Nah. Had Gaethje been just hype as the Zuffa Zombies said he was -- he'd been KO by MJ in the first round. As it was, he beat that guy and had a car-crash of a fight with top 5 Eddie Alvarez. Gaethje is a terrific competitor even though he lost his last two bouts.
I am not saying he was hype. I am contrasting his situation with that of ACB champs. Meaning, I would like them to be given the same treatment that Gaethje received. And if they're hype, as some like to contend about every Russian fighter, then that would make Gaethje the same since he lost his last 2 bouts. I just want them all to be treated similarly because I believe ACB champs are just as legit as Gaethje.
Is that a fact or a theory?
As you mentioned -- Ali Aziz pretty much dominates the management of North-Caucasus fighters, and Ali Aziz is very, very sketchy when it comes to dealing with Bellator. He sends almost all of them to UFC or PFL, but the only one he has in Bellator seems to be Neiman Grace (who needless to say isn't from that region).
It is both. The blacklist is a theory. The
fact is they have no North Caucasian fighters. The Russian Olympic wrestling team is entirely NC for example; makes no logical sense for Bellator to have Russian fighters yet not NCs. There's
so much talent there but only one gets to represent Russia per category that many of them end up representing Belarus, Azerbaijan and other states at the Olympics. Nothing's stopping anyone from scouting talent from there.
Ali is not the one enforcing the monopoly on NC or Russian fighters. He doesn't control fighters from that region, he just happens to be the only one making the effort to sign them. Prior to Ali, it was Sam Kardan that managed NC fighters. He's the one that managed Khabib, and Adlan Amagov in Strikeforce. He eventually retired from management, and Khabib moved onto Ali. That is how Ali got into signing Dagestani guys, which began with signing Khabib's teammates the likes of Tukhugov, Khabilov and Machachev. There is nothing stopping Bellator from signing guys from that region from gyms that have nothing to do with Ali–and there's plenty of them. The same for the UFC.
I think the proposition you're making is unsound. Why demand that Ranking Sites get a better overview of how amateur/other sport achievements play into the rankings -- when you could just demand that they get a better overview of MMA accomplishments? Which seems a much more reasonable and likely transformation to occur. Also, taking into account other sports/amateurs creates some truly nebulous situations. How many fighters would genuinely have their rankings improved if you look at amateur careers? None is the answer. Also, it's darn difficult to assess how good someone will be based on their achievements in other sports. For every Yoel Romero, there are plenty of highly decorated people who don't pan out or are outskilled by people with virtually no history in said sports (like GSP with wrestling).
How so? I'm not proposing the amateur accomplishment in and of itself make the fighter ranked high [Tapology/etc]. Perhaps I should elaborate. If a fighter is being dominant in his wins or performance, the way to determine whether he's simply winning because he's fighting "no names" vs winning because he's genuinely dominant is by looking at amateur accomplishment. It's not uncommon in boxing rankings. If he's dominant and has a preexisting history of being dominant/successful than clearly he's not just hype or overrated, and therefore should be factored into his ranking. Otherwise you're just relying on names who have fought in the UFC/Bellator which is impossible to have on your record if you're from outside North America.
Generally, a fighter with extensive accomplishments in wrestling or sambo will do good in MMA, since they cover the grappling aspect of MMA that is the main hurdling point for someone who comes from a decorated striking background but then gets owned in MMA. Amateur MMA is also pretty big in Russia under the Russian MMA Union and WMMAA who organize regional, national and world tournaments in amateur MMA. Zabit is a former Russian national champ, and was in a number of other tournaments that's not properly recorded on Tapology/Sherdog.
