Eh, this changes nothing. The guy isn't exciting or marketable but he is undeniable whether Dana likes him or not. 18-0, 8-0 UFC, ranked in the top 5. And his division is fairly devoid of quality contenders. If they're matching him up with Aljo, they plan to give him a title shot.
I think he just needs a finish to make himself undeniable. It's crazy he hasn't had one in the UFC yet. Half the women's strawweight division are better finishers than him.
Eh, this changes nothing. The guy isn't exciting or marketable but he is undeniable whether Dana likes him or not. 18-0, 8-0 UFC, ranked in the top 5. And his division is fairly devoid of quality contenders. If they're matching him up with Aljo, they plan to give him a title shot.
The problem is that he's going to have to wait for the Ilia, max, volk love triangle to resolve.
In my head, it's just Ilia vs Max next, Volk should take about 6 months off and then prepare for a fight...he's old and got absolutely knocked out cold in back to back fights which is crazy. He shouldn't be in any conversations pushing 36 and been knocked dead twice in a row. Have him come back and get a number 1 contender fight after he's recovered, Ilia fight Max and the winner face Evloev vs Aljo winner.
Yeah, to me, a win is a win and winning definitively is winning definitively regardless of by decision or finish. I understand the UFC wants excitement but to me, it's just nonsense to entertain giving Ortega an unearned 3rd title shot over Evloev. A farce of a sport in that sense.
By the time max and illia is sorted, volk will be back, and whether we like it or not, we both know he is at most 1 win away from a title fight.
I can easily see a timeline like this:
Max fights illia september
Evloev fights sterling September
Volk says he's entering camp in november-december
Ilia or max chose volk as their next challenger in february ish lol.
If I was evloev, I'd be calling out volk for the end of the year. It is the only way to make sure volk won't leap frog him.
I would think Topuria would entertain a fight with Evloev unless he's thinking he'll get more money fighting the other guys. Evloev just doesn't seem much of a threat to Topuria to me.
This is 100% true. He almost gets caught in something every single fight.I think Movsar has probably been closer to being finished a few times more than he's been close to finishing anyone himself.