Clear up Middleweight

[VenomCarnage]

We need to see Muniz, Imamvov, Borralho, Rodrigues, Petrosyan matched against some bigger names now.

There is this really irritating pattern with UFC rankings and match making.

Alex is champ, Izzy is the clear 1b to him. Cannonier loses an awful fight to Izzy, also has a loss to Rob, so let’s match him up against an overrated Strickland who legit just got slept by Alex.

Who wins here? Bad fight, but let’s say Jared or Sean had a big W here tonight, what is this for? We want them to hold ranking and fight Rob next? I just don’t understand the matchmaking.

Imavov vs Gastelum… plain stupid. A win does what exactly? Most think that Kelvin is well past his best, so this is lose/lose for him. Why not do Imavov vs Strickland, and Muniz vs Cannonier? One big win from the prospect, and now they are in the title picture.

Instead… we are sat here, waiting for the predictable loss that Robocop or Muniz will have, and hey, hype train stopped…

I understand not “rushing” fighters, but if there was ever a division where the top 4 and 5 are barely better than the guy in Rank 15, it’s Middleweight.

Get us some new blood… please!

 

[MEAN357]

Just close the division imo

 

[UFCIsNOTRigged]

Petrosyan and Borralho are too one dimensional, even for MW, to be competitive against ranked opponents for now. Muniz is booked to fight Brendan Allen in February and Robocop is fighting Brad Tavares at UFC 283 in January.

Middleweight fighters headline more fight nights than any other division. The UFC seems to gatekeep who they let into the MW rankings more than any other division. Tonights main event though was just filler I doubt TPTB at the UFC cared who won. The UFC recently let Roman Dolidze into the rankings and I think they are about ready to excise Till & Hermansson in favor of adding Rodrigues and Brendan Allen.

MW in general doesn't exactly have tons of talented prospects on the rise. Robocop, because of his knockout power, is the only fighter outside the rankings I could see posing a real threat to the guys at the top.

Abus Magomedov looked good in his debut and could potentially be something. Andre Petroski appears to be rounding out his skillset nicely as well.

 

[The XL]

Middleweight is in a weird spot. Israel is clearly the best fighter in the division, but Pereira has his number. But a guy like Marvin Vettori could probably beat Pereira fairly easily, even a guy like Brunson would have a shot because of his wrestling.

 

[mmuhr2]

Vettori v Muniz was the obvious fight to make once Marvin lost to Rob. UFC booking Vettori v Dolidze within days of Roman's last fight while Muniz hasn't fought since July confirms they are burying Andre.

I actually hope Costa leaves for another org, not because I want him gone so much as because I want to see more guys saying F-U to Dana so the UFC has to start working harder to keep and develop talent.

(Assume TS meant Petroski, not Petrosyan, because Armen is a can who got caught adding fake fights to his record.)

 

[SamuraiBro]

Middleweight is in a weird spot. Israel is clearly the best fighter in the division, but Pereira has his number. But a guy like Marvin Vettori could probably beat Pereira fairly easily, even a guy like Brunson would have a shot because of his wrestling.

Fairly easily? Marvin ‘Can only throw 1-2’s and grab single legs’ Vettori. He might have a shot, but come on don’t say fairly easily. Give Alex some credit lol.

 

[You Will Vote For Dreyga]

Petrosyan and Borralho are too one dimensional, even for MW, to be competitive against ranked opponents for now. Muniz is booked to fight Brendan Allen in February and Robocop is fighting Brad Tavares at UFC 283 in January.

How is Borralho one dimensional?? He has show. The ability to stringlike and grappling at high level. He has a well rounded game

Very odd conclusion to come to

 

[BEATDOWNS]

We need to see Muniz, Imamvov, Borralho, Rodrigues, Petrosyan matched against some bigger names now.

There is this really irritating pattern with UFC rankings and match making.

Alex is champ, Izzy is the clear 1b to him. Cannonier loses an awful fight to Izzy, also has a loss to Rob, so let’s match him up against an overrated Strickland who legit just got slept by Alex.

Who wins here? Bad fight, but let’s say Jared or Sean had a big W here tonight, what is this for? We want them to hold ranking and fight Rob next? I just don’t understand the matchmaking.

Imavov vs Gastelum… plain stupid. A win does what exactly? Most think that Kelvin is well past his best, so this is lose/lose for him. Why not do Imavov vs Strickland, and Muniz vs Cannonier? One big win from the prospect, and now they are in the title picture.

Instead… we are sat here, waiting for the predictable loss that Robocop or Muniz will have, and hey, hype train stopped…

I understand not “rushing” fighters, but if there was ever a division where the top 4 and 5 are barely better than the guy in Rank 15, it’s Middleweight.

Get us some new blood… please!

Muniz is fighting Brendan Allen

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

Middleweight is in a weird spot. Israel is clearly the best fighter in the division, but Pereira has his number. But a guy like Marvin Vettori could probably beat Pereira fairly easily, even a guy like Brunson would have a shot because of his wrestling.

