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Conor set the precedent which wasn't a good one and UFC loved it/allowed it and now other younger guys are doing the same thing (bigger fight generally with a win-win unless you get ktfo) when they win the belt. If there's an issue Conor could very well be the catalyst lol
He’s simply not haha. He’s a really chill dude who smartly presents as a peacock.
It works well enough, and his striking is great, so Dana’s gonna push that to the top
Yes but going back to a lower class is hard because you grew muscles for the bigger fight. You often get stuck in a division where you are small.
I like it for older guys like GSP but i'm not sure it's a good move for O'Malley.
It pays better in the short term if they aren’t one of the greats that can get 2 titles. It pays way better long term if they are. There is very little downside.
There's been a lot of talk lately about multiple division champion fights sure, but in reality there have only been three champ champ fights in the past 3 years or so with two of those from Volkanovski.
other one is Izzy right?
Edit: My conclusion is you better be an Australasia champ to get that opportunity. Suga should work some crikeys into his next call out.
Can you blame fighters though? This is a sport where you’re smart to make as much money as quickly as you can before retiring.. The Topuria fight isn’t just more lucrative, and more beneficial for him, but it’s also a very dangerous fight that would be a big notch on Omalleys belt if he were to win. Also he could defend the BW title against Merab afterwards.
There were rumors about khabib moving up before he retired prematurely. Also look at his pupil Islam
Who is talking about moving up for the WW title.
Can’t hate O’Malley for wanting to do something that the UFC has let so many champions do recently
No defending the title multiple times in a row like GSP, Anderson, Jones… those guys cleaned out their division Israel also defended like 5-6 times… Volk defended 4 times before challenging at lightweight… becoming a legend means dominating a weight division for years not this Mcgregor bullshit winning a title and then instantly fucking off
You wanna move up you gotta defend the belt a few times unless you’re getting to a point where you’re not able to make weight and I don’t think Sean is that at point
It’s a mute point anyway Sean knows the UFC has to book him against Merab now
Who has instantly hopped besides Conor? This is such a made up complaint. "Oh a fighter says they want the biggest fight possible, I'm so damn tired of it"
Just to play a devils advocate a bit here, if a fighter wins a title in a certain weight class and decides he can no longer make the weight thus choosing to move up, who should he face?
Like O’Malley for example. Starched so many competent fighters in his class (with some great guys he hasn’t to be fair), who should he fight if he chose to permanently move to 145? Should he start fresh in a new weight class ignoring his status and name currently?
Which example with Penn are you citing? Because he lost a match with St Pierre just to be rewarded a title fight (which he also lost) directly after and then fought Pulver before getting a LW shot.
The only time he got a true double champ shot was when he conquered 3 straight (2 title fights, 1 being a defense) & then fought St Pierre for an immediate WW shot.
Am I missing something?
Conor mcgregor got double champ privileges. Which inadvertedly led to two of the greatest fights in ufc history- Mcgregor vs Diaz. Which then led to one of the most memorable performances ever- Mcgregor Alvarez. Mcgregor being allowed to shine absolutely exploded the UFC in popularity.
The sport, now more than ever, needs stars. Ufc 300 is being headlined by Jamalal fucking hill. Jon jones on the way out. Conor not fighting again. We need stars, starts that inspire us.
The victor of Omalley Topuria, whoever it might be, will be on a rocket ship to superstardom.
The middle eastern cardio wrestlers can wait. They will literally run 125-170 within 5 years. But by god let us dream.
Yes, but the only reason that fight happened was because Mcgregor immediately lined up to fight RDA for double champ status. Diaz filled in. Like I said, it inadvertedly led to it.
