These fighters are not yet in the title picture like Poirier, Makhachev, Gaethje, Chandler and Dariush but there sure are some pretty records out there with some of these guys climbing the ranks.
Of course records are not everything and strength of schedule matters more but look at these single loss records and UFC fightmatrix rankings…
Azaitar is the only fighter ranked in the top 30 with an undefeated record (13-0). 10-0 Madsen is unranked at the moment due to inactivity but is booked vs Guida for next month.
Probably would have been better if that was his only callout…can’t exactly ask for half the guys ranked ahead of you and expect it to have the same impact as if he called for one guy. The only difference between what he did, and the typical “I’ll fight anyone ranked above me” is he used a few of their names.
For sure on Gamrot. I’m real interested in what all those guys climbing the ranks are gonna do in their next couple fights, Gamrot, Gillespie, Dawson, Fiziev etc…
One thing ya gotta love about the UFC is they do a good job of bringing in the champs and former champs of the smaller orgs, especially at LW. They know its their premier division that dominates in producing FOTNs and POTNs so they don’t sleep on grabbing the champs when they can.
Pettis was WEC champ, Melendez was Strikeforce champ, Eddie was the Bellator champ, Gillespie was the ROC champ, Ferreira was the LFA champ, Gaethje was WSOF champ, Conor was Cage Warriors. Gamrot was KSW. So for champs they recently got the former Bellator champ in Chandler, Gamrot from KSW and most recently Pimblett from Cage Warriors.
What do u guys think of Gaethje being out for so long and not taking the Chandler fight? There’s a video now of Ali listing off every reason for Chandler not deserving to fight Gathje and still expecting him to fight Oliveira ahead of Dustin despite having not won since the Khabib loss.
Stupid guy.
Some think he might be trying to save Chandler for Islam but ChAndler is right too in that it doesn’t make sense for him to fight a guy that low on the ranks. Islam needs to get closer to the top 5 first. Gaethje also acknowledged Chandler is a good fight for him style and rank wise so it seems Ali is holding shit up.
Also appears Ali manages too many top guys and has a clear conflict of interest.
I’m a huge Gaethje fan but fuck him getting a title shot without a top 5 W as his latest outcome.
Beneil is ready to fight anyone if these guys are hesitating, feed Gaethje to Islam who will make him pay on the ground just lik Khabib did (even though the leg kicks were accumulating and Khabib was running out of time).
I think its bullshit 5-3 UFC fighter Gaethje is coming off a L in a title fight and don’t want to fight for almost a year while also avoiding the Chandler fight. I enjoy Gaethje fights but I’d hate to see him get another title shot after sitting out a year and coming off the L. Hopefully the Chandler fight happens. No way in hell should Gaethje get the Oliveira fight ahead of Dustin (who beat Gaethje a few fights ago). Plus Dustin has been active and winning since his last title fight (3-0). Gaethje needs to go win a fight vs anyone in the top five.
As for Islam, he is now ranked #5 and on an eight fight win streak. Gonna be a waiting game for that title shot but he will likely get it after another win or maybe it will take two. Time will tell.
Don’t give a shit about Gaethje/Ali politics… I just want to see the most elite twenty LWs in the world active and competing vs one another. The division is at least 50% of the reason I still enjoy the UFC product.
I think Justin’s issue is that he accepted the Chandler fight ages ago, and then had it scrapped so Chandler can fight for the belt. I think he’s feeling rightly bruised – he has said yes to everything and always delivered for the company, and then he got screwed with.
I’m cross-posting this from another thread because I think it’s relevant here:
Right now, there is a case for and against everybody in the conversation in the LW division other than Dustin. Dustin is the uncrowned champ, IMO, but definitely the rightful number one contender.
-Case for Justin: Demolished Tony – a far more violent beatdown than Dariush or Charles. Had Khabib in a bit of trouble. Was on a 4-fight win streak before that.
Case against Justin: Quickly finished by Khabib in his last fight.
-Case for Chandler: Smoked Hooker; competitive with Do Bronx.
Case against Chandler: 1-1 in the UFC.
-Case for Islam: Dominance
Case against Islam: no big wins.
-Case for Dariush: massive win streak. Dominated Tony.
Case against Dariush: his win against Tony feels a bit like Colby’s win over Woodley – just a bit late to feel as special. No other huge wins.
Well the Gaethje situation makes more sense with that info regarding the fight he accepted being scrapped for Chandler’s title fight instead. Truth is I likely got critical of Gaethje in the situation without having that info you shared because Ali was the one advocating for another Gaethje title fight instead of Dustin and lets be honest… Ali is somewhat unlikable and his reasoning was ridiculous.
Good breakdown of the case for and against those top guys. Accurate.
Frankly I’m just glad Conor is out of the picture given his latest antics with Dustin’s family and as a fan just want to see the top guys healthy and active.
Gaethje said recently that he was 2-3 weeks into his camp for Chandler when the title fight was announced instead…and I think Ali is actually doing the smart thing right now. Chandler said he won’t be ready to fight until November, so there’s no reason to get that fight signed now.
