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At least it sounds like he is not just gonna sit out for another year waiting for the right fight. He just lost one of the few remaining years of his prime for nothing.
Just his strategyā¦turning down someone like #11 Tsarukyan when you are only 1-1 vs the top 15ā¦thats just not helpful. Meanwhile Tsarukyan and Gamrot just beat lower ranked guys and now they are gonna fight each other and its the winner of that who will have the buzz to get the big fight while Gillespie is just there on the sidelines. Now that Gillespie is out of the rankingsā¦guess who is back in them? Ferreira, the guy he just beat. Look at RDA, the man won the title and has fought everyone, coming off a bigger LW win than Gillespie when he beat Felder and still took the Moicano fight after Fiziev pulled out, RDA is ranked #7 and he is about to fight #10 Fiziev, its not even one of the ten biggest fights RDA has taken in the UFC but RDA knows that fighting and winning earns him the big fights in the UFC and sometimes he even gets them off loses.
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RDA has been in there with Cowboy, Khabib, Bendo, Nate, Pettis, Alvarez, Tony, Lawler, Covington, Usman, Edwards etcā¦ when they were all highly ranked and he has had over 30 UFC fights and won the title at LW and competed for the int. title at WW and he still fought a virtual unknown fighter in his last fight and is fighting down in the rankings again vs Fizev because he knows he is 37 and the clock is ticking and has to take whatever fights he can and win like Charles Oliveira just did to get to that title shot.
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The UFC doesnāt have a rule that guys get removed after X amount of inactivity. They remove guys when theyāre annoyed that they keep turning down fights to send a message. Based on his post, he doesnāt appear to be hearing it.
As for his complaints about guys turning down fightsā¦Ferguson got a fight with Chandler, which is a much bigger fightā¦and if youāre not willing to fight guys behind you in the rankings, why should someone above you be willing to fight you? He could have fought 4 fucking times by now if he just said yes every once in a while.
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Riddell vs Turner added, July 2nd with the Miller Green fight.
Upcoming LW fights:
Cowboy vs Lauzon
Kutateladze vs Ismagulov
RDA vs Fiziev
Moises vs Giagos
Tsarukyan vs Gamrot
Klose vs Ferreira
Green vs Miller
Riddell vs Turner
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LW is unbelievably deep and the most exciting division, maybe the best division in all of combat sports of all time right now.
Riddell, Tsarukian, Fiziev, Chandler, Poirier, Gaethje, Islam, Oliveira, RDA, Dariush, Gamrot, Kutateladze
Iām sure Iām missing a few, but I can literally see any of them being champ over the next 3-5 years.
Impossible not to be a fan of RDA. Yes heās taking advantage of fighting while he still can at that levelā¦but thereās also that old school mentality. Down to fight whoever and whenever. Miss the days when most fighters were on that wave length
Thatās trueā¦Joanna was removed after like 19 months of inactivity, not 12. Her division is a lot shallower than the LW division though, and sheās earned her place a lot more than Gregor has. But bottom line is youāre right and I think this is similar to what they did with Leon. Removing from rankings in an attempt to remove any bargaining power and force them to take a fight. Gregorās not hearing it yet but the division is too deep, theyāll have no problem moving on from a former top ten guy on a one fight winning streak. Shame really though, heās a fun guy to watch fight and makes for some interesting match ups
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To me, Charles vs Makhachev, 5 rounds for the title is the best MMA fight that can be made in 2022. I want to see it more than any other fight in the UFC or MMA in general. Iāve wanted to see it for several years but now more than ever of course. Want to see it way more than Jones vs Ngannou or anything like that.
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Agreed. Thereās no other fight that interests me more currently
The only matchups that compare would be Khamzat vs Colby/Usman
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Makhachev needs a relevant ranked win first.
A short notice win over Bobby Green just doesnāt cut it.
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Not his fault the other guy could not show up for the #1 contenders fight like he was supposed to.
When wrestlers show up to compete at the worlds the guys who show up get to compete to see who is gonna be the world champion. You donāt blame them because other guys were injured and did not show up.
Islam showed up 4x in 11 months and won 4x. Not his fault RDA and Dariush could not show up and not his fault Chandler and Tony turned down the fight.
Islam shows up at the worlds and so does Charles. Let them meet in the finals.
Half the UG canāt handle that Khabib and Islam are 24-1 in the UFC while their favorite fighters Chandler and Gaethje are 8-6 but Iām a fan of all four fighters in the cage so I can handle it.
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Probably true.
Iām not a fan of either Chandler or Gaethje, though. Makhachev vs. Dariush is still the fight to make.
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Any idea when Dariush can return? Since Dariush could not show up for the #1 contenders fight Iād rather see him fight someone like the RDA Fiziev winner or Poirier to determine the next title challenger after Oliveira vs Makhachev happens but people are always gonna have different opinions on next title challengers.
Should be ready to return in the next month or two.
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I donāt think it removes their bargaining power, it just tells them āfuck you, youāre not being reasonable and weāre moving on. Tell your story walking.ā
Thatās the UFC telling him theyāre done negotiating, theyāre not giving him anymore concessions, call us when youāre ready to fight one of the guys weāve offered.
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Even if thatās trueā¦what should Charles do in the meantime? Heās calling out guys like Conor and Diaz. I donāt think he can have it both waysā¦āIām not fighting Islam because he hasnāt earned a title shot, so I want him to fight a tough guy of my choosing, and Iāll fight a popular guy thatās coming off multiple losses instead.ā
Thatās the problem hereā¦if there was another fight that made sense, fineā¦idgaf if they make Islam fight again firstā¦but thereās nobody more deserving of the title shot.
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Charlesās best leverage is that he technically isnāt the LW champion!
He can pull off a Poirer who decided to fight Conor for a 3rd time instead of fighting for the title which went to Chandler/Oliviera.
My main issue is that the 3rd Conor/Poirer fight actually made sense as a fight to make. What Charles wants really doesnāt. Sure, itās a fight, but itāll be seen as more of a detour than a legitimate follow-up.
And assuming Charles wins, heāll go back to challenging for the title afterwards.
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You think Conor is going to fight Charles for no title? lol He doesnāt want to come back to 155 to begin with.
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I donāt even know if Conor can make 155 again lol
Idk. If chandler can maybe Conor can too but I donāt see him going back to LW
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Arman Tsarukyan vs Gamrot is happening in June!