End of an era at LW

Underground
, , , ,
1

Makhachev said one more at LW and then he wants the WW belt. He will likely never return to LW and be retired by the end of 2026. Five more fights is all you can probably expect out of him, maybe two or three.

Dustin might be done, maybe has an interest in a couple more, we will see. 0-3 in title fights and he is wealthy. Won’t be motivated to take many more.

Actually, if he waits for Makhachev to go to WW… he could finally grab that damn belt.

Charles, Gaethje, Conor, Chandler, Diaz, Tony, Max, RDA, Johnson, Barboza, Hooker, Pettis, Dariush, Lee, Ferreira, Green, Miller, Dober etc… all still fighting. Some at WW, some at FW, some in other promotions.

Khabib is retired. All those other guys I mentioned will join him soon.

Go back a few years and Khabib, Tony, Gaethje, Dustin and Charles were the top 5 LW’s in the world.

Division has been very entertaining but its not gonna be instantly as good as its been.

Khabib, Conor, Makhachev, Charles, Max, Dustin, Tony Gaethje etc… are not instantly replaced with an equal field of competitors upon retirement.

The 2015-2024 UFC LW talent pool, fighters and fights was special and stands out compared to other weight classes. It has had the highest concentration of FOTN’s, POTN’s and stars the UFC has ever got out of a single weight class.

8 Likes
2

Since the start of 2015, only RDA, Alvarez, Conor, Khabib, Charles and Makhachev have been able to win the undisputed LW title.

Dustin, Tony and Gaethje all won the interim title in that time as well.

1 Like
3

Can’t forget Cowboy in this era either. Cowboy fought RDA for the title at the end of 2015 after going on an eight fight win streak where he beat a former UFC champ in Bendo and then a future UFC champ in Alvarez.

Cowboy had a run there where he only lost to Bendo, Nate, Pettis and RDA over eight years and he was often fighting 4x or 5x a year. It was an underrated run that has been sort of forgotten after he ended his career with a lot of losses.

6 Likes
4

LW has been the top division for as long as I can remember honestly

Sad to see Dustin go but his career was great

Islam is funny as fuck and a great fighter. Love watching him do what he does. I would love to see him beat Arman again then fight Conman, only if conman can beat Chandler and still make 155 that is. And I know that sounds casual but c’mon who wouldn’t love to see Islam beat the shit out of McTapper

4 Likes
5

Leon and belal are about as boring as it gets. I like Islam against both of them though

4 Likes
6

If Islam leaves LW, Usman could probably swoop in and take the belt pretty quickly. Would be crazy for the same crew to keep ruling that division generation after generation. Too bad he’s in Bellator.

BSD is also going to be a problem. Besides getting caught, he dominated Dustin thoroughly. More than Islam did.

7

As soon as that happens the LW division will turn to shit, like the UFC’s heavyweight division, or the UFC’s light heavyweight division, or the UFC’s middleweight division.

8

If Conor beats Chandler…Islam vs Conor for the LW title in the fall would be the most watched fight of 2024.

The casuals would be going nuts for that…all the history there with Khabib.

I hope it goes like that, Conor destroys Chandler in 1 and then Dana tells Tsaraukyan he is gonna have to wait for his shot until 2025 or fight for an interim belt vs Gamrot or something.

Conor beats Chandler and absolutely Dana will make the Makhachev fight if he can.

1 Like
9

Khabib grabbed the belt in 2018 but started his undefeated run in the UFC in 2012. What him and Islam have done as a couple lifelong training partners is nuts.

Khabib and Islam have gone 28-1 in the UFC’s deepest division over 13 years. If Usman comes in and continues that streak and brings them to like 40-1 in that UFC division it would be nuts.

For two training partners to do what they have done is crazy but to have one of their cousins come in and continue that dominance over a UFC division would be wild.

3 Likes
10

Most exciting division in the ufc by far but nobody uses wrestling since Khabib. Easy division for Islam to dominate. The top guys who are some of my favourite fighters, stand a trade in the pocket in every fight.

