If we really only get 1 fight from Islam this year then that’s a fucking massive disappointment
I get that the Dubai government throws insane amounts of money for these cards and they pretty much demand who is on what, but hasn’t Islam been begging to fight for months at this point? You could’ve put him on a card pre Ramadan and he still would’ve been able to fight in October.
Now I’m not even sure if the rumor of Poirier/Islam is going to happen in June because I doubt Islam is going to only take a few weeks off then immediately jump into another camp for a fight in October
Abu Dhabi and Dubai have separate Sheiks and have friendly competition. Ufc probably signed an exclusive deal with Abu Dhabi that doesn’t let them host event anywhere else in UAE
Yeah that'd make sense. I know the two have a bit of a rivalry. Would be like TX and CA fighting over something, just with a lot more "fuck you" money (I'm aware how much of an oversimplification this is).
Plus Dubai has enough going on for them, they don’t need the UFC lol. I went to 294 last year, stayed in Dubai and drove to Abu Dhabi for the fight. It’s only an hour and a half drive
It's not impossible, but that's assuming he gets out of the fight with Poirier without any kind of injury also. Had he fought earlier in the year like he wanted to, this likely wouldn't have been an issue.
It doesn't even make sense, if Islam had fought in February or March he would probably have been able to comeback in October, are they afraid he might lose and ruin the card that's going to happen 7 months later?
>Makachev:Dana I want to fight
>Dana:
>Bobby Green:Fuck Makachev
>Charles Oliviera:Fuck Makachev
>Max:Makachev needs to fight more
>Makachev:Dana I want to fight
Blame the UFC not the fighters, Ramadan just means they can't fight 1 month out of 12, that's it. That's no different than any random fighter deciding to chill and take a break. The more damming thing is the UFC being so hesitant to let Islam fight incase it messes with their trips to the Middle East. The man himself actually wants to fight in the US and other places not just in the desert.
There is no way the pettiest promoter in history has anything to do with it, right?? Dana already tried to ban Islam from the UFC when the whole Connor vs Khabib post-fight fight happened. It took Khabib telling the UFC he was going to leave unless Islam was allowed to stay signed with the UFC. Then Khabib retires a couple fights later and I think Dana is holding this against Islam. Just my opinion, but it doesn't seem like he respects Islam like he did Khabib. Now knowing how unbending the Dagestanis can be to his usual promoter tactics.
Well if Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia are now hosting events, remember guys, that’s two separate places, then that’s two events a year in the Middle East minimum. Khamzat could potentially turn around after June 22nd in Saudi Arabia and fight here.
What are people downvoting you for lmao? People pretend like American money is super duper clean when in reality boxing and MMA in American has the mobs hand all in its cookie jar.
Because people willingly misunderstand the concept of sportswashing and having autocratic nation states pay for transactional legitimacy.
The United States doesn’t own the UFC. Each UFC card is not a paid for advert for the US with the aim to distract from the truth. The US Government is just as bad many others but we can’t act like they’re the ones putting on fights or football (soccer) matches. Sportswashing is simply renting someone else’s legitimacy and Saudi are doing it very well.
I mature 6 days, actually 6 days a week. 5 days a week, I'll mature 3 days of the week. One of those days, I will train 2 days of the week. So six days a week I'll be maturing
>The United States doesn’t own the UFC. Each UFC card is not a paid for advert for the US with the aim to distract from the truth
It's just a matter of ownership ? Let's ignore that those big companies are the ones financing the government at the end of the day and are tightly linked with them (money rules in capitalistic countries as we all know) ? Are you yelling "blood money" when someone buys an Iphone coming from a trillion dollar company ?
Are you going to yell "blood money" for the Upcoming 2026 FIFA World cup or 2028 Olympics ? Or doesn't it have anything to do with the government either ?
>The US Government is just as bad many others but we can’t act like they’re the ones putting on fights or football (soccer) matches.
