Media Islam Makhachev: I'm getting out of fights in my division, nothing exciting there. Hoping to get Leon fight with 2 wins.

[HuskySamoan]

This guy is going to tie the LW title defence record without ever having fought the #1 contender, let alone contenders #2-4.

And this motherfucker has the nerve to say he's out of fights.

Appreciate the talent, but Islam's obviously a stupid asshole who loves how dumb his fans are.

Who's the number 1 contender? Arman? He will fight him after Poirier. The dude also beat Oliveira who was the defacto best to win the title, meanwhile Khabib won the belt vs Al I'Aquinta.

 

[nostradumbass]

Max has to beat a few more LW's to get a shot but Islam gets to go straight to the WW champ?

Yeah, "straight to the WW champ" after only a 10 year, 15 fight win streak, longest win streak in LW history, most title defenses in LW history, clearing out the top 3 contenders, beating the only guy ranked ahead of him p4p, then beating him even worse in the rematch after the next LW contender pulled out again, beating Arman twice in like the 5th time Arman's been offered the fight, and the #1 on the p4p list. Max isn't even the FW champ and has 1 win at LW. Yeah, I can't believe after such weak accomplishments, he'd just get a free ride to fight Leon Scott when he obviously should keep mowing down guys he's a 5-1 favorite against until he's in his 40s.

Let's see here, Khabib is a bum for "ducking WW", Islam can only make weight in Abu Dhabi, even though like 22 of his 27 fights(including Dustin) have been elsewhere, he "barely ever fights", even though he's the most active champ in the UFC, he's a "weight bully" who only beats smaller fighters, so he said he'll mow down 2 more contenders and fight a much bigger guy at WW, and now it's "why should #1 p4p get a free title shot".

Dude gets ducked for years and has to go on an 8 fight win streak before a top 10 will fight him, takes late replacement opponents regulary because his opponents keep pulling out, and doesn't care who the opponent is, willing to fight in the only place that significantly cuts down recovery time after weigh ins to fight the #1 p4p, willing to move up for a bigger opponent.

What exactly would have to happen for you guys to admit you're just salty haters in a constant scramble to move goalposts?

 

[marvinparsons]

Enough of this shit already. If you want to move up, vacate your existing belt and fight a challenger to secure a title shot. No free title shots. They are often retarded fights too, like Izzy/Volk where the guy that lost was clearly too small for the division.

Islam can fight Poirier, Tsarukyan, Gamrot, possibly if their next few fights go well Holloway, Gathje, Fiziev, Benoit St. Denis, or someone else.

 

[HuskySamoan]

He called out Chandler who ducked him. Arman backed out for a rematch he already won as did Olives.

UFC made the wrong decision with putting Gathje against Max (despite it being a good fight)

You think Holloway stands a chance?
You don't think he'll put a hurting on Poirier?

Theyre all ducking him. What do you want the guy to do?

It's funny, Islam's camp basically forbids their fighters from taking short notice fights and has incredibly long camps with tons of preparation time. They're super inactive, Islam included too. Yet they shit talk when a young, improving fighter like Arman doesn't want to take a title shot on short notice? Bitch move, hypocritical sissy shit.

 

[Noraaq]

Good interview with some new insights.

I thought Gaethje was the guy to dethrone him, but now that hes been derailed it seems Arman is the only interesting challenger in the LW division. If Islam beats Arman and Poirier then I got no issues with him moving up to WW.

Islam vs Leon/Belal/Shavkat are better match ups than any LWs on the horizon.

 

[whocares]

Not islams fault his division is filled with jobbers who haven't earned a TS. Maybe they should all get their shit together before being gifted multiple charity fights. Dustin and Arman is more than fair. This guy's supposed to piss his whole career away waiting for Gamrot, Fiziev and Moicano to come up? Dariush? Chandler? Gaethje? Turner? Charles who already blew his rematch? Why? Because they're the also-rans who happen to be in his division at the same time? Doesn't cut it and Leon is a far more compelling fight than any of them. Islam can always come right back to LW afterward if any of these shitbirds manage to put together a run worthy of a shot or legit #1 contender status.

 

[RonDante]

If he got 4 defenses why shouldn’t he be able to jump up?

 

[Kevster]

Said it before, the only reason Sherdogs darling Chucky never defended against Volk was because Islam beat him like a ginger stepchild.

It was common knowledge the winner of Islam vs Chucky was getting Volk afterwards.

It’s one of the strangest cry baby criticisms in recent years.

 

[13Seconds]

If he got 4 defenses why shouldn’t he be able to jump up?

Seriously? How the bar has been lowered.

 

[blaseblase]

I agree with Islam. There's not really any interesting matchups. He dominated Charles, Dustin is a retread that's going to get dominated, he already beat Arman, Gaethje just got finished and already lost 2 times in championship fights, Gamrot is boring, Dariush lost 2 in a row. I wouldn't be shocked if they feed him Conor or let him move up there's no compelling fight for him at 155.

