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

[dcthegod]

wha

Literally three top wins in a row. Luque (top 5) then Brady (top 10) then Burns (top 5 again). What the fuck is this revisionist history pretending otherwise? There is no one in the sport that has anything similar. On top of that, there is no alternative at all WW specifically.

The fact he spoke out about Palestine is why he will absolutely, positively never get a title shot. Doesn't matter if they think he will or won't win. They could think Leon had a 99% chance to win and they still wouldn't make it for fear that he'd slip on a banana peel on his way into the octagon.

Since then I have been correct in everything I have predicted, while others have said "lol no of course he'll get a title shot." Now corporate PR posters like markg1971 have shifted to instead say "nah he needs another top 5 win". He already has two. They literally will rinse/repeat the same thing until he loses. He isn't getting a title shot... period.

what did i revise tho?

 

[jko1355]

I said Bud light taste like piss and it got deleted. Lol, fuckers.

Idk what piss tastes like

 

[Dionysian]

wha

what did i revise tho?

His entire recent resume for one.

 

[NicholasJBasile]

Too many people simply don't want to see Belal fight for a title. I personally do. Unpopular opinion -- who ever does or does not get title fights should not depend primarily on who the people want to see fight. If that were true in other sports, only popular teams would be in championships .

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

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 wouldn't say never and the current champion Leon Edwards is the perfect example of why that is. Everyone said the same stuff they are staying about Belal about Edwards before. If he keeps winning at some point they will have to give it to him.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

It is fundamentally different. The images of him possibly wearing a UFC belt around his waist and a Palestinian flag on his shoulders would be utterly unacceptable. Imagine the youtube headline for a globally viral post-fight speech video titled "Palestinian UFC champ denounces ethnic cleansing after victory" ... they are aware of the potential PR connected to that and will positively not allow any chance whatsoever for it to happen.

The Khamzat speech is an interesting example. He hasn't fought since that speech however so it isn't a ringing endorsement that TKO holdings is the most accepting company. Back to my point though... Khamzat isn't Palestinian. So it is really apples to oranges. Plus it doesn't hurt that he spoke in Chechen so probably only a handful of hardcore fans on Sherdog understood that speech. I'd bet close to 100% of casuals only understood the English part obviously... and TKO knows that.

One other point I wanted to make is it's different from your historical examples (Max at FW + Islam and Khabib at LW). Those streaks happened in the context of those divisions being busy-as-hell at the top, keeping the lesser known contenders in an artificial limbo. WW is the exact opposite... the top is a complete ghost town... past-it Covington just got a THIRD title shot for crying out loud because nothing was going on. This shows that Belal is being kept in artifical limbo for an ALTERNATE reason as opposed to the mechanics of the division itself.

Everyone, take note of this corporate response from a corporate poster. This was in reply to another poster saying he won 3 top 5 fights in a row... and the reply is "yeah but now he needs to fight a 4th top 5 fight since there are new rankings!" This logic will be applied to a 5th fight and 6th fight. All they need to do is say "those last 3 or 4 wins don't count because the rankings got changed afterward" and this game can go on forever: he will never get a title shot.

I expect Shavkat vs Belal next. If Belal somehow wins, expect Shavkat to then magically overnight be ranked below the top 5 and this trick to be applied once again.

i don't think the examples of Tony, Max, and Islam is that different. FW wasn't that busy, they held Max back because he didn't have a following like he does now and they were setting up the title shot for Conor. after Conor beat Max, Max literally fought and won twice as much as Conor did in the same time frame leading up to the Aldo fight. Max practically beat everyone in the top BEFORE he ever became champion. he was on a 9 fight win streak before he got his chance at the interim title. then when he finally got a shot at the real title he had to beat Aldo twice, the first time in Brazil.

in that time frame between Conor and Max being FW champion, the only people who fought for the real title was Jose Aldo vs Frankie Edgar. 1 guy who just got KO'd in 13 secs, and the other guy who was coming off 2 losses at LW and had never won a fight at FW in his entire career up til then. i'm pointing this out because it's clear the UFC was just holding Max back. it had nothing to do with the top being so full of killers, Max vanquished the vast majority of the contenders before he ever got ANY title shot. we're talking about a guy in Max who is literally must see TV practically any time he's fighting. and they still blocked the fuck out of him for years. the man was fighting 4 times a year and smoking everyone. so Belal being blocked when he basically the exact opposite of exciting Max Holloway, it's not that alarming to me because, to me, UFC has done this to a few people already and none of them are Palestinian and the others were much more exciting than Belal.

i do accept your point on Khamzat though. i didn't think of it like that but that could be true. it's not like i don't believe that what you're saying could be happening, i'm just not sure that is the case myself. but if he never gets a title shot, you'd be right and UFC is going to look a lot less legit and possibly be a lot more trouble for discrimination if any media report that narrative and can evidence it.

 

[Tweak896]

Sounded to me like they were just trying to use Edwards as a main event for 300 with a good matchup. They'll probably give Belal next shot just on a card they need to fill.