1 Like
12

If Chandler somehow beat Conor and got the title shot, that could actually be an interesting fight stylistically.

2 Likes
13

Stylistically, yeah to a degree. Chandler would be a dangerous fight for Makhachev when you look how he KOed Outlaw, Bendo, Hooker etc… in recent years but then again he is 38 and has recently been stopped by Pitbull, Charles and Dustin.

Chandler has little chance of taking down and controlling Makhachev for any length of time or finding a choke.

If Chandler beat Conor, I’d want to see Tsarukyan get the shot ahead of him.

Chandler just doesn’t have the momentum to get the crack at the champ right now.

14

and he hurt all of them before he lost lol, flying knees and all sort of shit then he should pick his shot and end the fight

and Charles is overrated

15

Of course more recently the new blood like Gamrot, Tsarukyan, Saint-Denis, Fiziev arrived and even Volkanovski visited the division for a minute.

Clay Guida was another guy in this legendary LW division. Long since past his prime but he has been out there basically alternating wins and losses since the start of 2015. 42 years old and still a UFC LW. The only LW they have under contract who is over 40 at the moment to my knowledge.

Leo Santos had a good run going at the start of 2015 but he started to age out of the division and ran into Grant Dawson. Was winning the fight until he gassed and was KOed with 1 second left. Lost to Guida and Jared Gordon and then retired at 42. Just got active in the UFC after he was too old to have much time.

Iaquinta, Martins, Khabilov, Trinaldo, Taisumov and Gillespie also had some success in the division.

Masvidal, Burns, Chiesa also had some fights in the division before heading to WW like Trinaldo.

Its weird how Taisumov went 7-2 in the UFC LW division and stopped fighting despite being young. Gillespie as well, went 7-1 and stopped competing. Couple of “what ifs” there.

16

Overrated, by who? Easy to call someone overrated after a loss. People do it here all the time. You hype someone after a win and then shit on them after a loss, rinse and repeat, so predictable. People were calling Charles overrated when he was a kid and got thrown to the wolves vs prime Cub and Edgar. Been called overrated for over a decade and he still went out there and won the title, had one of the best win streaks at LW ever and beat Gaethje, Chandler, Dustin, Lee, Tony, Dariush, Brooks etc…

Keep calling him overrated and he will just keep being one of the greatest LW’s in UFC history.

If Charles is overrated what does that make your boy Chandler? Dustin? Gaethje? Dariush?

2 Likes
17

Brooks beat Chandler 2x. Finished him once. Charles submitted Brooks in the 1st. Chandler got subbed by Dustin and lost to Gaethje. Charles subbed them both.

Sucks that Charles is so overrated, by your logic Chandler must really suck.

18

Paul Felder was another fighter who had a good run in that 2015-2024 LW division and helped make it so legendary.

19

Yes he sucks, gets knocked down multiple times per fight, Islam knocked him down and went for finish, all other fighters tried to finish him in high reel fashion and paid the price

20

Correction, got to add Pettis in there. Pettis was still champ at the start of 2015. RDA then took the belt from him in March of 2015. Pettis had defended vs Melendez at the end of 2014.

Though at the very end of his career, Melendez is another great LW you got to add in there as participating in the 2015-2024 LW decade. He fought Alvarez and Barboza in 2015 and 2016 before dropping to FW and then retiring. Bendo as well fought at LW in the UFC at the start of 2015 vs Cowboy. Josh Thomson as well had a UFC LW fight in 2015. Penn had the LW fights vs Hall and Guida in 2018 and 2019 as well. Ryan Hall actually kicked off 2015 winning a LW TUF tournament. Gray Maynard also had a couple LW fights after 2015 as his career was winding down. Even Dunham as well was still winning at LW in 2015. Had a draw with Dariush in 2017. Gomi, Joe Lauzon, Diego Sanchez also had UFC LW fights beyond 2015. Marcin Held, Aubin-Mercier and Rashid Magomedov were other very good fighters part of the 2015-2024 LW division.

21

Usman will jump to the UFC. Plus I believe 155 (before weight cut) is the most common sized adult male, that division will always have loads of talent