Makhachev vs RDA has been booked for 10/30, the week before Gaethje Chandler. Hopefully is Charles vs Poirier in December.
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Seems like Dariush vs Gillespie would make sense. Its a step down in the rankings for Dariush and he has his seven fight win streak going but the other top guys are booked and he might still be two wins away from a title fight if UFC wants Makhachev getting one before him. As usualā¦ who knows what they book.
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Thereās not a ton of options for Dariush, Iām guessing heāll stay ready in case someone gets hurt. Now all we need is Ferguson vs Hooker.
Not shocked #14 ranked Fiziev vs Green was FOTN. LW continues delivering.
#15 ranked Tsarukyan is booked:
Chandler said he can see how Poirier would just wait around for Conor but also how he might want to go after the title next.
Still no news about the state of Oliveira vs Poirier I assume.
I see Leo Santos vs Hernandez is booked for 10/2. Santos is 41.
Bad motherfucker, but yeahā¦41. Dude was 8-0 in the UFC prior to his last loss, but it took him like 7 years to get the 9 fights in. Heās one of those guys you look at and wonder what might have been if he was more active.
Fiziev is so impressive for 2 rounds but he got exposed last time and I doubt he has 5 rounds in him to challenge at the top.
Haha RDA ran out of excuses , love it !
People said the same shit about Jon Jones after he threw Stephan Bonnar around the cage for 2 rounds, then appeared to gas out and lost the 3rd round. Not saying dude will be Jon Jones or anything, just saying that weāve seen other fighters improve their cardio and strategy as they gain experience. Heās only 5 fights into his UFC career and has time to improve.
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Yep, he is for sure one of those big āwhat ifā fighters in LW MMA history.
Placed at ADCC in 2001 and 05. Debut in MMA was a MD loss to Gomi in 2002. NINETEEN years ago. Did not fight for three years and then went 11-2 in smaller shows before finally getting a crack at the UFC up at WW via TUF Brazil in 2013.
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Rooting for Madsen to roll through Guida here. Guy just had surgery 2x for his broken jaw from last fight due to infection, he got covid, wife got MS and then he had to move his family and rent a place because black mold kicked him out of his home. Olympic silver medalist and 4x silver medalist at worlds.
Completely outclassed Hubbard in his last fight.
Looked like a guy who can separate himself from the pack at LW and crack the top 20 but Iām sure he is gonna run into some problems soon but donāt see it happening in this fight with Guida at all.
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Iām glad he won but Madsen did not look great vs Guida. He called Gillespie out but I donāt see him winning that one.
As Iāve suspected since Dustin beat Conor in Julyā¦ Oliveira vs Poirier in the works for Dec 11th.
Verbal agreements in place on both sides.
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Very surprised. Iām glad I was wrong about this one. I had been saying ever since the Conor fight that Poirier would chase the Diaz payday instead. Iām glad I was wrong.
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In a perfect world, Gillespie, Dariush, Gamrot, Fiziev and Riddell would get booked before the end of the year. Dariush is in a tough spot, seven fight win streak, coming off the Tony win, only so many fights make sense for him, has to be one that will earn him a crack at the title and those guys are booked.
Some good fights booked now, especially the 4th quarter of the year.
9/18 Tsarukyan Giagos
9/25 Hooker Haqparast
10/2 Hernandez Santos
10/2 Ferreira Dawson
10/30 Makhachev RDA
10/30 Ismagulov Mustafaev
11/06 Gaethje Chandler
11/06 Green Iaquinta
12/11 Oliveira vs Poirier for LW title
On Gillespie, I donāt think he wants to fight often. While Iāve never heard him say that, he always has long breaks between his fights. Hereās amount of time between all his UFC fights:
Debut Sept 2016 then 7 months, 4 months, 5 months, 7 months, 10 months, 18 months. So weāre only looking at 7 fights in 5 years, and only fought in less than 6 months twice. Heās a guy Iāve liked for years, and Iām always frustrated that we donāt see more of him. Heās 34 years old, has 1 loss in the UFC in 5 years, and just recently cracked the top 10.
I just said in a perfect world Riddell and Fizaev would get booked before the end of the year and here we goā¦
This really is an stellar lineup of LW fights to finish the year.
9/18 Tsarukyan Giagos
9/25 Hooker Haqparast
10/2 Hernandez Santos
10/2 Ferreira Dawson
10/30 Makhachev RDA
10/30 Ismagulov Mustafaev
11/06 Gaethje Chandler
11/06 Green Iaquinta
12/4 Riddell vs Fizaev
12/11 Oliveira vs Poirier for LW title
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Did not realize he was quite that inactive, man, not sure whats next for him. Coming off the biggest win of his career and perhaps the best performance as well, at 34, hope he can take the fight when that big opportunity knocks.
Some other LWs are booked before the end of the year but I just listed fights with at least one of the guys in the fightmatrix top 30 rankings to save time. Plus those are the guys in the mix to crack the top 15 or top 5 and get title shots in 2022.
Gruetzemacher, Solecki, Miller, Smith, Tukhogov, Paddy Pimblett etcā¦ all booked as well.
Itās already been 4 months since he last fought, and if we donāt factor in the covid year, his layoffs have been 7,4,5,7,10 months betweenā¦so something like 7 months is likely, we should see him again in like January. Guessing he gets the loser of RDA/Makhachev, or someone else coming off a loss thatās ahead of him.
I think the UFC knows what they have in the guy. Elite wrestler, great heart, great gas tank, but too old to be champion, and too tough of a fight for an up and coming guy, so he wonāt get matched with Fisiev or Riddell.
The winner of Iaquinta/Green could make sense too, a name we know thatās also not going to be champion in a co-main (or main event) on ESPN+.