Media Islam Makhachev sends a message to the Lightweight division

[maximus__]

Nonsense...Islam was available to fight and if you paid any attention has stated on numerous occasions throughout last year it's UFC's job to offer him the fights...not for him to make them.

We both know the UFC gave him possible fight dates .I guarantee they tried to book him for Volks original Jan spot after their fight to try and plug that hole they created. Islam and his team will have said no and requested later even though Charles could have been good with the cut healing easily.

He has fought the same schedule for most of his career. He fights March/April and September/October. He has 3-4 month camps before each fight. The UFC have definitely contacted him. He will be on the March 2 Abu Dhabi card. He didn't want to fight prior, just like he took an extended break post Volk 1, because he faced adversity. He is going to fight 2x next year only.

We have UFC 297 in Canada with Strickland only fighting a couple weeks before Islam and having a 5 rounder as opposed to Islam taking no damage at all.
We have 298 which has Volk returning post KO vs Islam, before he has a fight booked.
Then 299 where we will most likely see Islam with O'malley and Vera booked.

If he isn't on any of those cards he doesn't fight until May at the earliest. The UFC definitely offerred him all 3 of those cards, because otherwise he doesn't fight till mid year with ramadan.

 

[maximus__]

Again if you paid any attention...Islam would love to fight the winner of Leon and Colby but it's up to the UFC to make the fights with any LW contender. He wants contenders! He had one with Charles but Charles pulled out.

Volk gave him his toughest fight in years, if Islam didn't take up the rematch (even on short notice), you guys would have crawled out of the woodwork shouting from the rooftops, Islam is running scared of Volk. He can't win with you guys.

He has not fought most of his top 15. He doesn't have the body of work to go up to 170 yet.

He doesn't take Khabibs wins by training with him and Charles wins by beating him. He still actually needs to fight those guys that he just sent this message to.

All people are asking is for him to actually defend his belt against contenders in his division. Why is that such a big ask just because he will be the favourite? GSP, SIlva, Izzy and Volk all did it for years before they chased the next belt and actually beat most of their top 5-10 guys. He has beaten 4 in total his entire career. He hasn't beaten a single one whilst being champion.

 

[Streeter]

He has several options .

Ideally Islam fights Charles soon..... Arman vs Dustin .........Islam v Gaetje ...... Islam vs Arman

 

[moosaev]

There is no reason Islam shouldn't be signed to a fight unless it's on his end for a LW defence. Leave 170 alone for a year, get those defences in and he breaks the LW defence record. Then he can go up and get the WW belt, unless he needs to get there quick to avoid someone in the WW title picture.

Smh, sherdog gonna sherdog. Always blame the fighter first.

Firstly, it's only been 6 weeks since Islam last fought and you're basically already accusing him of holding up the division? Absurd.

Secondly, you have no idea why Islam hasn't been booked yet, it could be the UFC finalizing details (for example if they want him to fight in Saudi), or it could be the opponent holding it up.. FYI, of all the current ranked LWs, none of them have confirmed fights. So this isn't an Islam issue it's obviously a UFC issue.

 

[maximus__]

Smh, sherdog gonna sherdog. Always blame the fighter first.

Firstly, it's only been 6 weeks since Islam last fought and you're basically already accusing him of holding up the division? Absurd.

Secondly, you have no idea why Islam hasn't been booked yet, it could be the UFC finalizing details (for example if they want him to fight in Saudi), or it could be the opponent holding it up.. FYI, of all the current ranked LWs, none of them have confirmed fights. So this isn't an Islam issue it's obviously a UFC issue.

Tah the full post in context dude... I am clearly talking about the 155 champ defending his belt in his division.

He isn't injured, he has 3 fresh matchups in the top 5 and 2 rematches with only 1 of those being a recent fight, when he won the title. He has so much more work to do at LW. He has 2 guys ready to go and they could line up either, with the other as the back up. If not you have Gamrot and Arman both ready to go and they can also serve as back up.

There is no reason Islam shouldn't be signed to a fight unless it's on his end for a LW defence. Leave 170 alone for a year, get those defences in and he breaks the LW defence record. Then he can go up and get the WW belt, unless he needs to get there quick to avoid someone in the WW title picture.