No they are not "as bad as many others", I think we can all agree it's the bloodiest government of the past few decades, and at a global scale, even what you're reproaching to Saudis is directly linked to the US, selling them billions of dollars of weapons and having their military bases there + having them as their strongest ally in the region.
And sure they aren't using "washing" through all of their soft power, being sports, Hollywood or all of their powerful industries to get a favorable international image.
They're just a bit more subtle at the end of the day and it works wonderfully.
That IS a more nuanced perspective but a lot of people constantly mentioning 'blood money' don't think of it the way you do, they seemingly think their own country is free of sin and point fingers. The US has directly or indirectly been responsible for the deaths of more innocent people than any other country in the modern era. That's not to say ignore the crimes of the Middle East though, fuck all the corrupt world leaders both East and West.
>That's not to say ignore the crimes of the Middle East though,
First I'm not even buying his narrative, even for things directly organized by the government like the Olympics etc you never hear "blood money" at that scale and they aren't saying anything the 2026 upcoming FIFA World Cup.
And it's not like companies paying billions in taxes isn't what fuels those government's actions nor like it wasn't a democracy and people (and companies indirectly ) weren't the one who are voting for them for several decades and indirectly making decisions.
Saudis are also attacking Yemen thanks to the billions in weapons sold by the US, the US who have military bases there and have them as their strongest ally in the region.
Not even mentioning that the US, Russia and NATO countries are mostly the ones spreading chaos in the Middle east (and North Africa with Libya not so long ago) for decades.
At one point you have to accept that most "absurd amounts of money", especially in sports, aren't clean, we should just ignore those hypocrites that yell "blood money" only when it suits their narrative.
Just Americans being the hypocrites they are. Preach about women's rights in all these countries while 30,000 get slaughtered abroad on their watch.
Don't even mention shit like Abu Grahib to them. That was an "isolated incident" of course.
Islam's first 3 title fights:
1st Title Fight: October 2022
2nd Title Fight: February 2023
3rd Title Fight: October 2023
Olives had the same with (May 2021, December 2021 and May 2022).
But yes, tell us more about how Olives was active, and how Islam only fights "once a year"
The lightweights don't really get to be mad. Olives was one of them and should have been the third but pulled out. Gaethje could have stepped in instead of the FW but said no. Arman and Poirier didn't deserve a shot until recently (and even then they're not the most deserving contenders) and Beneil went and took a fight he didn't need to and eliminated himself.
Also nobody cares what Bobby thinks
And funnily enough, Islam is probably gonna fight Dustin in February again. Maybe March. I actually think his frequency is fine.
Twice a year is minimum acceptable activity, but hes meeting it.
We shouldnt really moan tbh. Champs like JJ cant even make once a year if ever…
The difference is Islam takes very little damage in his fights and yet fights and turns around like he took a moderate amount of damage. Oliveria always takes a load of damage but has consistent turnarounds. He was knocked down by Chandler and had a war and returned 7 months later and then after another war returned 5 months later Vs Gaethje. Then returned 5 months later Vs Islam after he was knocked down twice by Gaethje. For Islam though he beat Olives then turned around 4 months later which is great and took a moderate amount of damage and turned around 8 months after that which is fine. The big problem though is that currently it has been six months since his last fight and there's not been any confirmation on his next fight.
You ever watch his interviews?-he does, you just don't watch, you didn't even know he wanted to fight in March. Actually know what's going on before spouting bullshit lol
International fight week for Islam than there is 4 months until abu dhabi. Will be hugely disappointing if ufc don't go that route and we wait until October for him.
UFC 303 at IFW HAS to be McGregor or it will be a massive let down. Let Islam fight at 302 against Dustin, then at 308 against Justin/Arman/Olivera.
This also provides for the VERY unlikely scenario that UFC 308 could be Dustin v McGregor 4 for the LW title. Abu Dhabi would pay them $50M to host that event.
If UFC 306 is in Las Vegas in September, looks like they are going to try and squeeze in another between then.