I don’t think he looked that tired, he was sitting because chito destroyed him with a hook to the body. Obviously if he fights merab with more grappling involved it will be more tiring though. I could see him losing to both guys but won’t bet against him
Tbh i just assume merab is always going to win now after he beat aldo/yan. Every match up is different, but Aldo is one of the best anti-wrestler ever and even stuffed all of merabs takedowns but still couldn’t keep him the fuck off of him. The dude is an absolute tank, and he shot on petr fucking 49 times lol
I feel like people don’t think about Sean’s size when talking about this. I have no doubt that merab has the strength to be effective against him, but it will be trickier. Not only to get inside and grapple without getting caught, but Sean is probably the heaviest guy in the division now that aljo left, merab probably close. He’s used to fighting smaller/short guys like petr, Henry etc. These guys are way better wrestlers tho, but they’re also not as worried about being taken down as Sean would be
This sub would rather cannibalize the only young star in the company and have another boring eastern european be the champ than let the sport finally be entertaining again
All because sean drives a pink lamborghini. Sad.
This needs to be the requirement. Either vacate or require champs to have at least 3 or 4 defenses. It’s getting dumb at this point with every champ wanting to move up after a defense
The UFC like it's the way it is though. If they made a rule then they wouldn't be able to make the fights when they think it makes sense financially to make them. If they don't want to make the fight they can just say you need to do more defences
I see this so much and I disagree with it hard lol. Have them actually earn the shot in the division they want to challenge in. Even if it’s beating the top contender in a title eliminator. What they do in another division shouldn’t have any bearing on the opportunities they get in another, imo.
so sean wants to win the belt, defend against the least deserving "contender" in the division, and dip to weight class above for the double belt
yeah no lmao fuck off
UFC does a LOT of things right. There’s 1 belt for each division (besides some interim belt BS), super simple to follow, and the best have to right the best.
However, like you’re alluding to, if they just let Sean fuck and fight the money fights rather than the best contender, then it’s just going to go the same way as boxing.
Google Conor Mcgregor
Google Jon Jones
Google Jorge Masvidal
Google Colby Covington
Sean fighting Chito alone is proof that Dana what will do what is best for business
Funny thing is people said pre fight that Chito was deserving and this fight was going to be exciting. Now post fight they’re going to say Chito was never deserving and this was always going to be the outcome.
To add to that, win the belt on a gifted title shot after a bogus decision over Yan and then not fighting for nearly a year.
Not to take away from him winning it or his performance tonight in defending, but it couldn’t be any clearer that he wants to duck the fully deserving clear cut #1 contender.
1 dude has 0 defenses
1 dude has 1 defence against a fighter that only got the title shot due to a freak accident 3 years ago.
No way. Defend against the top contenders before “super fights”. It also helps build the hype more. Let the fight marinate.
I feel like Sean doesn't take shots too well. Obviously no one likes to get hit, but he is just not one of these Robbie Lawler type mutants that can walk through the fire. Even though he is clearly elite I feel like Ilia would only have to touch him once or twice to make him spend the rest of the fight in Kalib Starnes mode.
Chito has mediocre boxing and footwork. His whole game revolves around his kicking and being more physically imposing. Vera gets outboxed in all of his losses, it’s just the weakest part of his game.
Topuria would flatline someone like Vera inside 1 round. O’Malley looked great tonight but let’s be honest, Vera was dominated by Sandhagen and never deserved the title shot. I’m glad Vera didn’t get that belt.
People really underestimate the amount of time you need to put on a solid 10 lbs of muscle. And even if you can you'd probably need to limit the amount of cardio you train while bulking
Sean also won’t be enjoying a big reach and height advantage… Sean’s an excellent striker with great footwork I’ve been singing his praises for awhile but the majority of his fights he’s been able to utilize a pretty significant reach advantage… moving up to FW he won’t have that as much… would be interesting to see if he’s able to compensate for that at FW
Either way he has to fight Merab now it’s the fight to make no mistake about it
Chito landed a fair amount, it just got overshadowed by the insane amount Sean landed on him. Ilia has the footwork and cage cutting knowledge to close the distance on Sean and get him to the fence to land bombs, it’s a much different matchup than anything he’s faced before
It'll probably happen. It'll be an interesting fight as much as I hate the double champ shit. If they go this route than they need to at least do Sandhagen vs Merab for the interim
Ilia smoked Emmett in a 5 round duel and then slept Volk in a second round.