If Islam said he wanted to jump on any of the early 2024 cards they would have booked him straight away. He isn't injured as far as we know, had a camp for Charles recently and didn't take a single sig strike vs Volk. There is no reason he couldn't have had a quick turn around and fight Charles early next year. He already did all the work.

The UFC would have loved it as they lost Volk, scrambled to replace it with Strickland (only fought 3-4 weeks prior to Islam) and need someone else for the card with O'malley. We have years of Islam following the same schedule to look back on AND Volk is already booked again. Why can Volk do it but not Islam? One of these fighters is not like the other. The ability to fight more is right there.

By talking about fighting at 170 and saying Charles and Gaethje should fight against each other, he is 100% holding the division up because he doesn't want to fight either of these guys right now. He has not got the body of work to be looking outside 155 when he has two guys ready to go and only 4 wins within the top 15, none being when he had the belt.

These are all valid criticisms of Islam. The guy is an amazing fighter, but he has never been majorly active during his UFC career. The second he was active his career suddenly skyrocketed. Now he has the belt, he is back to that 2x yearly schedule.

 

[Steve Fox]

Is he going to defend his belt or what?

 

[AL-Tappo McSnappo]

He's the real deal,but he seems really unfocused about what he wants to do. Arman Shoryuken looked amazing in that last fight. That makes me want to see that fight more than any of the other shit hes talkin about.

Or its just some shit talking

 

[_manhattan]

If Islam said he wanted to jump on any of the early 2024 cards they would have booked him straight away.

That just isn't true.
Islam has always said he likes being an active fighter. He wanted to fight 3x this year, lobbied for a summer fight before Abu Dhabi but the UFC held him out.
He's said he's been training and ready for the UFC to book him a fight. And he's flying in for the Vegas card to try to get a fight booked/ corner his teammate Tagir Ulanbekov.

The notion that he's not being proactive enough is silly. He can only fight who the UFC offers.

 

[maximus__]

That just isn't true.
Islam has always said he likes being an active fighter. He wanted to fight 3x this year, lobbied for a summer fight before Abu Dhabi but the UFC held him out.
He's said he's been training and ready for the UFC to book him a fight. And he's flying in for the Vegas card to try to get a fight booked/ corner his teammate Tagir Ulanbekov.

The notion that he's not being proactive enough is silly. He can only fight who the UFC offers.

He still has only fought 1-2x a year (except 2021) his UFC entire career. Stop making things up because Islam says he wants to be active. You have data from 2015 showing that 2x a year is his schedule.

The second he fought 3x in a year, he became a highly ranked fighter. Being active was all it took.

He runs 3-4 months camps because he needs to drop weight off before the cut.

The UFC is offering him dates and he is picking them. Now he wants Gaethje and Charles to fight whilst he goes and fights at WW, with no defences against LWs in his division.

I will say I don't think it's Islam personally so much as his team that prevent him from fighting more.

 

[Istryker]

The greatest lw i ever seen.

 

[Jihad-MMA]

The greatest lw i ever seen.

Skillset-wise, Islam's the greatest. His resume just isn't there yet.

 

[checktheknuckles]

Wtf how do you know that?

Maybe they don't have the skills he has, but heart and discipline can't be questioned with these guys. The only margin at the highest level is SKILL

Plus we all know the islam/charles fight would always end up how it was between Stipe/DC and Leon/Usman. Hence why he keeps fighting fws and wanting to fight anyone but LWs.

 

[cmw43]

If the UFC will let him. Its not his choice to sit out for months at a time waiting for the annual Abu Dhabi card.

Doesn't he normally schedule a few months out for Ramadan as well?

 

[richardjohnson]

Plus we all know the islam/charles fight would always end up how it was between Stipe/DC and Leon/Usman. Hence why he keeps fighting fws and wanting to fight anyone but LWs.

he tried fighting charles again but chuck got hurt

 

[maximus__]

Doesn't he normally schedule a few months out for Ramadan as well?

Last fight was October. He usually gets one fight in prior to Ramadan (traditionally March) then he fights again around October. The only time in the UFC he fought 3x in a calendar year , he fought again in July before making October again.

1-2x a year has been his schedule since 2015 except 2021 when he fought 3x. Most likely he will be booked at that time again as I think it's a Saudi card.

His camps are 3+ months on average each time from memory. He did a 4 month camp for Charles from the interviews.