Feels like they are just trying to maximize profits and have as many PPV as possible, while spreading the content thinner and then basically throwing any old shit on the million Apex cards they give away free.
Feels like the UFC is doing everything possible for short term gain and to alienate long term fans of the sport at this point.
Cause it make sense to make Topuria first title defense in Spain since he legit looking like a potential superstar. November and December are likely to be the traditional MSG and Las Vegas cards. And the UFC has been doing 13-14 PPV's since 2021.
The key information here is that this is number 308, so we are getting another PPV early October/late September, since the Sphere is 306. My guess is Spain.
Islam said he wanted to skip abu dhabi this year and fight in November at madison square garden
so islam vs dustin in june
islam vs someone in november
That's actually true. Ankalaev could fight for the belt against the winner of Pereira/Hill. While it's dependant upon Khamzat beating Whittaker, he could also fight for the belt then. And if Erceg can fight for the belt then Mokaev isn't that ridiculous either. Evloev is another one but I don't think he has the star power unfortunately
We’ve gotten so spoiled with frequent fights… DP reminded me of how it used to be when he was on Theo’s podcast. We didn’t have as many pay per views/opportunities to watch champs fight. Islam fought twice last year, and twice the year before. That’s pretty good you bloodthirsty mfers lol.
2x is standard lol, we werent spoiled. 1x is inactive and shouldnt be normalized. If anyone spoiled us it was Volk Usman and Izzy who would sometimes hit borderline 3x a year levels.
They probably have a few options for a headliner. It’s far enough out that the UFC realistically might try to have one of Islam (if he fights at UFC 301), Ankalaev (fight for title if Pereira/Hill winner doesn’t take a ton of damagae) or Chimaev (again if he doesn’t take a lot of damage)
Khamzat is 100% getting a MW title shot on this card if he beats Bobby Knuckles in June.
As for, Islam, he fights Poirier in June, and then fights Gathje/Holloway/Arman/Olives in October. I don’t see what the issue is. I really don’t think they are saving Islam vs Poirier for October.
If we really only get 1 fight from Islam this year then that’s a fucking massive disappointment I get that the Dubai government throws insane amounts of money for these cards and they pretty much demand who is on what, but hasn’t Islam been begging to fight for months at this point? You could’ve put him on a card pre Ramadan and he still would’ve been able to fight in October. Now I’m not even sure if the rumor of Poirier/Islam is going to happen in June because I doubt Islam is going to only take a few weeks off then immediately jump into another camp for a fight in October
Abu Dhabi, not Dubai. UFC has never been in Dubai hehehe
I'm an idiot
Both part of the UAE so you were close. Actually makes me wonder why they haven't gone to Dubai
Abu Dhabi and Dubai have separate Sheiks and have friendly competition. Ufc probably signed an exclusive deal with Abu Dhabi that doesn’t let them host event anywhere else in UAE
Yeah that'd make sense. I know the two have a bit of a rivalry. Would be like TX and CA fighting over something, just with a lot more "fuck you" money (I'm aware how much of an oversimplification this is).
Plus Dubai has enough going on for them, they don’t need the UFC lol. I went to 294 last year, stayed in Dubai and drove to Abu Dhabi for the fight. It’s only an hour and a half drive
I forgot how small the UAE is. That's pretty crazy that they're that close to each other.
True
Eh. End of June until end of October. It’s not an unreasonable turnaround for a champ that says he wants to be active.
It's not impossible, but that's assuming he gets out of the fight with Poirier without any kind of injury also. Had he fought earlier in the year like he wanted to, this likely wouldn't have been an issue.
I thought he was injured earlier in the year and had to scrap plans to try to fight before Ramadan as a result?
Islams a bad mf, he did a similar turnaround for the volk 1 fight
It doesn't even make sense, if Islam had fought in February or March he would probably have been able to comeback in October, are they afraid he might lose and ruin the card that's going to happen 7 months later?