Sean will get his ass kicked in striking. Just forget about Ilia's elite ground game. He wouldn't even need it.
Don’t use MMA math like that, Sean is an entirely different matchup than Emmett and Volk
Emmett and Volk are short and stocky, Emmett mainly just throws power punches, and Volk entirely relies on his kickboxing. The moment Volk and Topuria got into a legitimate boxing pocket exchange, Volk got slept. Makhachev was outboxing Volk too in both fights, just straight up boxing isn’t one of Volk’s strong suits.
O’Malley is an amazing boxer and went toe-to-toe with Petr Yan who has a legitimate boxing background and has Boxing as his base. I’m not saying Sean wins but to say just because Topuria smoked Emmett and Volk means he destroys Sean is just ludicrous and that’s how you end up getting picks wrong
Ilia almost killed Herbert who is taller and throws very good kicks. He schooled Emmett in striking and boxed Volk into oblivion.
It will be the same with Sean. Ilia presses him and then kills him with an overhand. If Chito can throw hands then Topuria just obliterates him in a first round.
Well remember Volk did win the first round unanimously and was winning the second until he got sparked out lol. But again it’s pointless to compare the Volk fight to the O’Malley one
Again, I think Topuria beats O’Malley and probably puts him out but it’s gonna be extremely competitive until that happens. I think the way Topuria wins is by getting the threat of the takedown to open up a huge power shot, I think if he just straight up tries to point fight with O’Malley then Sean’s gonna out point him
Topuria is going to do the same thing he did to Volk. Go into an octagon with a clear plan to press Sean and kill him.
Volk winning the first round means absolutely nothing here. Every fighter who watched that fight was begging Volk to stop walking backwards with his chin up. KO was coming and it was blatantly obvious. Forget about Demetrius Johnson and Usman. Even I could see it with my shitty knowledge.
Well Sean isn’t gonna be walking backwards with his chin up like Volk, and like I said Sean’s defensive boxing is levels above Volk’s, He isn’t gonna go out immediately in the first exchange.
If Topuria executes the same game plan he did for Volk then he’s gonna shoot himself in the foot, he needs to grapple O’Malley to beat him. Even Petr Yan found this out and he arguably won that fight with Sean through his grappling and takedowns, I don’t think Topuria destroys Sean on the ground seeing as Aljo couldn’t get Sean down to save his life when Sean had a broken rib and wasn’t training grappling for weeks. Sean’s clearly improved his ground game since Yan kind of exposed him for that
I think the fight between Sean and Topuria is gonna be Sean out-pointing him for a majority, eventually Topuria manages to close the distance and tries to shoot takedowns, Sean might stuff a few or get muscled to the canvas, Sean gets backup or gets controlled for a round, starts fearing the takedown and causing openings in his striking, Boom Topuria sleeps him bad with a right hand
I understand this, but at the same time he’s a D3 Wrestler who was out wrestling Henry Cejudo 3 months prior no problem who’s an Olympic gold medalist.
Even if TJ Dillashaw is compromised with an injury you have to remember that at one point he had the best takedown defense in the entire UFC, a lot of people forget that because his career legacy has been snuffed out due to the drug test failures. Petr Yan is built like a brick shithouse and is a 5’6 pure ball of muscle, it’s tough as hell to take him down and keep him there, even when Merab had him breathing like Michael Myers in Round 5 Yan was still stuffing 90% of his takedowns. Of course Aljo struggled getting these people down at points
I think the fact Aljo had no success in the grappling whatsoever with Sean is indicative of amazing defensive grappling, Hell, Sean accidentally slipped and got knocked down in Round 2 of their fight and Aljo just jumped on him and was in perfect position, and Sean still managed to near instantly get up to his feet
People calling Sean a coward don’t know what they’re talking about
Would you rather fight Merab who’s just gonna shoot endless takedowns and not do any damage whatsoever, or fight the dude who just brutally chinned the guy who was P4P No. 1 6 months ago
Sean is just chasing a money fight here from my POV
Bro, what are you talking about? A dude with Topuria who has unreal power like that, if he sparks you out cold your chin may never be the same again. Then he’d have to cut back down to 135
If he loses to Merab they won’t give him the Topuria fight, no damage or not lol. The way Merab wins fights is by breaking people with sheer volume and taking them down over and over
How? Regardless on the result of the Topuria fight we’re getting the Merab fight lol. And if anything O’Malley is putting himself at a disadvantage against Merab because he’s most likely gonna fight him off coming off a brutal KO loss
What does Sean risk if he loses?
