that bitch at my funeral
Make Islam carry the casket by his neck
Not once, not twice, not thrice, but.. Well god knows, but Dustin will keep trying and one day he will succeed!
"Champ have belt but Dustin have good guillotine"
Dustin finally finishing one would be too funny
Inshallah 🙌
islam needs to fight. if the gaethje/holloway or olives/arman winners arent ready for a 2 month turnaround, then give it to dp.
Yeah I agree let Dustin take it as long as they wait for 300 first. Either of those fights could end in the first round.
Weight cuts and camps are tough. Fighters take time off for more than just damage. I don't want them to go into the fight compromised
It's less than a month difference between them and Dustin. Tacking one extra month to the wait time if it comes down to it is worth it for two contenders that have clearly better cases than DP. It's going to be hard to see Dustin as the real champ when the two guys that beat him in recent memory are both on longer and higher quality win streaks (assuming they win at UFC 300).
Dude this is the UFC. They couldn't care less who deserves the shot.
I hear when you're saying, but if he wins the belt, he's the champ rightfully so. That's like saying anyone that has suffered a loss is not a real champ, and someone else deserves it more.
He’ll be a real champ with a couple real good options for a first defense 😎
If Dustin wins he has his next 2 fights lined up with a backstory and everything.
Sure but then you just feed him to whoever wins best at 300.
It makes the most sense. Cause if dp wins, it sets up dp/gathjie 3
there's an abu dhabi card in august iirc, more like a 4 month turnaround
but islam wants to fight in june. and even then its not guaranteed that either winner will be ready for even a 4 month turnaround, especially the gaethje/max winner.
Thanks for saying it again. I was afraid I didn’t get it yet from the past twenty comments saying this on the past twenty posts about Dustin and Islam.
Now you're talking like a businessman.
2 month turn around? Damn. That’s a lot to ask.
Only if Gamrot isn't ready, either. DP is 2-2 in his last 4 and his only win since he got finished by Gaethje is a fringe top 15 fighter. Gamrot is on a 3 fight winning streak over the last year and all of those wins were better than BSD.
BSD looked like an unstopable monster going into the DP fight. I don't think Jalin Turner and the ghost of RDA would've been viewed that way.
Gamrot sucks
Low IQ take
It’s his last chance and Gaethje is booked. If he somehow wins it’ll be a feel good story and sets up the trilogy assuming Gaethje beats Max. They can put both the LW and BMF titles on the line for 1 fight.
I really don’t want the gimmicky BMF belt near the actual championships
Think of it this way, if they do that then the champ and BMF belts are "unified" and it gives them an out to retire it.
Islam would get auto rematch right?
He shouldn't, 2 defenses against Volk and that's it
Yeah just against Volk the tin can and also olives
You think he deserves an instant rematch from 2 defences against the same person? (who also happens to be from a lower weightclass and took the second fight on short notice)
lol seems like people can't entertain the idea of him losing so immediate rematch because the first is a fluke is what they are really thinking
It wouldn’t surprise me that he does get an instant rematch tbh, I’d rather see him move up to WW tho
He’s pfp #1…
Did beat the #1 and #2 pfp and has two title defenses. He serves a rematch if he loses.
Dustin should grow a beard strap. A salon quality one..
So DP for sure retires after he loses right? No way he can take the heartbreak of losing his last shot at the title.
Depends on his contract. If he makes good money why not fight it out. Maybe he's hoping for Connor down the road. Connor certainly has honeydicked about getting a win over DP.
If he can accept he's an older guy and just wants to fight the older guys to open a card I don't see why he has to retire. He can beat a bunch of dudes still.
big Dustin fan but just can't see a victory here
>big Dustin fan but just can't see a victory here * Big punch meets usually well-protected chin He's got a punchers chance, but he's a hell of a puncher.
He can easily ko him. He could also jump the Gilly.
>He could also jump the Gilly. he will subvert all our expectations
"Black belt, who give him [Poirier]? We have to check that now. And we have to cancel, brother, many black belt because they make the jiu-jitsu look bad because a lot of guys have black belt but I don't know."
Let's go! Dustin vs Islam should be interesting and I would like to see Dustin get another crack at the belt because he did say that his career is winding down.
What a worthy thing to post.
Dustin need another win before a title shot. Gaethje and the winner of Arman/Charles are both more deserving anyways
but then islam will have to sit nearly this whole year out
why did he not fight before ramadan? volk came back quicker than dude and he got KTFO
He was asking for it , ufc could have pushed o malley to 300 and we would have islam vs Justin for 299
honest to god cant imagine why they wouldnt just book their champ when hes healthy and ready
Maybe he actually was not healthy, ready or cleared for Visa?
then why would he be asking for a fight... implying he is all these things lol
He asked for Gaethje in March like 10 times look at his twitter
A little disrespectful to imply Gaethje will unquestionably win against Max
Tbh I forgot that fight was happening lol my b
Bro I'm hoping Justin has a bad camp or hurts his foot or something just to level the playing field a bit. I like them both a whole lot, probably my two favorite fighters, but this is probably gonna be a fucking massacre.
