I almost made a whole thread for this but figured it didn’t need it. I’ll simply post it here for the laughs
T Ferg & RDA over BJ Penn 
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Gamrot thinks Makhachev takes the belt via UD and sees himself as the next challenger.
Meanwhile, Volkanovski is hoping to challenge Oliveira for the LW title next…
“I’d say Charles would be the better opponent,” Volkanovski said on “The MMA Hour.” “People say stylistically yeah, but obviously there’s a lot of hype around Charles. Everyone considers him the champ, so then if I beat him then everyone’s going to consider me the champion.
“If I was to face Islam, I’m sure people would still say I’m champ, but I’m still going to have to beat Charles. You face Charles, it’s a bigger fight, because he’s got a lot of hype on him.”
If Oliveira and Makhachev do end up fighting as scheduled, Volkanovski still prefers a matchup with the Brazilian – here’s why.
“When I look at it as a competitor that wants to fight active, I think that’s Charles, as well, because I know Charles wants to fight very regularly,” Volkanovski said. “He wants to be active, as well, which I respect that a lot. I’m not saying Islam won’t, but I know Charles is very active and wants to be active. He’s even considering fighting in January. That’s really good for me, because again, I don’t want to wait.”
He continued, “I think my style alone is a good matchup for Charles. With Islam, I need to train – like right now, I’ve had to bring in wrestling coaches just so I’m ready for that takedown defense. I’m very hard to hold down, but I need to be ready for a couple of rounds of a strong wrestler, and I got a lot of respect for Islam. I’m expecting him to still get a hold of me, but I guarantee you I’m getting back up.”
Meanwhile, in Khabib news…
“He’s been coaching forever,” Mendez said on the UFC Unfiltered podcast. “Even when he was fighting, he was coaching. He’d be sparring through these five rounds and all of a sudden he’d be sitting there with us coaching the guys. He’s been doing that forever. His father had trained him from such a young age to take the responsibility over – as a fighter, as a coach – and he’s taking over his father’s footsteps.
“He’s learned from me, he’s learned from his father – mostly his father. But to me, he’s on track – in my opinion because of his age, what he’s doing, the camp I see, the fighters he has – he’s on track to being the greatest coach of all time, in my opinion. I see it. I see the writing on the wall.”
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This is pretty wild
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Sucks to hear Klose is out of the Madsen fight. Hopefully Madsen can stay on the card vs someone close to as tough as Klose.
I’m 99% sure they won’t let Madsen get a crack at Pimblett right now but I would not mind seeing it.
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That would be a great fight.
I had high hopes for Madsen but he is old now. He had a short window and that is closing now. The guy needs to fight 3-4 times a year before it’s too late.
So I’m listening to that interview now and Fox asked Dana if Volk is getting the next title shot and Dana said “it makes sense” and Fox then said the Dariush/Gamrot winner would be “right there” as well and Dana said “100%”.
Lets see how things go Sat.
Its not surprising though that Dana likes Volk getting the next shot over Dariush next. Thats what I was saying like a week ago. Gamrot might need another big win to be granted a shot and Dariush is just the last guy UFC wants as champ, he is not a star in any big market like these other guys.
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Islam should have gone through Chandler before Charles. It might be moot in 3 days but I doubt it
Chandler had his shot. Got finished in under 8 minutes. No other LW is on the win streak that islam is. Other than beneil but he doesn’t have as much activity as Islam has had
Yeah whenever a fighter is climbing the ranks people always think they need to fight this guy or that guy to get their shot.
Islam had to get to 10-0 fighting lesser “names” because its not like Conor, Diaz, Poirier, Gaethje or Chandler were gonna accept a fight with him.
Dariush was doing the same thing before he got the Tony fight.
Charles was doing the same thing before he got the Lee fight.
All three of those guys, Charles, Dariush and Islam were fighting down in the rankings fight after fight for years to get where they got.
Chandler turned down the short notice Makhachev fight after Dariush got injured. Chandler was also given a very favorable matchup in his UFC debut to get his title shot.
I’m just glad to see Charles, Makhachev, Dariush and Gamrot get the big fights I think they earned.
Hell, Gaethje got a 2nd title shot just off a Chandler win even though Chandler lost to a FW in Bellator not too long ago and he was 1-1 in the UFC.
I’m a big fan of Chandler as a fighter but I don’t think Makhachev needed to go through him specifically to get a title shot.
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He always has that confused look on his face. 
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“I’ve just been processing it,” Dariush told MMA Junkie and other reporters Wednesday at a pre-fight news conference. “It took a while. I was pretty annoyed about the whole thing, so I took a step back. I put myself in everybody’s shoes. Calling and yelling at my manager for a while, that didn’t make me feel better. Here’s what I thought about: Volk is pound-for-pound the king right now, right? I’m correct on that, yes? And he offered to be a backup.
“If I was in the UFC’s shoes, it’d be a no-brainer for me, as well. It’s not hard to understand why they did what they did. Does it suck for me? For sure it sucks for me, but I understand why everybody did what they did. With that being said, I just take my focus back to doing what I need to do, and that’s Gamrot.”
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Not to get it twisted, Dariush still is uncomfortable with being the odd man out. He just keeps remembering the UFC is doing what’s best for business and making the most notable fights possible.
“It still sucks,” Dariush said. “Being a backup and losing that position sucks. Losing the title shot sucks. It all is as crappy as it gets, but I understand why they’re doing what they’re doing. I understand my focus is not the same focus as the UFC. It’s not the same as Dana’s. I understand Dana. His focus is basically profits, and that’s what he’s supposed to do for his business. I have a different focus. My focus is I’ve been given a God-given talent, and I’m not wasting it. I’m not squandering it. I want to fight the best people in the world, and I want to do it as often as I can. If I can’t get the champion, I want another dog after this fight. I want to fight the best guys and it’s that simple.”
Outside of the backup position snub, Dariush welcomed Volkanovski to the lightweight division with open arms. As he thought about a future matchup against the current UFC featherweight champion, Dariush grinned in excitement.
“He’s incredible,” Dariush said. “For him to come to lightweight, I think it’s awesome. An opportunity to fight him would be great. We could do it right after this. I’d love that. (Respectfully,) of course.