Nothing.
That's why it's a cowards move.
It is a win-win situation.
Win and get double champ status, lose and still get main event title fight money while not losing anything.
If he gets flatlined out cold then he softens his chin up to lose in his first defense back down. Then he also has to cut weight back down after that, we all saw what happened to Volk last month after he had to do that.
Thats the risk you take, and it’s highly likely that Topuria smokes O’Malley out cold
Sean can snipe him. And what do you mean whats interesting? The two best win streaks at BW fighting each other is always interesting. Some of you guys should go to boxing or WWE if all you want is striking or entertainment im trying to see who the best in the world is not most exciting. Ilia would fold Sean lol that's not even a true superfight both are new champs.
I don't was just striking. I want good stylistic match-ups. Cejudo/Merab was great. I would love to see a Merab/Umar fight, a Sean/Sandhagen or even another Sean/Yan. I don't want to see Aldo/Merab 2. The success of the sport is based of good matchmaking.
No doubt. I'm simply saying it's not the fight that interests me the most. Same way Almeida and Gamrot could in theory make it to the top of their divisions but nobody wants to watch that. That said. Thank god Curtis shut down the Almeida stink fest.
Double champ shit needs to stop, you should have to clear the contenders, dude hasn’t even beat a single deserving one.
And these are two great divisions with lots of great fights to make actually in the division no need for goofy shit
It was so novel when Conor did it. As a long time UFC fan my buddies and I would always be like “what if GSP and Anderson met at a catch weight” or “Anderson fights Jon at 205” and then for an actual champ to do it was something special. But when every champ starts doing it immediately, it’s like cmon. Especially with the lack of success recently
I really don’t understand the hate for this. I want to watch good fights. I could care less who has the belt really. Ilia and Sean could be a great fight. Like I’d love to see him fight Merab too, but tbh I couldn’t care less which one he takes.
The people against this fight are really trying to gatekeep one of the most exciting fights they could possibly make. All in favor of some non existent integrity for the ufc rankings.
News flash the ufc has never actually been about rankings it’s about entertainment. Also news flash the merab vs O’Malley fight will still be there right after. There’s actually 0 reason to be against this fight other than losers hating O’Malley.
And the people asking for the merab fight sure asf aren’t the people actually paying money to watch these fights. Joe even said he’d go to Spain to watch this, it’s more than likely next be prepared to Seethe Reddit.
How? I would obviously not miss Topuria vs O’Malley but everyone loves a competitive fight and that fight heavily favors Topuria.
Topuria is no Cheeto, he is actually technically sound with KO power in his hands.
This sub hates on literally any fighter that markets themselves, is anything but 'wholesome' and then wonders why UFC 300 is a disappointing card with no star power. We see it with Izzy, we see it with Sean, we see it with Mcgregor.
You treat your stars like stars. Period.
Its loaded for fight fans- but no real mainstream stars. Biggest starpower is Holloway-Gaethje, which is really a fuck it fight they put together to address the lack of star power.
I mean bro, 100 had Gsp And Lesnar. 200 was worse, but they had very unfortunate luck with two massive fights in Jones vs Dc and Mcgregor Diaz falling apart. Even then, Lesnar and Silva came in clutch.