Lol slow your roll. Islam has only beaten two guys in the top 10 and one of them was a competitive fight from early on in their careers. So he's only beaten one actual contender in his division. I feel like some of you are pretending Oliveira's wins are part of Islam's resume because he beat him.

 

[blaseblase]

So Islam doesn't get credit for KO'ing Volk because it was short notice, and Volk doesn't get credit for how he performed in their first fight because he got KO'd in their second fight on short notice? LOL. Ok bud.

I didnt say anything about not getting credit. You're the one blindly pretending he didn't get KO'd and using the other fight going to decision to assume he can hang with the rest of the roster. You're pulling this out of your ass. Guys like Gaethje and Poirier proved they belong at lightweight through years of competition. Volk is 0-2 there.

 

[blaseblase]

Who's the number 1 contender? Arman? He will fight him after Poirier. The dude also beat Oliveira who was the defacto best to win the title, meanwhile Khabib won the belt vs Al I'Aquinta.

Khabib has wins over RDA, Poirier, Gaethje, Conor and Barboza. Now sure you can hold a 3rd tier replacement on literally a days notice against him considering Islam's second best win over a lightweight is Dan Hooker.

 

[FreedomCricket]

Max has to beat a few more LW's to get a shot but Islam gets to go straight to the WW champ?

Yes because Islam defended against volk and will defend against Dustin and Arman.

 

[Sycho Sid]

If he gives up his belt to do it, fine whatever.

But seriously tired of the double champ bullshit.

 

[Milenkovic]

He's not really wrong.

If he beats Dustin and Arman, who's next? Gamrot needs 2 wins or so, Justin goes backwards, as does Olivera. BSD needs at least 3-4 wins to be under any consideration.

The only one who should if he wins say 2 fights at LW is Max

 

[RonDante]

Seriously? How the bar has been lowered.

How many defenses do you think a champion needs to go up? McGregor had zero, izzy had 2 one of which was a snoozer that he arguably lost, volk had 4, bj penn had 1, cejudo had 1, max had 2, dc had 3

Islam would be tied for most defenses before a double champ attempt and you think the bar has been lowered

 

[nostradumbass]

Seriously? How the bar has been lowered.

Lowered from what? 4 defenses and a 15 fight win streak is more than anybody else had. Volk had 4 defenses and 12 UFC wins, Cejudo had 1 defense and a 4 fight win streak, Conor had 0 defenses, Izzy had 2 defenses and only 9 UFC fights, DC had 3 and only had the belt because his KO loss got overturned, Pereira only has 8 UFC fights including a KO loss and they're talking about giving him a title shot in his 3rd division, but somehow Islam being #1 p4p, having the longest win streak in LW history, the most title defensess in LW history is "lowering the bar"? How does that work, exactly?

Enough of this shit already. If you want to move up, vacate your existing belt and fight a challenger to secure a title shot. No free title shots. They are often retarded fights too, like Izzy/Volk where the guy that lost was clearly too small for the division.

Islam can fight Poirier, Tsarukyan, Gamrot, possibly if their next few fights go well Holloway, Gathje, Fiziev, Benoit St. Denis, or someone else.

Which champ in UFC history has had to vacate their title to go fight random contenders in another division?

Is the goal here to see how massive of a favorite someone can be for a title fight? FFS, you're digging into guys coming off losses, injured fringe top 10s and guys outside the top 10. These aren't contenders, you're just picking random names from the roster. Oh yeah, BSD is ranked 13 and just got flatlined a month ago, but he did beat the great Ismael Bonfim, so let's throw him in for a title shot. Is Sean Sherk not available that weekend?

 

[markg171]

He's not really wrong.

If he beats Dustin and Arman, who's next? Gamrot needs 2 wins or so, Justin goes backwards, as does Olivera. BSD needs at least 3-4 wins to be under any consideration.

The only one who should if he wins say 2 fights at LW is Max

Dustin can get a title shot with a win streak of 1 over #13, meanwhile:

- Arman maybe gets the next one after Dustin if he's lucky after his current greater 4 fight win streak
- Which could be replaced/delayed if Dustin somehow actually wins cause Islam's of course going to rematch
- Gamrot needs a 5 fight win streak
- Charles and Justin need to start all over again and build up contenderships
- BSD needs a 4 fight win streak
- Max needs a 3 fight win streak

Bruh. Just say you agree with Islam that you're not going to properly defend unless you have absolutely zero choice and will instead take the easy way out wherever possible to keep this reign going.

 

[legedema]

interesting to hear that Arman refused to fight him when he was asked 3-4 times

 

[blaseblase]

He's not really wrong.

If he beats Dustin and Arman, who's next? Gamrot needs 2 wins or so, Justin goes backwards, as does Olivera. BSD needs at least 3-4 wins to be under any consideration.

The only one who should if he wins say 2 fights at LW is Max

He's facing Poirier, then after that he's got both Arman and Holloway to deal with. That's more deserving contenders than most divisions have.
Gamrot is top 5 and deserving of a number one contender fight. That's his next 4 contenders, likely to take up the next 2 years. That's a long time. He's got plenty of challenges in front of him and it's far too early to be thinking of changing divisions.