You can say making weight has never been an issue for Nate but he went up to WW before and lost to the real WWs and that is the same thing that happened to him up there this time. He is 0-4 vs true WWs, those are the facts. Weight cutting is easy because its a science huh, ok go say that to someone during a tough cut and get their opinion on the issue.
36 might not be old for a fighter but elite LWs primes tend to be between the ages of 26-33. Years and years of data back that up. Its not speculation.
Nate is a warrior and I agree that nobody at LW will make light work of him. I just donāt agree with you that the LW division is Nateās for the taking. Donāt see him picking Dustin apart with ease and he wonāt outclass Charles. Charles is a hungry and active fighter. Diaz took three years off after he made his Conor money and he took another year off after Masvidal took it to him. At 36 and after not making the weight cut to his best class in over five yearsā¦ thats just not the guy who is gonna all of a sudden dominate a division. Diaz fans sure are optimists though, Iāll give ya that.
Light work? Certainly notā¦but Leon was making it look easy until the last 60 seconds of the fight. Nobody is going to run Nate over and put him away easily, but I could see half the top 15 beating Nate 30-27 or 50-45 in a fight thatās a lot more fun than the cards would indicate.
RDA is ranked 7th, and he made Nate look like shit when they fought. Iāve seen nothing from either guy that makes me think a rematch is any different.
Ali said they want RDA or Tony next for Makhachev, they clearly know Islam even on an eight fight win streak will have to wait for Poirier vs Charles and the winner of that vs the Gaethje Chandler winner to play out. So his earliest title fight could not come until next summer.
I think UFC and Dominance felt that while Khabib was around there was no point in having Makhachev fighting and beating anyone UFC wanted to build for a title fight because if Makhachev beats say Gaethjeā¦ there goes Gaethjeās short term marketability as a contender and Makhachev could not take his place and challenge for the title with Khabib holding it. UFC would not want to risk Makhachev beating a Tony or Dustin and then not having a contender for Khabib to fight. Like with Charles, UFC has kept Makhachev active until the timing is right for him to be in t he big fights.
Ali manages Gaethje, Makhachev and Dariush so none of those guys will fight each other unless its for the title most likely so thats a good clue Makhachev vs Dariush wonāt happen anytime soon.
Iām sure it will be Islam vs RDA next, they tried to book it once already but injury happened. After losing three fights, I feel Tonyās team might want to see him take a more winnable than Makhachev. Tony has nothing for him at this point.
Tony vs Dan Hooker would be super fun. Tony vs RDA rematch could be fun too. Letās be real thoughā¦Tony is 37, and has looked bad in 3 straight lossesā¦all top guys, but itās still 3 straight losses. His previous wins were Cowboy and Pettis, both of whom clearly lost a step, and both were putting on great performances against Tony (meaning competitive and fun, not saying they were winning) prior to it getting stopped in between rounds due to their faces being hamburger.
Iām really frustrated with how theyāve handled Gaethje. He said after the Khabib fight heād be ready to go in 12 weeks against anyone, and here we are 9 months later and heās not booked. Heās the most fun guy to watch in the division and should be booked.
Either way, Iāve said it on other threads, Poirier isnāt fighting Charles under his current contract (he said the offer was 1/3 of the show money he was offered for Conor and no PPV points) and heās sat on the sidelines before because he wasnāt happy with his deal, so I actually think weāll get Gaethje vs Oliveira next, and if that happens we may get Dariush vs Chandler.
Tony vs Hooker makes perfect sense for both right now. Good idea. They have to be discussing that one.
Yeah the whole Gaethje thing has been a mystery to me. I donāt know how much of it has been Gaethje wanting only certain fights, Gaethje dealing with undisclosed injury or UFC wanted to hold him back as replacement in the event these title fight negotiations break down. Maybe they have just wanted him to wait for Chandler and only offered him weak fights so it happened. Dana always claim they have to offer everyone three fights a year per their contract so you know he was offered something in the past year. Where Gaethje is in his career, I just donāt think he wanted a fight to stay busy after the Khabib loss, think he is waiting for the right fight at the right time but I have no fucking idea what has been going on.
If Nate plans to drop to 55 before he retires Iād love to see Gaethje vs Nate. Timing has to be right for that one but Iād still love to see it before they both retire.
Dana said he wants Chandler vs Gaethje next. Chandler said he wonāt be ready until the fall. Gaithje might be unhappy with money and seeing Chandler come in and get that instant title shot off one win.
The looming question on peopleās minds: where does Gaethje fit into this equation?
āWho knows, man,ā Gaethje told Full Reptile. āI canāt talk about it a lot right nowāIām sure me talking about it [in the past] is the reason Iām here. Who knows? Maybe I pissed someone off. I donāt know.
āAll I know is since I was 12, 13 years old, I listened to Dana White do interviews and explain what he wanted in a fighter, and Iām that motherf*cker.ā
Gaethje, a former UFC interim and WSOF champion, has publicly expressed frustrations with Whiteās handling of the lightweight title picture, most notably the push that Chandler has received since coming into the promotion from Bellator.
The Elevation Fight Team standout wants nothing more but to get back in the octagon, but he doesnāt seem like heās going to settle for less than he feels he deserves.
āIf I get disrespected, itās gonna be hurtful because I really bought into what [Dana] talks about. So itāll hurt, because I feel like a company man from day one. I donāt ever want to go anywhere else, I donāt want to fight anywhere else. But my principles are the most important thing to me. Weāll see what happens.ā
I remember reading a few times that Gaethje accepted fights and other guys turned them down. I think the issue has been timing, and what made sense for the UFC. They needed a title fight, and it had to be between guys that didnāt lose to Khabib so they could market the new champ as if he was a legit champ.
We already see it, Oliveira with the BJJ could have been a tough matchup for Khabib!!! is all the shit I was readingā¦his hands are so good, heās lethal on the ground! If Chandler won, heād be saying the āif we ever fought heād be 29 and Chandlerā line he used a bunch. Thatās what the UFC wanted so they booked it. I get it from a marketing standpoint, but I donāt like having the #1 ranked guy on the sidelines.
Conor and Dustin were fighting, so who was left? The UFC tried to book Nate vs Gaethje, but Nate wanted 170 and fought Leonā¦so who is left? RDA was dealing with an injury and needed surgery, Ferguson already lost to the guy and was booked with Dariush, Hooker lost a couple in a row. Islam was really all that was left, and theyāre managed by the same team and putting the #2 guy in with Islam doesnāt make a ton of sense.
If Chandler isnāt ready, I LOVE the idea of RDA vs Gaethje, either as a 5 round co-main on a PPV, or as a free tv headliner. I hate that Gaethje isnāt booked.
mmajunkie usually compiles a bunch of stats prior to fights and publishes them in an article.
Was just reading that article yesterday and saw that Makhachev is the least hit fighter in UFC history. Gets hit like 0.77 times per minute. I think they only include fighters with five or more fights for all their stats. He also highest the highest takedown attempt success rate in LW history with 69%. Pretty impressive stats for a guy with nine UFC fights. Will be interesting if he can continue to keep his striking defense and takedowns stats so high after he starts to face the top 8/top5 level guys in the division.
I agree, heāll get one. Nobody that made sense was available, and I think he gets either RDA or Chandler. Iām not convinced Chandler vs Gaethje gets booked. Itās been talked about for a while now with no announcement.