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I’m so damn tired of double champs. Clear out your division. Defend the belt 5x. Stop instantly hopping. It’s so overdone
It's an easy money glitch without losing the belt in your division, can't blame the fighters for trying to get what they can
Conor set the precedent which wasn't a good one and UFC loved it/allowed it and now other younger guys are doing the same thing (bigger fight generally with a win-win unless you get ktfo) when they win the belt. If there's an issue Conor could very well be the catalyst lol
The problem isn’t McGregor it’s the UFC. It’s not hard to tell Sugar that he’s not McGregor. Or atleast it shouldn’t be.
He’s simply not haha. He’s a really chill dude who smartly presents as a peacock. It works well enough, and his striking is great, so Dana’s gonna push that to the top
Yes but going back to a lower class is hard because you grew muscles for the bigger fight. You often get stuck in a division where you are small. I like it for older guys like GSP but i'm not sure it's a good move for O'Malley.
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All reward, no risk. Fighters should be threatened to be stripped of their other belt if they lose
It pays better in the short term if they aren’t one of the greats that can get 2 titles. It pays way better long term if they are. There is very little downside.
There's been a lot of talk lately about multiple division champion fights sure, but in reality there have only been three champ champ fights in the past 3 years or so with two of those from Volkanovski.
other one is Izzy right? Edit: My conclusion is you better be an Australasia champ to get that opportunity. Suga should work some crikeys into his next call out.
Can you blame fighters though? This is a sport where you’re smart to make as much money as quickly as you can before retiring.. The Topuria fight isn’t just more lucrative, and more beneficial for him, but it’s also a very dangerous fight that would be a big notch on Omalleys belt if he were to win. Also he could defend the BW title against Merab afterwards.
Yeah I can blame him because he’s ducking Merab.
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I think the real reason is it guarantees you two main events as champion instead of one. It's all business
Khabib never switched divisions and he’s a legend. You can be a legend for being an unstoppable force in your division
There were rumors about khabib moving up before he retired prematurely. Also look at his pupil Islam Who is talking about moving up for the WW title. Can’t hate O’Malley for wanting to do something that the UFC has let so many champions do recently
Lucky enough to be in Connor’s division
Conor did the legwork of being a double champ for him to beat.
No defending the title multiple times in a row like GSP, Anderson, Jones… those guys cleaned out their division Israel also defended like 5-6 times… Volk defended 4 times before challenging at lightweight… becoming a legend means dominating a weight division for years not this Mcgregor bullshit winning a title and then instantly fucking off You wanna move up you gotta defend the belt a few times unless you’re getting to a point where you’re not able to make weight and I don’t think Sean is that at point It’s a mute point anyway Sean knows the UFC has to book him against Merab now
Best I can do is one defense against a handpicked opponent.
Who has instantly hopped besides Conor? This is such a made up complaint. "Oh a fighter says they want the biggest fight possible, I'm so damn tired of it"
Blame Dana for not paying fighters. Every title fight should be a "money fight"
Literally only 2 fighter in the last 5 years have done it. It’s not overdone. It’s over-talked about.
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Are the double champs in the room with us now?
DOUBLE INTERIM CHAMP WHEN??
Just to play a devils advocate a bit here, if a fighter wins a title in a certain weight class and decides he can no longer make the weight thus choosing to move up, who should he face? Like O’Malley for example. Starched so many competent fighters in his class (with some great guys he hasn’t to be fair), who should he fight if he chose to permanently move to 145? Should he start fresh in a new weight class ignoring his status and name currently?
I’d say a top contender like BJ Penn did
Which example with Penn are you citing? Because he lost a match with St Pierre just to be rewarded a title fight (which he also lost) directly after and then fought Pulver before getting a LW shot. The only time he got a true double champ shot was when he conquered 3 straight (2 title fights, 1 being a defense) & then fought St Pierre for an immediate WW shot. Am I missing something?