I've been thinking Brunson is a bad match up for Pereira for a while

 

[USA-man]

Yeah this is one of the problems with rankings. It gets stale if youre just matching guys up who are ranked close together and they keep beating each other up. I agree, they should just jump some new guys up and see who does well.

 

[fortheo]

Muniz is fighting Brendan Allen

Which is horrible match making. He has a longer UFC win streak than the champ, yet can't even get a top 15 opponent

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

Israel is clearly the best fighter in the division, but Pereira has his number.

I see the point here, and largely agree, but one could also argue that Whittaker is the best fighter in the division, and Izzy just has his number.

 

[Captain Insano]

Middleweight is in a weird spot. Israel is clearly the best fighter in the division, but Pereira has his number. But a guy like Marvin Vettori could probably beat Pereira fairly easily, even a guy like Brunson would have a shot because of his wrestling.

Bro Izzy isn't the best fighter.

I know it still hurts but he lost his belt in dramatic fashion.

 

[UFCIsNOTRigged]

How is Borralho one dimensional?? He has show. The ability to stringlike and grappling at high level. He has a well rounded game

Very odd conclusion to come to

I thought his last fight exposed him as being relatively one dimensional. In fairness to him it was against his best opponent to date but nonetheless its never a good look to get controlled by a striker for nearly an entire round.

He also hasn't finished a single opponent in the UFC.

 

[HuskySamoan]

Which is horrible match making. He has a longer UFC win streak than the champ, yet can't even get a top 15 opponent

So many good matchups for Muniz too, Dolidze, Brunson, Vettori all matchups I'd like to see. The Brendan Allen fight is such a slap in the face, its literally a step backwards vs guys like Hall and Jacare, makes zero sense. Muniz will be like 9-0 before he gets a title shot (if), hes getting that Beneil treatment.

 

[Kwic]

We need to see Muniz, Imamvov, Borralho, Rodrigues, Petrosyan matched against some bigger names now.

There is this really irritating pattern with UFC rankings and match making.

Alex is champ, Izzy is the clear 1b to him. Cannonier loses an awful fight to Izzy, also has a loss to Rob, so let’s match him up against an overrated Strickland who legit just got slept by Alex.

Who wins here? Bad fight, but let’s say Jared or Sean had a big W here tonight, what is this for? We want them to hold ranking and fight Rob next? I just don’t understand the matchmaking.

Imavov vs Gastelum… plain stupid. A win does what exactly? Most think that Kelvin is well past his best, so this is lose/lose for him. Why not do Imavov vs Strickland, and Muniz vs Cannonier? One big win from the prospect, and now they are in the title picture.

Instead… we are sat here, waiting for the predictable loss that Robocop or Muniz will have, and hey, hype train stopped…

I understand not “rushing” fighters, but if there was ever a division where the top 4 and 5 are barely better than the guy in Rank 15, it’s Middleweight.

Get us some new blood… please!

This is what happens in general because losing a title fight drops you one place in the rankings. It should drop you like 5 places for the division to keep moving.
That creates those patterns you spoke about where a guy loses a TS and then loses his next 2 fights and still top 5 and all the guys in the top fight fight each other for 3 years.
Drops in rankings should be a bit more severe after a loss, especially after the title fight, especially if you lost the title fight clearly.
Same with losing position outside of the title fights. If you get knocked out then you should drop 5 spots by default, or something like that.

Just keep the divisiona moving goddammit.

 

[Question]

So many good matchups for Muniz too, Dolidze, Brunson, Vettori all matchups I'd like to see. The Brendan Allen fight is such a slap in the face, its literally a step backwards vs guys like Hall and Jacare, makes zero sense. Muniz will be like 9-0 before he gets a title shot (if), hes getting that Beneil treatment.

Which is insane since he's never lost yet in the UFC like Beneil did before the run he's currently on and Muniz had three straight first round armbars before dominating Hall to a decision.
LW is also way more stacked compared to MW so someone having to go on a 8-9 fight win streak to get a shot at gold there is insane.

Hopefully if he beats Allen he can fight someone like Brunson, Jack or Cannonier next.
He's fighting around the same time as Whittaker/Costa too so perhaps he could offer to be a replacement since Costa seems to be saying that he hasn't signed yet so we don't even know if that fight is gonna happen now. Fighting someone like Whittaker would be a huge jump and extremely dangerous this soon into his UFC career, but it would certainly be better then having to fight and unranked guy who's already been finished by two guys within the top fifteen.

 

[Barge]

Same problem at 155. UFC matchmakers split divisions at a certain point and if your in the top set, you only fight those guys.

Good luck getting Poirier, Chandler, Charles or Gaethje to sign to fight you if your in the other set.

 

[1BadMF]

In the "Matches to Make After...." article on here, the author states that there are several
fighters who would beat Periera, like Whitaker, Brunson, etc. That is nonsense. Alex would
starch them in the 1st round. Cannonier wouldn't stand a chance against him either.

I think the match to be made for Periera is Whitaker. Costa will not fight Whitaker. Whitaker
is right behind Izzy in the MW rankings IMO

 

[Reffson]

I look forward to Alex knocking out a few contenders before somebody figures him out.