can we all admit now that Belal will NEVER get a title shot?

[Mohawk Banditó]

He fought multiple people in the top 5 and beat them already. Then you (corporate poster) demanded he fight another. If he wins a 3rd fight in the top 5 you'd demand a 4th. Then if he won that you'd demand a 5th.

He knows this now. And he has chosen to stay silent (for now) rather than point out the game is rigged and the rigging is political in nature. I believe he should not remain silent any longer. We'll see...

Hell, he's even already beaten 3 people who were top 5, he'd actually already be going for his 4th if he had to fight again.

It really is a silly argument to say that you have to beat someone who stays in the top 5 after you beat them in order to secure your spot. It's especially egregious because, after Belal beat Burns, Burns WAS still #5. And remained in the top 5 for a full year after that. It doesn't quite work as a logic when a) losing usually sends people downward, b) 2 of those top 5 were going to MW, and c) 1 of those top 5 doesn't fight anyone. With Usman, Khamzat, and Colby all not options, Belal's only top 5 option was to fight Burns again.

 

[Dionysian]

Hell, he's even already beaten 3 people who were top 5, he'd actually already be going for his 4th if he had to fight again.

It really is a silly argument to say that you have to beat someone who stays in the top 5 after you beat them in order to secure your spot. It's especially egregious because, after Belal beat Burns, Burns WAS still #5. And remained in the top 5 for a full year after that. It doesn't quite work as a logic when a) losing usually sends people downward, b) 2 of those top 5 were going to MW, and c) 1 of those top 5 doesn't fight anyone. With Usman, Khamzat, and Colby all not options, Belal's only top 5 option was to fight Burns again.

I didn't know Brady was in the top 5 (thought only top 10 when they fought) so that is even worse. Truly unprecedented to be kept in inexplicable limbo with 3 top 5 wins and on a huge win streak.

 

[IsNormal]

I don't necessarily think Belal being left out of the plans for 300 means all that much for the future.
Those last minute UFC 300 talks were special: they needed one exciting main, and fans were joking "LOL what if Belal is the main".
I think there's still a chance Belal vs Leon can happen.

On another note: it's a bit surprising everyone is saying Belal's boring personality means he must be kept out of the title picture.
Because I remember another fighter who was considered to have an ultra flat and dull personality:
Leon Edwards.
And after he won the belt - he got way more fan appreciation than he ever had before.

I think title shots can really gain popularity for fighters.

 

[Dionysian]

I don't necessarily think Belal being left out of the plans for 300 means all that much for the future.
Those last minute UFC 300 talks were special: they needed one exciting main, and fans were joking "LOL what if Belal is the main".
I think there's still a chance Belal vs Leon can happen.

On another note: it's a bit surprising everyone is saying Belal's personality is so boring that's why they are desperate to keep him out of a title fight. Because Leon Edwards was also considered one of the most dull personalities in the UFC before he won the title - and the amount of love he got after winning was amazing to see.

Some of it are impressionable fans that parrot what the corporate posters tell them to think but some of the concerted "lol he is boring" posts are from TKO PR accounts. Like markg171 for example, who always seeks to intentionally spam the 1st page (which they know is BY FAR the most viewed page) of PR-relevant threads with whatever the talking point is TKO wants to spread. Belal's talking point is "lol he is boring" because that sounds a lot more benign then saying the truth which is "lol yeah like we'd ever risk the off-chance of him becoming a UFC champ and having his post-fight speech about politics go viral while wearing our belt at the same time he has a Palestinian flag around his shoulders"

Did I miss the part where in sports you have to be the most exciting in order to win the title because last time I checked all major sports the most exciting and most popular team or player isn't the one that always wins the championship so why the hell this matters and MMA I don't know belal is the number one contender let him have his title shot if he's good he'll be champ if he's not he loses and we never hear from him again bottom line is let the dude have his chance

In the normal world this would apply. But clearly Belal is an exception which is why the normal conditions don't apply. See above for why I think he is getting this completely unprecedented treatment / why it can't happen. Doesn't matter if they think he will lose or not. Even the off chance of him NOT losing is unacceptable so they can't make the fight at all. So get ready for "lol he is boring" to get intensified on these boards over the next few months.