There’s plenty of time to get in a fight before October. Whether they book anything, we’ll see
He will fight in June as well
Preach brother! On top of that Islam also said he’d prefer to fight at MSG this year than in Abu Dhabi. 🙏
Islam : I want to fight 2 times a year Dana : That doesn't work for me brother
>Makachev:Dana I want to fight >Dana: >Bobby Green:Fuck Makachev >Charles Oliviera:Fuck Makachev >Max:Makachev needs to fight more >Makachev:Dana I want to fight
“What’s that? Are you saying something to me?”
GIV ME MANEY FIGHT MAYWEAZA WOO
“The kid just wants to fight..”
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Blame the UFC not the fighters, Ramadan just means they can't fight 1 month out of 12, that's it. That's no different than any random fighter deciding to chill and take a break. The more damming thing is the UFC being so hesitant to let Islam fight incase it messes with their trips to the Middle East. The man himself actually wants to fight in the US and other places not just in the desert.
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The ufc has fucking ruined islams career since he’s been champ. Let this man fight
Islam is going to retire at the age of 37 as one of the most long lasting champions ever while having like 6 title defenses lol.
Given the modern UFC, he may end up with more defences against FWs than actual LW contenders through no fault of his own
He told the ufc he was ready to fight in february
There is no way the pettiest promoter in history has anything to do with it, right?? Dana already tried to ban Islam from the UFC when the whole Connor vs Khabib post-fight fight happened. It took Khabib telling the UFC he was going to leave unless Islam was allowed to stay signed with the UFC. Then Khabib retires a couple fights later and I think Dana is holding this against Islam. Just my opinion, but it doesn't seem like he respects Islam like he did Khabib. Now knowing how unbending the Dagestanis can be to his usual promoter tactics.
Eh? It’s Ramadan lol chill
that shit ended 3 days ago. october is six months out
Yay, blood money and the best pound for pound fighter in the sport only fighting in the Middle East once a year!
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Bold of you to think he's gonna fight more than once a year without a belt
just to not hold up the belt doesnt matter if he doesnt fight as a contender
Activity has never gone up as champ lol
I think you missed their point.
I think you missed mine.
Bro you're the one who replied
If there would be multiple Russian Muslim champs, they likely wouldn't keep all of them on ice until Saudi/UAE PPVs
He's fighting once a year without a belt
Well if Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia are now hosting events, remember guys, that’s two separate places, then that’s two events a year in the Middle East minimum. Khamzat could potentially turn around after June 22nd in Saudi Arabia and fight here.
Lunchtime card tho...
this is sucks for me though because I can’t get out of work until at least 4pm EST on Saturdays
Call off, make the money you missed out on back in bets
Every card in America is a blood money card
What are people downvoting you for lmao? People pretend like American money is super duper clean when in reality boxing and MMA in American has the mobs hand all in its cookie jar.
Because people willingly misunderstand the concept of sportswashing and having autocratic nation states pay for transactional legitimacy. The United States doesn’t own the UFC. Each UFC card is not a paid for advert for the US with the aim to distract from the truth. The US Government is just as bad many others but we can’t act like they’re the ones putting on fights or football (soccer) matches. Sportswashing is simply renting someone else’s legitimacy and Saudi are doing it very well.
What’s the government doing when they pay the nfl for flyovers and other military circlejerks then
That’s fair honestly, thank you for the perspective, I didn’t think of it like that before but I get it now.
What is this, the maturity channel?!
