Why The Selective Outrage Over Belal Muhammad Not Getting a Title Shot?

[UFCIsNOTRigged]

I see a lot of folks outraged that the UFC have not yet guaranteed Belal Muhammad a title shot, on the basis of “meritocracy”, but these same outraged fans didn’t say a peep about Marina Rodriguez not getting a title shot after arguably cleaning out the strawweight division last year. The UFC made Rodriguez continue to fight contenders, until they found one who was able to beat her, and then immediately gave that contender (Amanda Lemos) a title shot.

Rodriguez defeated Amanda Ribas (then #10), Michelle Waterson-Gomez (then #9), Tecia Torres (then #8), Mackenzie Dern (then #4), and Yan Xiaonan (then #4); she had wins over five Top 10 ranked fighters, headlined multiple fight nights, and never received a title shot. Whereas Belal beat Demian Maia (then #9) in his retirement fight, Sean Brady (then #8), Stephen Thomson (then #5), Vicente Luque (then #5), and Gilbert Burns (then #5); the exact same number of Top 10 wins as Marina Rodriguez.

I would argue Rodriguez’s opponents had more momentum going into their fights with her, but more importantly she had the exact same number of Top 10 wins as Belal yet there was no outrage when she didn’t receive a title shot. So why would it be such a tremendous injustice if Belal did not receive the next title shot, when Rodriguez very recently did not receive one despite being just as deserving, and you have an undefeated contender with all finishes like Shavkat waiting in the wings?

 

[DoctorStoppage]

Because no one cares about WMMA

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

They didn't remember he was the #1 contender

 

[Local Plata]

WMMA? Lmao.

 

[Viking Power]

I'll be honest, I don't care much about WMMA and frankly had no clue about Rodriguez and her similar situation.
I've definitely been one that thinks that Belal should get his shot and that he certainly deserved one over Colby.

 

[UFCIsNOTRigged]

WMMA? Lmao.

Belal finishes opponents at a lower rate than most WMMA fighters. Lmao

 

[Local Plata]

Belal finishes opponents at a lower rate than most WMMA fighters. Lmao

What does that have to do with anything? You could have any two women fighting for any title at any time and I would still care the same amount. The divisions aren't deep and there is basically no real talent in WMMA aside from a handful of women. It's pointless. That was my point, not finish rates or anything.

Basically, it's not 'selective outrage' as you suggest, its utter indifference to the entirety of WMMA that you're seeing, and incorrectly somehow correlating it with the Belal situation that gets fans of MMA (not necessarily WMMA) bent out of shape.

 

[Ozze]

It's not selective if no one knows about the other...

I mean, c'mon. You knew how this thread would play along.

 

[Safton]

I mean... I made arguments in favor of both getting title shots and against the matchmaking seeming to screw them over. There are at least a few others that did the same.

 

[Fedora Millionankles]

I see a lot of folks outraged that the UFC have not yet guaranteed Belal Muhammad a title shot, on the basis of “meritocracy”, but these same outraged fans didn’t say a peep about Marina Rodriguez not getting a title shot after arguably cleaning out the strawweight division last year. The UFC made Rodriguez continue to fight contenders, until they found one who was able to beat her, and then immediately gave that contender (Amanda Lemos) a title shot.

Rodriguez defeated Amanda Ribas (then #10), Michelle Waterson-Gomez (then #9), Tecia Torres (then #8), Mackenzie Dern (then #4), and Yan Xiaonan (then #4); she had wins over five Top 10 ranked fighters, headlined multiple fight nights, and never received a title shot. Whereas Belal beat Demian Maia (then #9) in his retirement fight, Sean Brady (then #8), Stephen Thomson (then #5), Vicente Luque (then #5), and Gilbert Burns (then #5); the exact same number of Top 10 wins as Marina Rodriguez.

I would argue Rodriguez’s opponents had more momentum going into their fights with her, but more importantly she had the exact same number of Top 10 wins as Belal yet there was no outrage when she didn’t receive a title shot. So why would it be such a tremendous injustice if Belal did not receive the next title shot, when Rodriguez very recently did not receive one despite being just as deserving, and you have an undefeated contender with all finishes like Shavkat waiting in the wings?

No offense, but WMMA is like the WNBA; nobody is watching or cares about that shit.

 

[nostradumbass]

Not outraged over Boolol, and don't know who the eff Martinez is.

 

[Goutfather]

I see a lot of folks outraged that the UFC have not yet guaranteed Belal Muhammad a title shot…

…who?

these same outraged fans didn’t say a peep about Marina Rodriguez not getting a title shot

…literally who?

it’s an outrage that what’shisname didn’t get the thing he wanted. but what’shername is even harder to care about so i guess she

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

No offense, but WMMA is like the WNBA; nobody is watching or cares about that shit.

I think more MMA fans care about the women fights than basketball fans care about the WNBA. For me I'm interested in the big fights but generally speaking I do care about the guy fights more. There's something about fighting that if they're well matched I don't care if they're women or amateur boxers at my local gym, still worth watching.

 

[UFConFOX]

Belal finishes opponents at a lower rate than most WMMA fighters. Lmao

Bruh, you have to not take the mask off so quickly so as to perpetuate the sincerity of the original troll.

Ugh, Come on dawg. This threat had potential!