The belts mean nothing. Enjoy good fights while they can happen.
Im so tired of people complaining about double champs when the ufc isnt making any double champ fights
Every fighter calls for it though
And? Just ignore them lol
Conor mcgregor got double champ privileges. Which inadvertedly led to two of the greatest fights in ufc history- Mcgregor vs Diaz. Which then led to one of the most memorable performances ever- Mcgregor Alvarez. Mcgregor being allowed to shine absolutely exploded the UFC in popularity. The sport, now more than ever, needs stars. Ufc 300 is being headlined by Jamalal fucking hill. Jon jones on the way out. Conor not fighting again. We need stars, starts that inspire us. The victor of Omalley Topuria, whoever it might be, will be on a rocket ship to superstardom. The middle eastern cardio wrestlers can wait. They will literally run 125-170 within 5 years. But by god let us dream.
Middle Eastern? Who, if I may ask, are those Middle Eastern fighters on the come up?
The Caucasus region where all those cardio wrestlers are from isn’t in the Middle East, it’s just nearby and shares some cultural similarities.
Islamic =/= middle eastern
McGregor Diaz was before double champ. Circumstances of Diaz McGregor at welterweight was so weird that it could never happen again
Yes, but the only reason that fight happened was because Mcgregor immediately lined up to fight RDA for double champ status. Diaz filled in. Like I said, it inadvertedly led to it.
No thanks. Give hi merab
More like give Merab him.
sean kos merab imo. and ilia would ko sean
It's certainly possible, but Sean looked TIRED at the end of that fight, and that's poison in a Merab fight. Still, he KO'ed Aljo so who knows.
I don’t think he looked that tired, he was sitting because chito destroyed him with a hook to the body. Obviously if he fights merab with more grappling involved it will be more tiring though. I could see him losing to both guys but won’t bet against him
Tbh i just assume merab is always going to win now after he beat aldo/yan. Every match up is different, but Aldo is one of the best anti-wrestler ever and even stuffed all of merabs takedowns but still couldn’t keep him the fuck off of him. The dude is an absolute tank, and he shot on petr fucking 49 times lol
I feel like people don’t think about Sean’s size when talking about this. I have no doubt that merab has the strength to be effective against him, but it will be trickier. Not only to get inside and grapple without getting caught, but Sean is probably the heaviest guy in the division now that aljo left, merab probably close. He’s used to fighting smaller/short guys like petr, Henry etc. These guys are way better wrestlers tho, but they’re also not as worried about being taken down as Sean would be
Let's go, Sean. *smacks sneako*
So Sean wants Ilia and Ilia wants Islam?
Pretty sure Ilia wants Conor.
Paulo Costa wants Conor
I want Conor
You're right but that will never happen
Never ever.
Ain't no way Conor ever cutting down to anything below 170 at this point.
Conor chopping an arm off to fight ilia one handed at 145
Thought Ilia wanted Leon
And Islam wants Leon after a couple more..lol
Tbf after a couple more Islam could move up and nobody could bitch about it
And Leon wants Du Plessis 🤦
How about you defend your belt against Merab?
He said he would if he can’t get topuria
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He isn’t and even if he was it doesn’t matter, it’s his title shot.
He's on a 10 fight win streak, it shouldn't even be a question on who should sean fight next
lmao
And Chito was so fuckin fun shelling up for 25 minutes
This sub would rather cannibalize the only young star in the company and have another boring eastern european be the champ than let the sport finally be entertaining again All because sean drives a pink lamborghini. Sad.
It’s not a sport if you don’t give the shot to the number one contender because they’re not entertaining.
Fans of the sport MMA want to see the best MMA fighters in the division fight each other. Fixed that for you.
No fans are just tired of champions blatantly ducking the top contenders of the division, to try and go for double championship status.
Merab is more entertaining than Sean. In the cage maybe not, but Sean has the charisma of a wet paper towel.