 

[Captain Insano]

Belal would be the first guy to ever beat Sean Brady and not get a title shot. That's a travesty.

 

[cburm]

Yeah ufc is scared if Bellall gets the belt hel ruin the ufc . The company will tank yet the ufc won't bother to promote their fighters.. I can't understand why these guys stay with this company

 

[RonDante]

i agree he should be in contention and close, but i dont agree thats hes the 'most clear-cut contender of any division'. what has he really done? beat up a severely jetlagged sean brady in abu dhabi when he joined the dagestan camp to gain favor in the region? beat up a one-armed gilbert burns and couldn't finish him (see; jack della madalena). beat 45-year old demian maia in his retirement fight and spammed takedowns for 15 mins? beat up a brain bleeding vicente luque? wrestle-fucked/crotch sniffed stepehen thompson for 15 mins?

i don't just look at a record and neither should the UFC. you have to look at performances and other factors. plus, his nickname should preclude him from ever fighting for a title lol

Such a weasely way to discredit 5 top 10 wins in a row lol

 

[Kaiokenrye24]

if they really approached Khamzat for 300 it shows how much they hate Belal since Khamzat is a risky bet to make 170

 

[Dionysian]

i don't think the examples of Tony, Max, and Islam is that different. FW wasn't that busy, they held Max back because he didn't have a following like he does now and they were setting up the title shot for Conor. after Conor beat Max, Max literally fought and won twice as much as Conor did in the same time frame leading up to the Aldo fight. Max practically beat everyone in the top BEFORE he ever became champion. he was on a 9 fight win streak before he got his chance at the interim title. then when he finally got a shot at the real title he had to beat Aldo twice, the first time in Brazil.

in that time frame between Conor and Max being FW champion, the only people who fought for the real title was Jose Aldo vs Frankie Edgar. 1 guy who just got KO'd in 13 secs, and the other guy who was coming off 2 losses at LW and had never won a fight at FW in his entire career up til then. i'm pointing this out because it's clear the UFC was just holding Max back. it had nothing to do with the top being so full of killers, Max vanquished the vast majority of the contenders before he ever got ANY title shot. we're talking about a guy in Max who is literally must see TV practically any time he's fighting. and they still blocked the fuck out of him for years. the man was fighting 4 times a year and smoking everyone. so Belal being blocked when he basically the exact opposite of exciting Max Holloway, it's not that alarming to me because, to me, UFC has done this to a few people already and none of them are Palestinian and the others were much more exciting than Belal.

i do accept your point on Khamzat though. i didn't think of it like that but that could be true. it's not like i don't believe that what you're saying could be happening, i'm just not sure that is the case myself. but if he never gets a title shot, you'd be right and UFC is going to look a lot less legit and possibly be a lot more trouble for discrimination if any media report that narrative and can evidence it.

I meant FW was "busy" in that it was reserved for golden boy Conor. Same as with LW which is why it was fucked for those two years. Obviously there has been no such sitation currently at WW, so them putting the division and champ on ice lacks any of the logic they did previously when they were setting pieces up for a marketing darling to get a title shot. Best example I could cite would be if Sean didn't exist at 135 and Aljo/Merab weren't friends. If it was Merab as the only logical contender but a year went by with absolutely nothing happening despite no alternative? That'd be suspicious as hell.

As to the part you wrote about the media potentially reporting discrimination... I have less faith in MMA media than any form of media on Earth. I'd trust North Korean media to report on facts about Kim Jong Un's athleticism before I'd trust the MMA media to report on unsavory things about their monopoly's business practices. Most sycophantic, disgustingly non-independent "media" there is.

if they really approached Khamzat for 300 it shows how much they hate Belal since Khamzat is a risky bet to make 170

Yup, according the Khamzat in that video they did and that matches with Dana's description of three fighters getting the offer (Khabib/Islam/Khamzat). The fact that there were 3 offers for the WW title and literally none of them were active WWs says it all.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

I meant FW was "busy" in that it was reserved for golden boy Conor. Same as with LW which is why it was fucked for those two years. Obviously there has been no such sitation currently at WW, so them putting the division and champ on ice lacks any of the logic they did previously when they were setting pieces up for a marketing darling to get a title shot. Best example I could cite would be if Sean didn't exist at 135 and Aljo/Merab weren't friends. If it was Merab as the only logical contender but a year went by with absolutely nothing happening despite no alternative? That'd be suspicious as hell.

As to the part you wrote about the media potentially reporting discrimination... I have less faith in MMA media than any form of media on Earth. I'd trust North Korean media to report on facts about Kim Jong Un's athleticism before I'd trust the MMA media to report on unsavory things about their monopoly's business practices. Most sycophantic, disgustingly non-independent "media" there is.