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

I see a lot of folks outraged that the UFC have not yet guaranteed Belal Muhammad a title shot, on the basis of “meritocracy”, but these same outraged fans didn’t say a peep about Marina Rodriguez not getting a title shot after arguably cleaning out the strawweight division last year. The UFC made Rodriguez continue to fight contenders, until they found one who was able to beat her, and then immediately gave that contender (Amanda Lemos) a title shot.

Rodriguez defeated Amanda Ribas (then #10), Michelle Waterson-Gomez (then #9), Tecia Torres (then #8), Mackenzie Dern (then #4), and Yan Xiaonan (then #4); she had wins over five Top 10 ranked fighters, headlined multiple fight nights, and never received a title shot. Whereas Belal beat Demian Maia (then #9) in his retirement fight, Sean Brady (then #8), Stephen Thomson (then #5), Vicente Luque (then #5), and Gilbert Burns (then #5); the exact same number of Top 10 wins as Marina Rodriguez.

I would argue Rodriguez’s opponents had more momentum going into their fights with her, but more importantly she had the exact same number of Top 10 wins as Belal yet there was no outrage when she didn’t receive a title shot. So why would it be such a tremendous injustice if Belal did not receive the next title shot, when Rodriguez very recently did not receive one despite being just as deserving, and you have an undefeated contender with all finishes like Shavkat waiting in the wings?

Yes they did?

Do I need to respond to the rest of the bullshit, or will that do?

Also, he's obviously got the bigger string of better ranked opponents (you're bullshitting by mentioning Tecia when she had a loss between that and her other wins) with her #9, #9, #4, and #4 with her final hurdle unfortunately being a pretty debatable decision (granted, I was still calling out that shouldn't matter and she should have been next and pointing out that so was the Carla loss) vs his #9, #5, #5, #8, and #5 in what was specifically called an eliminator.

 

[welcometohavoc]

Because no one cares about WMMA

This

Even if you love WMMA you have to realize it isn't on the same level in terms of interest

 

[Prologue]

Outrage?

 

[Luthien]

The first fight was a stinker, saved by the eye poke to get us out early <Lmaoo>

Why anyone in their right mind wants to watch part 2 of that is beyond me^^

 

[UFCIsNOTRigged]

Yes they did?

Do I need to respond to the rest of the bullshit, or will that do?

Also, he's obviously got the bigger string of better ranked opponents (you're bullshitting by mentioning Tecia when she had a loss between that and her other wins) with her #9, #9, #4, and #4 with her final hurdle unfortunately being a pretty debatable decision (granted, I was still calling out that shouldn't matter and she should have been next and pointing out that so was the Carla loss) vs his #9, #5, #5, #8, and #5 in what was specifically called an eliminator.

This is hilarious. You think Belal beating a 44 year old Demian Maia in his retirement fight, 38 year old Wonderboy, and 36 year old Gilbert Burns, all by decision, is more impressive than Marina beating a string of younger contenders she was favored to lose too?

Also, who is "they" lmao, if you mean yourself then say that instead of pretending you represent everyone. Unless you also represent the virgin dudes in this thread pretending to not know who Rodriguez is.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

This is hilarious. You think Belal beating a 44 year old Demian Maia in his retirement fight, 38 year old Wonderboy, and 36 year old Gilbert Burns, all by decision, is more impressive than Marina beating a string of younger contenders she was favored to lose too?

Also, who is "they" lmao, if you mean yourself then say that instead of pretending you represent everyone. Unless you also represent the virgin dudes in this thread pretending to not know who Rodriguez is.

I represent the people I also was speaking with back in the day because I was there, and you apparently weren't, but still decided to speak on behalf of first.

I think Wonderboy had a long cemented position in the ranks, unlike strawweight, which had a lot of newer fighters, and a high rate of turnover and meaningless numbers next to their names. He had fought for the title twice, and Burns was a contender too, even pretty recently. They KEPT themselves at the top with repeated wins (like how Waterson had repeatedly proven herself to be the back half of the top 10 in her old age, but yeah, great win for Rodriguez, bud..). Compare that to Xioanan who fought her way to an eliminator and just lost. She was still only freshly in the rankings, and was on the backstep, so there's no reason to think her fight against Marina would have been an eliminator. Again, the Burns fight was specifically called that.

But talking about fresh faces instead of "old" contenders who apparently no one can beat, but them being old means they don't count for some reason: take 2 surging fighters they both fought. Sean Brady was on a 5 fight win streak vs Ribas, who was on 4, but Brady still had 10 pre-UFC fighters under his belt, vs Ribas who came in only at 6-1. That's the different in the experience level you get in the two divisions. The surging fresh faced hot streak in the UFC has twice the win streak Ribas did

Edit*: just pulled up 3 small threads (bout 6 pages each). Saw Safton, Sfer, Dreyga, Kyojiro, BFoe, Markys, Question, Mmmmmma, aerius, Wolilo, eplurubusunum, xhaydenx, Stoic, Hdfi, Jose Beehive, flowoftruth, Johnnny, Jackonfire, jx820, VaselineSweep, 13seconds, Xuh, tritestill, tbulls, Haliacmon, humdizzle, laleggenda, IneedSometop, MorningStar, Babyblue_Bomber, Campbecc, leto, JarlSkuld, Candy Routure, MDoza, YOU, HaulParris, Only Here for Attachments, Geniusss, & Liverkick-King all calling out Marina as the obvious challenger or the Zhang choice being BS