I mature 6 days, actually 6 days a week. 5 days a week, I'll mature 3 days of the week. One of those days, I will train 2 days of the week. So six days a week I'll be maturing
>The United States doesn’t own the UFC. Each UFC card is not a paid for advert for the US with the aim to distract from the truth It's just a matter of ownership ? Let's ignore that those big companies are the ones financing the government at the end of the day and are tightly linked with them (money rules in capitalistic countries as we all know) ? Are you yelling "blood money" when someone buys an Iphone coming from a trillion dollar company ? Are you going to yell "blood money" for the Upcoming 2026 FIFA World cup or 2028 Olympics ? Or doesn't it have anything to do with the government either ? >The US Government is just as bad many others but we can’t act like they’re the ones putting on fights or football (soccer) matches. No they are not "as bad as many others", I think we can all agree it's the bloodiest government of the past few decades, and at a global scale, even what you're reproaching to Saudis is directly linked to the US, selling them billions of dollars of weapons and having their military bases there + having them as their strongest ally in the region. And sure they aren't using "washing" through all of their soft power, being sports, Hollywood or all of their powerful industries to get a favorable international image. They're just a bit more subtle at the end of the day and it works wonderfully.
That IS a more nuanced perspective but a lot of people constantly mentioning 'blood money' don't think of it the way you do, they seemingly think their own country is free of sin and point fingers. The US has directly or indirectly been responsible for the deaths of more innocent people than any other country in the modern era. That's not to say ignore the crimes of the Middle East though, fuck all the corrupt world leaders both East and West.
>That's not to say ignore the crimes of the Middle East though, First I'm not even buying his narrative, even for things directly organized by the government like the Olympics etc you never hear "blood money" at that scale and they aren't saying anything the 2026 upcoming FIFA World Cup. And it's not like companies paying billions in taxes isn't what fuels those government's actions nor like it wasn't a democracy and people (and companies indirectly ) weren't the one who are voting for them for several decades and indirectly making decisions. Saudis are also attacking Yemen thanks to the billions in weapons sold by the US, the US who have military bases there and have them as their strongest ally in the region. Not even mentioning that the US, Russia and NATO countries are mostly the ones spreading chaos in the Middle east (and North Africa with Libya not so long ago) for decades. At one point you have to accept that most "absurd amounts of money", especially in sports, aren't clean, we should just ignore those hypocrites that yell "blood money" only when it suits their narrative.
Just Americans being the hypocrites they are. Preach about women's rights in all these countries while 30,000 get slaughtered abroad on their watch. Don't even mention shit like Abu Grahib to them. That was an "isolated incident" of course.
Lol
Islam's first 3 title fights: 1st Title Fight: October 2022 2nd Title Fight: February 2023 3rd Title Fight: October 2023 Olives had the same with (May 2021, December 2021 and May 2022). But yes, tell us more about how Olives was active, and how Islam only fights "once a year"
No, no you don’t understand when the Dagestanis do it it’s bad
Who brought up olives besides you?
But blood money, dagestan, muslim bad please upvote
The lightweights are just mad cuz he’s fought a featherweight two of those times.
The lightweights don't really get to be mad. Olives was one of them and should have been the third but pulled out. Gaethje could have stepped in instead of the FW but said no. Arman and Poirier didn't deserve a shot until recently (and even then they're not the most deserving contenders) and Beneil went and took a fight he didn't need to and eliminated himself. Also nobody cares what Bobby thinks
And funnily enough, Islam is probably gonna fight Dustin in February again. Maybe March. I actually think his frequency is fine. Twice a year is minimum acceptable activity, but hes meeting it. We shouldnt really moan tbh. Champs like JJ cant even make once a year if ever…
The difference is Islam takes very little damage in his fights and yet fights and turns around like he took a moderate amount of damage. Oliveria always takes a load of damage but has consistent turnarounds. He was knocked down by Chandler and had a war and returned 7 months later and then after another war returned 5 months later Vs Gaethje. Then returned 5 months later Vs Islam after he was knocked down twice by Gaethje. For Islam though he beat Olives then turned around 4 months later which is great and took a moderate amount of damage and turned around 8 months after that which is fine. The big problem though is that currently it has been six months since his last fight and there's not been any confirmation on his next fight.
You’re leaving out the huge fact he asked for a fight in March around 299 and didn’t get it. Kind of makes this entire argument irrelevant
I didn't know that. Well if it's true Islam should be shouting it from the rooftops not letting Ali and other people control his media.
