Islams win streak was really 10-0, not 9-0. They are saying 9-0 there because Bobby Green need the fight at 160 lb catchweight because he took it on short notice but they both always fight at LW so Islam is now 11-0 at LW in my mind.
Sounds like its Islam vs Volkanovski, champ vs champ in March next. Islam looks way bigger, he will likely be 20 lbs bigger than Volk on fight night.
Very impressive performance by Dariush tonight. He moves to 8-0. Had to beat 21-1 Gamrot to do it. Not an easy task.
Will be interesting to see if he is able to wait for a title shot or if he has to take the winner of Poirier Chandler or something like that to get the shot.
Division still has a few good fights left before the year is over. Pimblett vs Gordon just got added to that list.
Dariush already said after his fight he doesnโt want to wait
So Iโd like a fight between him and Justin or Charles next
Islam looked great.
Lifelong training partners Khabib and Islam are now 25-1 at LW in the UFC, thats nuts.
People used to talk of how Cain and DC were training partners (though not as long), well they went 23-6 in the UFC for comparison. 25-1 is nuts.
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Thatโs pretty wild
Makhachev has opened as a 3-1 favorite over Volkanovski. I like Makhachev at 3-1, probably closer to a 4-1 or 5-1 fav in reality.
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So first consider we just saw the Dariush and Makhachev fights yesterday. The #1 P4P fighter Volk is moving up to challenge Makhachev in March. Before the year is done the Poirier, Puelles, Ismagulov, Riddle, Madsen and Pimblett fights are all going to happen as well.
Over in Bellator the ROAD GP champ Barnaoui makes his Bellator debut vs Picollotti next weekend and the LW champ Patricky is defending his title in Nov vs undefeated Usman Nurmagomedov. At the start of 2023 the 8-man LW GP will begin and the LW championship will be defended in the tournament.
Beyond that in Nov the ONE LW champ Lee is challenging the WW champ and there are the PFL finals as well next month. Raisov will also fight Vartanyan in one of the ACA LW GP semi finals
That is what a great division looks like.
Updated top 50 UFC LW fights:
Oliveira vs Makhachev for the title- winner Makhachev
Dariush vs Gamrot- winner Dariush
Poirier vs Chandler
Moicano vs Riddell
Azaitar vs Frevola
Hooker vs Puelles
Johnson vs Diakiese
Guida vs Holtzman
Tsarukyan vs Ismagulov
Madsen vs Dawson
Pimblett vs Gordon
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The bigger heavier fighter is the favorite against the much smaller opponent?
Wow that is a surprise.
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Iโd love to see Dariush vs Fiziev. Charles vs Fiziev would be good too but as a Charles fan I wish heโd get the red panty night fight vs Conor. Even at 170, he looks so drained weighing in at 155. Crazy he was saying heโd go back to 145 to fight Volk if he won
Dariush vs Fiziev would make sense if he is not gonna wait for a shot, he said he does not want to wait so its a likely fight for sure.
Yeah I think there is zero chance of Charles Conor being next but Conor is not even in the USADA pull and Charles might decide to fight on the Brazil card in Jan and if not Iโm sure he will want a fight by March.
Yeah, Charles going back to FW is nuts to me, he just went 13-2 since back at LW, I donโt know why he would want to mess with that.
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AJ McKee is fighting RIZIN LW champ Roberto de Souza in the main event of the RIZIN/Bellator NYE card.
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Iโm a little bummed that weโre not going to get Usman in the UFC until Islam is done, but the second best LW in the world fights out of Bellator, and itโs humorous that Pitbull sounds exactly like Oliveira pre Islam fight. Heโs going to get smoked on 18 November.
lol heโs 15-0. Iโm so tired of people saying โfighter x doesnโt deserve this fightโ
Well if they donโt belong there with you, then fight them and make short work of them and get your money and then move on
Donโt be scared homie
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UFC has some real good LW fights booked before the year is out and that was enough but ONE having Christian Lee moving up in a champ vs champ fight for the WW title and McKee fighting RIZIN champ de Souza in the main event of the NYE card just makes the end of the year even better for the division. Patricky vs Usman was already booked for the Bellator title, Barnaouiโs debut was set and the PFL finals are set while we just saw the Dariush and Makhachev fights last weekendโฆfans could not ask for more out of a division in the last two months of the year.
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I donโt think there is anyone at LW that can beat Islam. Volk will last longer than Charles, IMO. He can win if he makes it a kickboxing match
I was thinking about and discussing this fight with my buddy and originally I had this as an easy win for Islam.
But when I reflect, Charles was kinda wreckless. Everyone thought Islam would take Charles down, but it was Islamโs striking that dropped Charles, and then he followed him.
Volk is way more measured. He is not wreckless. Another thing to consider, lots of great fighters end up losing to smaller men. GSP lost to Serra. Fedor lost to Hendo. Hendo lost to Jake Shields. Itโs the speed that lots of times gets them. Volkanovski is super quick with his hands, as well as precise.
Now, remember Volkanovskiโs fight with Ortega? Orgega is legit on the ground and had Volk in a couple tight guillotines and a triangle, and Volk survived all of them.
The more I think about Volkanovski vs Islam Makhachev, the more excited I get for the fight.