 

[IsNormal]

the truth which is "lol yeah like we'd ever risk the off-chance of him becoming a UFC champ and having his post-fight speech about politics go viral while wearing our belt at the same time he has a Palestinian flag around his shoulders"

But Islam and Khabib aready already talking about Palestine and wearing Palestine flags on their shoulders




and Khamzat is also talking about Palestine


Sure - UFC doesn't like that and wants to get less of it.

But since they still promote Islam, Khamzat and Khabib actively - it can't be a huge issue

UFC keep planning new events in the arab world which of course is pro palestine - despite the risk of seeing more palestinian flags

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

I didn't know Brady was in the top 5 (thought only top 10 when they fought) so that is even worse. Truly unprecedented to be kept in inexplicable limbo with 3 top 5 wins and on a huge win streak.

Nah, Brady was #8. Wonderboy was still #5 when Belal beat him.

So yeah he went 9, 5, 5, 8, 5. Five straight top-10 wins with 3 top-5's. It's pretty fucking bad if they don't do something with that. Even right after the Colby fight, Belal's wins were still at 9, 7, 6, and 4. Imagine sitting next to the phone with a free champ and having wins over half the top 10 and it's still not ringing.

I honestly think (despite people criticizing the rankings and performances) merit-wise and the amount of risk he's taken in accepting opponents? The exact thing a promoter should want to incentivize? Not sure who's done more hoop-jumping and accomplishments without ever getting some title consideration than him, maybe in UFC history

 

[richardjohnson]

But Islam and Khabib aready already talking about Palestine and wearing Palestine flags on their shoulders




and Khamzat is also talking about Palestine


Sure - they might not want more of that, and they try to prevent it

But Palestine doesn't seem like that's such a critical factor - it hasn't stopped UFC from promoting these 3

And they keep planning events in the arab world which of course is super pro palestine - and there's a high risk of coverage there showing some propalestinian message

The UFC actually cut that part of Islam’s post fight speech out of the video they uploaded.

They seem to do an awful lot of censoring for a company that loves to pat themselves on the back for how pro free speech they are.

 

[IsNormal]

The UFC actually cut that part of Islam’s post fight speech out of the video they uploaded.

Yes. They wanna avoid showing that.
But they don't seem super desperate over it - for example haven't heard that they are now sour on Islam and wanna prevent him from fighting or anything like that. And they still want Khabib back (as he was asked for 300 of course) - despite also waving the Palestinian flag.

They seem to do an awful lot of censoring for a company that loves to pat themselves on the back for how pro free speech they are.

Absolutely.
Dana really has pivoted in recent years regarding wanting to sound pro free speech
Compared to back in the day when Mitrione was suspended for anti-trans comments.
And Dana complained saying "fans wanna talk about freedom of speech and all that stuff - that's absolutely ridiculous - go work at any company in America and say ignorant stupid stuff publicly in a big place and see what happens to you" referring to UFC suspending Mitrione


Dana would never say that now. But they still cut out speeches and ban flags.

 

[Royce's Gi]

So first Dana said a WW title shot vs Leon was offered to three people at 300. In a thread where Sherdoggers tried to predict who those three people were I was the only one who predicted them with 100% accuracy as seen here:

So who were the 3 opponents that were offered to Leon? And why is he not fighting on 300?