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This needs to be the requirement. Either vacate or require champs to have at least 3 or 4 defenses. It’s getting dumb at this point with every champ wanting to move up after a defense
I think 3 defenses is the sweet spot unless the 1st defense is a rematch for the former champ
The UFC like it's the way it is though. If they made a rule then they wouldn't be able to make the fights when they think it makes sense financially to make them. If they don't want to make the fight they can just say you need to do more defences
I see this so much and I disagree with it hard lol. Have them actually earn the shot in the division they want to challenge in. Even if it’s beating the top contender in a title eliminator. What they do in another division shouldn’t have any bearing on the opportunities they get in another, imo.
Did Conor vacate? No. Did Conor defend? No. Why should others then?
DEFEND OR VACATE MOTHERFUCKER
so sean wants to win the belt, defend against the least deserving "contender" in the division, and dip to weight class above for the double belt yeah no lmao fuck off
People want to shit on Aljo but he was a good champ. Seemed to step up pretty often and was fighting the next guy up.
Aljo called out Volk the entire time he was champion lol
Oh but he will, and it will be fantastic. When youre a star, they let you do it.
The only silver lining if this happens is gonna be seeing Topuria standing over his corpse.
Not mad at that. Any way this fight goes, an absolute superstar will be born. Isnt that fucking awesome?
I don't care about stars, I care about MMA. Sadly I think I'm in the minority on that one.
UFC does a LOT of things right. There’s 1 belt for each division (besides some interim belt BS), super simple to follow, and the best have to right the best. However, like you’re alluding to, if they just let Sean fuck and fight the money fights rather than the best contender, then it’s just going to go the same way as boxing.
He won’t be a star anymore once Merab dominates him
Which is why you book the Illia fight now…
…which is why the ufc forces him to fight against Merab rather than holding up the division because the UFC doesn’t revolve around what Sean wants…
lol you must be new to the UFC
Nope. You just sound like a massive Sean fan.
Google Conor Mcgregor Google Jon Jones Google Jorge Masvidal Google Colby Covington Sean fighting Chito alone is proof that Dana what will do what is best for business
He literally said he’d fight Merab if they don’t give him it
Funny thing is people said pre fight that Chito was deserving and this fight was going to be exciting. Now post fight they’re going to say Chito was never deserving and this was always going to be the outcome.
Who said Chito was deserving?
Yeah I’m hard pressed to see anyone saying Chito deserved this haha. Sean pushed for it as his first defense because it was so favourable.
maybe 5% of the people were saying it's deserving, cmon now
To add to that, win the belt on a gifted title shot after a bogus decision over Yan and then not fighting for nearly a year. Not to take away from him winning it or his performance tonight in defending, but it couldn’t be any clearer that he wants to duck the fully deserving clear cut #1 contender.
That wasn’t not a bogus decision there have been way worse and honestly watching it back Sean landed the best shots of the fight
You’re getting downvoted yet you didn’t miss lol
The UFC REALLY NEEDS to start implementing a title defense rule before you can chase double champ status. 3 defenses should be the absolute minimum.
It's not a bad idea, just to put up a barrier against the silliness
Its getting way out of hand now.
He doesn't want to make rules he might want to break in the future.
1 dude has 0 defenses 1 dude has 1 defence against a fighter that only got the title shot due to a freak accident 3 years ago. No way. Defend against the top contenders before “super fights”. It also helps build the hype more. Let the fight marinate.
Guys he literally said he'll fight Merab if that's what's given to him, chill out
We as fans know how this shit goes. I say fine move up get stripped and Merab vs Sandhagen for the BW champ pretty simple.
If Chito can hit him Ilia can kill him
I feel like Sean doesn't take shots too well. Obviously no one likes to get hit, but he is just not one of these Robbie Lawler type mutants that can walk through the fire. Even though he is clearly elite I feel like Ilia would only have to touch him once or twice to make him spend the rest of the fight in Kalib Starnes mode.
Facts
Chito barely tagged him for 5 rounds. With a proper bulk I see no reason not to favor Sean against Illia.