Yup, according the Khamzat in that video they did and that matches with Dana's description of three fighters getting the offer (Khabib/Islam/Khamzat). The fact that there were 3 offers for the WW title and literally none of them were active WWs says it all.

i don't have faith in MMA media reporting on it, because the only guy i can think of who would is Ariel and he's Jewish himself. i do however believe the people can report on it. that's how it is now a days in this world of fake news, propaganda, and narrative driven headlines. it's some regular people who still have integrity that 1 day just decide to put it on blast on twitter/facebook/youtube that can do something about it.

you seem passionate about this situation because i've seen you say this in other threads too, and like i said, it's not that i don't believe what you're saying is happening, but it seems the only way to prove you right is to literally just wait 2-3 yrs and see if Belal gets it before the Gaza conflict ends. we just need more people who are fine with questioning the status quo to become journalists again and not be afraid to ask the hard questions.

i feel like if enough pressure from the people happens the UFC will capitulate and give him the shot. i don't think they'd risk all the discrimination and cancel culture shit now a days in order to just keep him from saying stop the genocide, but maybe i'm naive on that part.

 

[Dionysian]

i don't have faith in MMA media reporting on it, because the only guy i can think of who would is Ariel and he's Jewish himself. i do however believe the people can report on it. that's how it is now a days in this world of fake news, propaganda, and narrative driven headlines. it's some regular people who still have integrity that 1 day just decide to put it on blast on twitter/facebook/youtube that can do something about it.

you seem passionate about this situation because i've seen you say this in other threads too, and like i said, it's not that i don't believe what you're saying is happening, but it seems the only way to prove you right is to literally just wait 2-3 yrs and see if Belal gets it before the Gaza conflict ends. we just need more people who are fine with questioning the status quo to become journalists again and not be afraid to ask the hard questions.

i feel like if enough pressure from the people happens the UFC will capitulate and give him the shot. i don't think they'd risk all the discrimination and cancel culture shit now a days in order to just keep him from saying stop the genocide, but maybe i'm naive on that part.

I really wish people-power pushed them to act man, but I'm not holding my breath.

This part is purely pessimism of my part... but if I had to BET on it? I think Belal eventually gets frustrated and needs to make money so he signs for a fight in the summer vs Shavkat. Then loses, then is buried to the point where his career dwindles down with no significant PR questioning or fan protest ever directed at the UFC.

I would LOVE to be wrong about that though. Shavkat is great and exciting and all but I'd actually root for Belal just to see the backflips they'd try to do to discredit him if he won. If he beat Shavkat and then they STILL pushed for a healthy Leon to sit on a couch... I don't see how it could even be argued at that point.

By the way, I think Ariel is the only person that actually could pull off questioining the UFC on it. His history with them puts him in a perfect spot to sound the alarm. Whether he will want to step into that though...

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

I really wish people-power pushed them to act man, but I'm not holding my breath.

This part is purely pessimism of my part... but if I had to BET on it? I think Belal eventually gets frustrated and needs to make money so he signs for a fight in the summer vs Shavkat. Then loses, then is buried to the point where his career dwindles down with no significant PR questioning or fan protest ever directed at the UFC.

I would LOVE to be wrong about that though. Shavkat is great and exciting and all but I'd actually root for Belal just to see the backflips they'd try to do to discredit him if he won. If he beat Shavkat and then they STILL pushed for a healthy Leon to sit on a couch... I don't see how it could even be argued at that point.

By the way, I think Ariel is the only person that actually could pull off questioining the UFC on it. His history with them puts him in a perfect spot to sound the alarm. Whether he will want to step into that though...

i can definitely see that situation happening to Belal if he takes the Shavkat fight and loses. because it's happened to other guys, in fact, it's pretty much happening to Dariush as we speak in real time.

and yeah, i don't think Ariel wants that smoke. not that i think he's cowardly but i'm sure he'll get death threats and all that jazz that comes with speaking out from BOTH sides of the coin. he has a family with small children, i can understand him being hesitant to step into a conflict that has such high tensions, especially with him being a Jew himself, many people will either say he's a betrayer or a genocide sympathizer either way no matter what he says.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Imagine being this obsessed with a random person on the internet you've never met.

Honestly a bit flattering, if creepy.

Hard to forget needing to teach a presumed adult to count to 5. I remember basically no one I reply to past their general trolly-ness level but you hold the trophy for stupidest moment to ever burn itself into my brain. What an honor

 

[TempleoftheDog]

Belal will be next. Nothing else makes sense if Shavkat is fighting JDM this summer. Apparently the UFC tried to make 3 different WW title fights for 300. None stuck. So just do the right thing, and let’s move the fuck on.

 

[FilipEmoFights]

I guess you could say



His Pal is tiny…..

 

[Dionysian]

I guess you could say



His Pal is tiny…..

His pal is tiny Ian.

Belal will be next. Nothing else makes sense if Shavkat is fighting JDM this summer. Apparently the UFC tried to make 3 different WW title fights for 300. None stuck. So just do the right thing, and let’s move the fuck on.

We'll see / I'll bump this in the summer. I'd be happy to be wrong but I don't think so. My example of 3 people getting the fight and none of them being Belal doesn't bode well IMO...

 

[FilipEmoFights]

But Is he real?

In MMA , I slam people using the secret Jews.