It really has turned into trash thanks to a variety of reasons, Dana white being one of the big problems. His contender series handing out contracts to nobodies and that slap fighting junk. Junk-slap fighting sounds like a great sport, though. I better call Dana -- these fighters won't even...

forums.sherdog.com

Since then, those three fighters revealed they were approached to fight Leon:

1. Khabib = https://www.sherdog.com/news/news/K...-Contacted-Regarding-Return-at-UFC-300-192831

2. Islam = https://forums.sherdog.com/threads/...-turned-it-down-says-poirier-is-next.4325422/

3. Khamzat =


So can we now admit that Belal (by the far the most obvious contender in ANY division) will NEVER get a title shot? Not at 300, 301, 302, 312, or 412. He could win 50 more fights… it doesn’t matter. Personally I think they kill him off with a fake title eliminator fight vs Shavkat next. But if Belal won that they’d just make him fight someone else again or keep him inactive until he ages out.

Corporate PR accounts, please note before you post any of your trusty bullet points that you hope will catch on with the MMA plebs (ie: talk about decision wins) that I will point out that 0-wins-over-anyone-ranked and 0-finishes Colby fucking Covington just got a THIRD title shot in the same division.

I sincerely hope Belial follows Cody "No Love" Garbrandts suite and calls himself , Belial "No Title" Muhammed from now on.

 

[mangokush]

Ari Emanuel will never allow a Palestinian like Belal to have the opportunity to fight for a UFC belt in this current political climate

Lucky Islam & Khamzat are not from Palestine or they be in the same situation

Belal should just ask to be cut from the UFC

 

[Dionysian]

Nah, Brady was #8. Wonderboy was still #5 when Belal beat him.

So yeah he went 9, 5, 5, 8, 5. Five straight top-10 wins with 3 top-5's. It's pretty fucking bad if they don't do something with that. Even right after the Colby fight, Belal's wins were still at 9, 7, 6, and 4. Imagine sitting next to the phone with a free champ and having wins over half the top 10 and it's still not ringing.

I honestly think (despite people criticizing the rankings and performances) merit-wise and the amount of risk he's taken in accepting opponents? The exact thing a promoter should want to incentivize? Not sure who's done more hoop-jumping and accomplishments without ever getting some title consideration than him, maybe in UFC history

Thanks for setting the record straight man. Five ranked wins (3 of them top 5) and not getting a title shot is truly unprecedented. In fact if anyone in this thread can even come up with ANYONE, as you say, in all of UFC history... I'd love to hear any historical case of it being this blatant.

But Islam and Khabib aready already talking about Palestine and wearing Palestine flags on their shoulders




and Khamzat is also talking about Palestine


Sure - they might not want more of that, and they try to prevent it

But Palestine doesn't seem like that's such a critical factor - it hasn't stopped UFC from promoting these 3

And they keep planning events in the arab world which of course is super pro palestine - and there's a high risk of coverage there showing some propalestinian message

Thanks for the links. Too soon to say definitively though how the UFC reacted to those speeches I think. So far:

- Islam has not fought since then
- Khamzat didn't fight until he was matched up with the single worst style match-up in all of the sport.

So yeah I'm not ready to say they are all good with fighters bringing up Palestine. Of course Belal being Palestinian would be on another level in terms of PR compared to random Muslim fighters mentioning it post-fight.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Thanks for setting the record straight man. Five ranked wins (3 of them top 5) and not getting a title shot is truly unprecedented. In fact if anyone in this thread can even come up with ANYONE, as you say, in all of UFC history... I'd love to hear any historical case of it being this blatant.

I've been asking the same question, my guy. People bring up Ferguson a bunch, but he was booked for title fights multiple times in his streak.

Obviously, in retrospect, there were some names in JDS's streak, but no official rankings at the time when he beat Werdum, Struve, Cro Cop, Yvel, Gonzaga, Nelson, and Carwin in a row is pretty incredible. Though that was slightly strung out due to the whole Randy is champ but left, then booked Mir vs Nog in interim, but Randy came back so there were 2 titles, then Brock unified, then got injured again and another interim was needed, and Carwin and Cain's streak also going on at the same time, but were just a step before his.