With Dustin’s pattern of holding out over contract demands (he’s done it 4 times, and gone public every time prior to getting a new deal) as well as his comments the week of the McGregor fight (saying he was offered the title fight, but it was less than 1/3 of the base salary he’d get for the Conor fight, and he wasn’t offered PPV points), along with Dustin tweeting at Nate Diaz, there’s NO FUCKING CHANCE Dustin takes the fight with Oliveira for what he was offered before the Conor fight. ZERO.
So either the UFC and Dustin work out a deal quietly and the title fight gets booked as expected, or we’re a few weeks away from a “pay me what I’m worth or cut me #prizefighter” tweet from Poirier…and we saw how fast the UFC moved on from Ngannou vs Jones, and then Ngannou vs Lewis over $…creating a fucking interim title 3 months after dude won the belt.
So IF Dustin and the UFC don’t quickly work out a deal for Dustin vs Oliveira, it’s likely Oliveira will need a new opponent, and there’s no obvious option after Poirier. Gaethje is the next highest ranked, but hasn’t fought in almost a year, and lost his last fight. Dariush isn’t popular at all, and has 1 win over a top 10 guy, and that guy had lost 2 in a row and doesn’t look the same anymore…and then you have Chandler who just lost to Charles, and at 5 we have Islam, who also hasn’t beaten anyone in the top 10.
So if Dustin holds out for $, there isn’t a single title fight you can make that’s obvious. I 100% agree with Ali putting that out there and angling for it now in case the UFC decides to book someone else for it…and I think Gaethje does get it if Dustin holds out over $.
I think your analysis is pretty spot on. I’ll remain hopeful UFC can work out a deal with Dustin. He may have put his foot down in contract negotiations in the past but you know the competitor in him wants the belt and likely wants it bad. He has been at this a long time and what better acheivment after winning the int. title and beating the sport’s biggest star 2x in a year would there be than grabbing the world title just in time for Christmas? All these elite LWs are already wealthy.
I know Gaethje is the next highest in the rankings but rankings don’t mean all that much. I mean Oliveira vs Gaethje/Dariush/Makhachev is pretty much all in the same revenue ballpark, all those title fights headlining would likely pull around 300k buys. Sure the UFC guys have scenarios they favor but the revenue from the PPV would not change much when doing Oliveira vs a, b or c if they can’t do Oliveira Poirier.
If Dustin and the UFC don’t come to terms on a title fight, I wouldn’t be surprised if the UFC decides that this is the right moment to take a bet on Islam.
They sell Islam as the successor to Khabib. Olivera v. Islam definitely does worse than Olivera v. Porrier, but probably not much worse than Olivera v. Gaethje. It probably outperforms Olivera v. Dariush.
If Islam wins, they sell him as the new Khabib. If he loses, it further establishes do Bronx, maybe gets Khabib interested in fighting him, and gives Gaethje/Chandler/Dariush time to win another fight.
I don’t think Poirier necessarily cares about the belt, and if he has to decide on fighting Diaz for twice the money, or the belt, he takes the $ fight. I don’t blame him for it either…I just don’t personally think he’s that big of a seller himself. He was part of 3 HUGE PPV’s (2 with Conor, 1 with Khabib) but I don’t think he’ll sell that well on his own.
Depending on what the rest of the Poirier vs Oliveira card looks like, we could be looking at a pretty low buy rate.
I think Islam could be a huge seller for the UFC, I just fight it hard to believe they keep Gaethje on the sidelines this long while he’s continued to say yes, continued to say he wants to fight, would fight anyone etc…get into camp for Chandler and get the fight ripped out from under him…then leave him on the sidelines again to give Islam a title fight when he has no top 10 wins.
IMO, if Dustin doesn’t take the fight, you make Gaethje v. Chandler on the same card as Islam v. do Bronx and make it a 5 round co-main event and an official number one contender fight.
Very possible…but with Islam calling out guys like RDA and Tony Ferguson, I just don’t see the title fight happening for him. I think they end up putting Islam in with Dariush. He’s a dangerous fight for anyone, but I think he’s too vanilla to make anyone care, regardless of how many guys he beats. I think everyone knows Islam has what it takes to be champion, and whomever they put in with him next is likely to have a bad time…I’m thinking Dariush is the guy in the top 5 the UFC is least invested in, so he gets the fight.
Ferguson doesn’t look like he has it anymore…he clearly doesn’t suck, but I don’t think anyone is predicting he rattles off 3 wins in a row over top competition and wins the belt. He’s 37 and hasn’t won a round in his last 3 fights. He should be matched with someone fun who is coming off a loss, like Hooker.
Chandler vs Gaethje would be so much fucking fun, I really hope Dustin doesn’t hold out over $ and fuck that fight up for us. DP vs Charles, and Chandler vs Gaethje would be so great to watch. Islam vs Dariush, Tony vs Hooker…and RDA jumping into whatever fight falls apart…sign me up
Contracts are expected to be signed shortly for the former interim lightweight champion and one-time title challenger, multiple people with knowledge of negotiations told MMA Fighting after an initial report from ESPN.com. UFC 268 is expected to take place Nov. 6, and the promotion has targeted Madison Square Garden in New York City as the host venue.