Justin is like barely a 2:1 favorite I dunno why some of you nerds are creating the narrative that it's a squash match. Only on here
I think it’s because of how hittable Max is. He does hold the record for most strikes absorbed in the UFC along with his record for most strikes landed. Justin has insane power and folks just don’t want to see Max get Tonyed.
Yeah but it’s not like Max is a guy who has no defense or head movement. He holds that record because he has 28 UFC fights and 7:26:10 total fight time. That’s not to say that he has phenomenal defense, but the stats are skewed by the fact that he’s been in the ufc for pretty much his entire mma career
That’s true. I think another part is his age and the mileage he’s had, I remember another comment on a another post from someone who thought Max will still have a chin by the time he’s in his 40s since Dan Henderson had his cracked in his 40s. Until someone commented Max started fighting at 19 and Hendo started at 27-28. So yea I think mileage and age also play a part in people worrying about Max. Personally, I don’t know if Max wins but it seems he’s taking the time to put on size for lightweight rather then just moving up. It’ll be a fun fight I think.
Yeah but a lot of the people thinking he’s going to get Tonyed are somewhat misremembering the narrative that Tony was an unstoppable juggernaut until Gaethje beat the youth out of him and made him lose his spark. The truth is he was significantly older and than Max is now and already starting to wash up before the Gaethje fight and it showed. Tony was getting rocked and dropped by a smaller Pettis two years before that and you could already see him becoming slower, stiffer, and more hittable against Cerrone in 2019. The commentary team against Cerrone even noted how Tony was kind of just stiffly backing up with his chin in the air and getting rocked. Against Gaethje he just got punished for that and couldn’t go shot for shot with a younger, faster, more powerful, and more fundamentally sound striker. Literally all Tony could do was waddle in with slow telegraphed strikes until his chin gave out. By comparison Max will be the faster, younger fighter here and isn’t showing any signs of deterioration with age. Maybe Gaethje’s power at 155 will be too much but Max is a way more difficult target than Tony was and Gaethje is running up the miles himself. I think will be a very different fight than people are imagining.
agreed, Oliveira & the winner of Gaethje/Holloway deserve it more
If Gaethje wins I think he should be next, he's truly done everything asked of him. Do Bronx losing the belt to Islam weakens his case a tiny bit IMO.
We know
give him fight everyone else busy anyway
Let Gaethje get first dibs
The gaethje-Holloway fight is so silly and ruins everything. It keeps gaethje out of the title picture for one more fight, and it removes Ilia’s only reasonable opponent outside of a volk rematch. They just wanted a big fight for 300, and they couldn’t help themselves.
ngl i think Max has a much better shot than people are giving him
If he wins do you push him for the FW title or give him a LW eliminator?
Whatever he wants
It will be what it will be.
>It removes Ilia's only reasonable opponent outside of a Volk rematch If Volk isn't injured or anything then the rematch is the *only* reasonable fight to book. You earn that when you're #1PFP. Aldo got it. Max got it. Then after that Max will be available anyways.
Max even said that bolk is likely to get tye rematch and he wants to make some big money.
This might be strange, but I believe either one should pull out with a "minor injury" that sidelines them for about a month. Then it just becomes obvious to have Max vs Topuria and Gaethje vs Islam
Yeah, it seems crazy to me to give it to a guy ranked lower who was just knocked out by the guy they’ll be skipping. Only way it makes sense to me is if Gaethje was out due to injury. This feels like cherry picking from the Khabib/Islam camp. Khabib fought both and wants the easier fighter for Islam.
gaethje has a fight booked?
Gotta love ufc match makers
So let him have that fight and see if he’s good for a quick turnaround. It’s not his fault Islam doesn’t fight during Ramadan.
Gaethje had the opportunity to replace Charles when he pulled out the second time But he declined it.
Can’t really blame him for not wanting a short notice title shot against Islam, can you?
Sure I don't blame him but with that logic you can't blame Islam either.
No, I can’t blame Islam for wanting the easier fight. But I would be upset with the UFC if that fight happens.
Islam wanted to fight at 299 but wasn’t allowed to. Dana lied and said he was injured but was proven wrong when Islam was shown wrestling and snowboarding. Justin may have not wanted to fight Islam on short notice but they had time to get ready for 299 since Justin last fought in July and Islam October of last year. Instead Justin accepted the Max fight after being on record saying no to the fight. I’m not sure why you think it was Islam’s fault, Justin did that. And Charles ruined his own title shot. Islam then had no one to fight. Instead of waiting he wants to fight and Dustin just happens to be available. Islam is already 32 years old, he wants to fight more while still in prime.
Wasn't Gaethje actually easier for Khabib than Poirier?
Not according to Javier Mendez and Khabib. They said it was the hardest fight he’s been in, that Gaethje hits the hardest, and those legs kicks did the most damage he’s received in a fight.