But in modern times with the establishment of rankings and people actually going *up* from their last win instead of just being booked seemingly at random like they used to, nothing comes to mind


*Edit* I checked Fightmatrix, and this just shows how fucking mad they were with booking back in the day
-Werdum was the #4 HW in the world (Sherdog had him at like #6). JDS was brought in basically to just bolster numbers so Werdum could fight for a title, but then the upset didn't result in JDS getting the same consideration, because booking didn't matter to them.
-Struve was making his debut, and he was #48 in the world. Beat a top 5 guy, then fight someone barely in the top 50.
-Mirko was #14 in the world
-Yvel was #24
-Gonzaga was #13
-Nelson was #26
-Carwin was #6.

Nonsense booking.

 

[Dionysian]

I've been asking the same question, my guy. People bring up Ferguson a bunch, but he was booked for title fights multiple times in his streak.

Obviously, in retrospect, there were some names in JDS's streak, but no official rankings at the time when he beat Werdum, Struve, Cro Cop, Yvel, Gonzaga, Nelson, and Carwin in a row is pretty incredible. Though that was slightly strung out due to the whole Randy is champ but left, then booked Mir vs Nog in interim, but Randy came back so there were 2 titles, then Brock unified, then got injured again and another interim was needed, and Carwin and Cain's streak also going on at the same time, but were just a step before his.

But in modern times with the establishment of rankings and people actually going *up* from their last win instead of just being booked seemingly at random like they used to, nothing comes to mind


*Edit* I checked Fightmatrix, and this just shows how fucking mad they were with booking back in the day
-Werdum was the #4 HW in the world (Sherdog had him at like #6). JDS was brought in basically to just bolster numbers so Werdum could fight for a title, but then the upset didn't result in JDS getting the same consideration, because booking didn't matter to them.
-Struve was making his debut, and he was #48 in the world. Beat a top 5 guy, then fight someone barely in the top 50.
-Mirko was #14 in the world
-Yvel was #24
-Gonzaga was #13
-Nelson was #26
-Carwin was #6.

Nonsense booking.

Good historical example of a place filler guy (in their mind) completely defying the gameplan with KO after KO but their mind not changing until WAY later.

The matchmaking with Belal shows they KNOW he is NOT a place filler guy and also KNOW they must prevent his title shot. That's why I'm guessing his next fight is Shavkat. Give top 5 fighter... wait for derailment... if he wins, rinse/repeat until accomplished. Considering we're on the 4th damn cycle of that gameplan now so...

 

[Stump]

Belal would have to suddenly become exciting and/or garner some fans for that to happen.

Bringing up Colby is appropriate. That's exactly why Colby has gotten the push - The main concern is eyeballs on screens and asses in seats. If you are a fighter who people want to see fight, for whatever reason (like Colby is) then all you have to do is the bare minimum of accomplishments in actual fighting and the UFC will do what it can to get you a title shot. If you are a Belal, or a Jon Fitch, then you're going to have to garner 10 times the technical accomplishments, to the point where your title shot can't be refused, and even then the UFC will probably just refuse to give you one anyway.

 

[Stump]

Hell, he's even already beaten 3 people who were top 5, he'd actually already be going for his 4th if he had to fight again.

It really is a silly argument to say that you have to beat someone who stays in the top 5 after you beat them in order to secure your spot. It's especially egregious because, after Belal beat Burns, Burns WAS still #5. And remained in the top 5 for a full year after that. It doesn't quite work as a logic when a) losing usually sends people downward, b) 2 of those top 5 were going to MW, and c) 1 of those top 5 doesn't fight anyone. With Usman, Khamzat, and Colby all not options, Belal's only top 5 option was to fight Burns again.

Belal doesnt get a title shot but has the same number of top 5 wins as Khabib, who many claim is the GOAT.

 

[Dionysian]

Belal doesnt get a title shot but has the same number of top 5 wins as Khabib, who many claim is the GOAT.