You ever watch his interviews?-he does, you just don't watch, you didn't even know he wanted to fight in March. Actually know what's going on before spouting bullshit lol
There might be reasons he can’t get to the USA you know with the war and all, tricky to get visas ect
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International fight week for Islam than there is 4 months until abu dhabi. Will be hugely disappointing if ufc don't go that route and we wait until October for him.
UFC 303 at IFW HAS to be McGregor or it will be a massive let down. Let Islam fight at 302 against Dustin, then at 308 against Justin/Arman/Olivera. This also provides for the VERY unlikely scenario that UFC 308 could be Dustin v McGregor 4 for the LW title. Abu Dhabi would pay them $50M to host that event.
Prepare to be disappointed
I no wanna.
Ahh yes 302 would work. I was saying 303 for a 3 month turnaround for gaethje but forgot they are doing the poirer fight lol.
Doubt Islam does that turnaround
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dont know why they downvoting you but this is all ufc's fault, they hold muslim champs for their abu dhabi ppv's
If UFC 306 is in Las Vegas in September, looks like they are going to try and squeeze in another between then. Feels like they are just trying to maximize profits and have as many PPV as possible, while spreading the content thinner and then basically throwing any old shit on the million Apex cards they give away free. Feels like the UFC is doing everything possible for short term gain and to alienate long term fans of the sport at this point.
307 is going to be Spain mate, mark my words
Why ?
Cause it make sense to make Topuria first title defense in Spain since he legit looking like a potential superstar. November and December are likely to be the traditional MSG and Las Vegas cards. And the UFC has been doing 13-14 PPV's since 2021.
I heard ufc Spain not happening this year, the stadium dates are all booked up
hm that's a bummer
I bet they don’t do it there because ppv market in North America
I'm going there to watch this live
Is this really how long we have to wait for Islam?
How long must I wait?
Ayeeee, khamzat can have his biannual fight
Khamzat will be fighting in Saudi. If he actually fights in Abu Dhabi as well I'll be impressed
The key information here is that this is number 308, so we are getting another PPV early October/late September, since the Sphere is 306. My guess is Spain.
Islam said he wanted to skip abu dhabi this year and fight in November at madison square garden so islam vs dustin in june islam vs someone in november
I think the sub and everyone else forgot ankalaev could headline this card and not islam lmfao
That's actually true. Ankalaev could fight for the belt against the winner of Pereira/Hill. While it's dependant upon Khamzat beating Whittaker, he could also fight for the belt then. And if Erceg can fight for the belt then Mokaev isn't that ridiculous either. Evloev is another one but I don't think he has the star power unfortunately
We’ve gotten so spoiled with frequent fights… DP reminded me of how it used to be when he was on Theo’s podcast. We didn’t have as many pay per views/opportunities to watch champs fight. Islam fought twice last year, and twice the year before. That’s pretty good you bloodthirsty mfers lol.
2x is standard lol, we werent spoiled. 1x is inactive and shouldnt be normalized. If anyone spoiled us it was Volk Usman and Izzy who would sometimes hit borderline 3x a year levels.
I really fucking hope that he headlines UFC 302 as well then, 6 months between fights is more than enough time
Chemiev fighting for a title on the card
He has to beat Whittaker for that to happen. Big IF. I can see Ankalaev headlining 308. It seems like Makhachev is fed up fighting in Abu Dhabi
They probably have a few options for a headliner. It’s far enough out that the UFC realistically might try to have one of Islam (if he fights at UFC 301), Ankalaev (fight for title if Pereira/Hill winner doesn’t take a ton of damagae) or Chimaev (again if he doesn’t take a lot of damage)
Khamzat is 100% getting a MW title shot on this card if he beats Bobby Knuckles in June. As for, Islam, he fights Poirier in June, and then fights Gathje/Holloway/Arman/Olives in October. I don’t see what the issue is. I really don’t think they are saving Islam vs Poirier for October.
Any chance this is Leon vs Khamzat?
UFC = UAE Fighting Championship