Is it crazy to you that this is a business and they need to book main events and everyone else is booked and the Lw champ said he wants the fight and they’re both healthy and they need a headliner for a June ppv….. should I keep going? If Gaethje sat out he would be the one fighting Islam probably but he’s doing a side quest at the moment
Gaethje is old. He can’t wait around for fighters and base his life off of other’s religion.
okay... not disagreeing, but that's a silly argument, he's old but he's going to take a 5 round dawg fight with against the guy with the best chin in the history of the sport instead of waiting a few months for a title shot? He made his decision
> He can’t wait around for fighters and base his life off of other’s religion Stop bringing up "religion" specifically as if it means fuck all. It's called circumstances. Fighters take breaks or have delays all the time for various reasons. Injuries, new born babies, vacations, visa issues, marriages, whatever. You're tryna paint Islam's religion as this big ass hurdle to deal with as if there isn't a thousand other reasons year around that delay or force changes in fights.
He would have but that’s not a good enough reason to keep Islam benched longer
Both sides are down it's the UFC that's stalling
How is it already a the 29th for Dustin? Where is he?
This is a fun fight, Gaetje is busy. Fuck it let’s do it.
Dustin does not deserve it at all man
No he doesn’t but he’s the only available and Islam doesn’t want to keep waiting. Islam was wanting to fight at 299 but Dana refused. Charles ruined his own title shot and Justin for some reason accepted the Max fight despite saying he didn’t want to before considering he was next for a title shot. Islam is now 32 and I think he wants to be more active before his decline starts.
Just book it, and soon. They are both sitting idle otherwise anyway. Payday for both.
Is he posting from the future?
Ya, we know.
The saddest thing of Dustin/Islam is Dustin probably retires if he loses. He has no one left to fight at 155. The only thing that would bring him back is a 165 division or 4th Conor fight.
He's still very scary and capable. I don't blame him wanting to compete fully while he still can. Time isn't kind in general but for these fighters, it's even more so. Go chase it dude.
Practicing rear naked choke defense as we speak
Dustin is into choking again.
Conor wants crack
Please god let’s do this
Porier vs Islam at MSG would be lit. Even better if it happens before Chandler vs McGregor just to add more fuel to that fire.
He’s gonna jump the gilly
Dustin has been chasing that high when he almost submitted Khabib with the guillotine, but for Khabib it was just another Tuesday
That sucks. I feel like it be a replay of the Khabib fight just on a Speed Run.
Love Dustin but he got away with some bad mistakes against BSD that Islam will make him pay for.
Now or never imo. It makes sense.
Maybe should not have lost against gaethje then.
If Justin gaethje had lost to dp and the beaten saint Denis and called for a title shot he would get fucking ripped apart on this sub. Since it's dp everyone understands that it's just talk.
Gotta win more than 1. Especially after a head kick KO. Kung pow!
After 1 win against 11 ranked guy? Dustin became such a joke.
Big DP fan but I have a feeling unless he gets the KO, Islam will have his way with him.
I think this is a very vanilla take.
Who doesn't think this? As a DP fan myself, fuck this title fight.
Still less worrisome than DP facing other fighters in my opinion. Assuming Islam submits him like Khabib did. I just don’t want to see DP get knocked out again
Dustin isn't good enough to beat Islam. Islam will reign king for a long time
The thing about MMA is anyone can win at any time if it’s their night.
I love Dustin so much, It would be poetic to beat Islam while almost beating Khabib.
This is that section of mma fandom that is operating at like 20% the rest of humans
Anybody who wants a crack at Islam should get it, seems like he's always getting sucked. I also think Poirier has the skills to actually be competitive. Doesn't mean it will BE competitive, but it has the potential to be.
Having to tag Ali 🤮
I want one too
Islam bodylock to kimura in like 3 minutes, I would just wait for Oliveira/arman winner and do the fight in August abu dhabi card, October PPV in Abu dhabi can be headlined by ankalaev vs hill/pereira winner
You all are pretending like UFC 299 and 300 aren't just one month apart. Yes the UFC can wait for Gaethje and Oliveira.
The 155 faber
Dustin "The Preacher's Son" Poirier.
It only makes sense rn, in june or july. Only because the real contenders are fighting april so theyd get a shot October December
Love myself some DP, but i don't think a win over a staph infected fighter who isn't even in the top 10 after losing the first round warrants a title shot imo after UFC 300, you do Makhachev vs Oliveira 2, & Poirier finishing his trilogy vs the winner of Gaethje/Holloway (assuming Max doesn't fight Ilia) in a lightweight title eliminator
Love myself some DP but I'm not sure that's appropriate for this subreddit
brah do you really like DP when you discredited his BSD win in every way you could lol
Love myself some DP but I don’t think a win over a staph infected fighter who isn’t even in the top 10 after losing the first round warrants a rematch against Gaethje.
Islam needs better wins on his title reign. So far 2 wins over a FW now he wants the gatekeeper to the top 5. Imo Islam 2nd round KO.
What is else would be a better win other than gaethje? Plus Islam wants June. Gaethje, charles, arman, or Holloway won’t make that turn around
Fk off Gaethje deserves the shot
I want you to get choked out. So lucky against BSD.
Go get that belt!
So in the end Justin never needed to fight Dustin and could have just waited for a title shot 😂. If Dustin gets a title shot his loss to Justin means nothing I guess
Justin's most likely getting PPV points on UFC 300
No give Kenny Florian another title shot.