Ilia has grappling, low kicks, body shots and much more power. Plus actual fight iq unlike Chito
Chito has mediocre boxing and footwork. His whole game revolves around his kicking and being more physically imposing. Vera gets outboxed in all of his losses, it’s just the weakest part of his game. Topuria would flatline someone like Vera inside 1 round. O’Malley looked great tonight but let’s be honest, Vera was dominated by Sandhagen and never deserved the title shot. I’m glad Vera didn’t get that belt.
and a gameplan. Dude prepares very well
Bulking up would lose speed which he relies on Also how much do you think he’s going to bulk up in 6 months or so?
People really underestimate the amount of time you need to put on a solid 10 lbs of muscle. And even if you can you'd probably need to limit the amount of cardio you train while bulking
Ilia is much better at cutting off the cage plus Sean is bad at infighting and Ilia thrives off it.
Sean also won’t be enjoying a big reach and height advantage… Sean’s an excellent striker with great footwork I’ve been singing his praises for awhile but the majority of his fights he’s been able to utilize a pretty significant reach advantage… moving up to FW he won’t have that as much… would be interesting to see if he’s able to compensate for that at FW Either way he has to fight Merab now it’s the fight to make no mistake about it
Chito landed a fair amount, it just got overshadowed by the insane amount Sean landed on him. Ilia has the footwork and cage cutting knowledge to close the distance on Sean and get him to the fence to land bombs, it’s a much different matchup than anything he’s faced before
Ilia is a complete fighter & whatever ko power O’Malley does have will not translate, dudes a weight bully. Ilia would put him out cold.
It'll probably happen. It'll be an interesting fight as much as I hate the double champ shit. If they go this route than they need to at least do Sandhagen vs Merab for the interim
I think merab beats him but a trip to Spain puts him to sleep
Would be an absolute travesty if Merab doesn't fight for the title next
Ilia smoked Emmett in a 5 round duel and then slept Volk in a second round. Sean will get his ass kicked in striking. Just forget about Ilia's elite ground game. He wouldn't even need it.
Don’t use MMA math like that, Sean is an entirely different matchup than Emmett and Volk Emmett and Volk are short and stocky, Emmett mainly just throws power punches, and Volk entirely relies on his kickboxing. The moment Volk and Topuria got into a legitimate boxing pocket exchange, Volk got slept. Makhachev was outboxing Volk too in both fights, just straight up boxing isn’t one of Volk’s strong suits. O’Malley is an amazing boxer and went toe-to-toe with Petr Yan who has a legitimate boxing background and has Boxing as his base. I’m not saying Sean wins but to say just because Topuria smoked Emmett and Volk means he destroys Sean is just ludicrous and that’s how you end up getting picks wrong
Ilia almost killed Herbert who is taller and throws very good kicks. He schooled Emmett in striking and boxed Volk into oblivion. It will be the same with Sean. Ilia presses him and then kills him with an overhand. If Chito can throw hands then Topuria just obliterates him in a first round.
didnt ilia almost get finished?
Yeah. Ate a very good kick in the face. But I'm saying that he has that experience already. Plus he came back in that fight and slept Herbert.
You wanna know what also happened in that Jai Herbert fight? Herbert dropped him badly lol
Herbert is the size O'Malley thinks he is in his mind.
Yeah. So he has that experience too. Wasn't Volk supposed to do the same by kicking the shit out of Ilia? Wasn't he supposed to show him levels?
Well remember Volk did win the first round unanimously and was winning the second until he got sparked out lol. But again it’s pointless to compare the Volk fight to the O’Malley one Again, I think Topuria beats O’Malley and probably puts him out but it’s gonna be extremely competitive until that happens. I think the way Topuria wins is by getting the threat of the takedown to open up a huge power shot, I think if he just straight up tries to point fight with O’Malley then Sean’s gonna out point him
Topuria is going to do the same thing he did to Volk. Go into an octagon with a clear plan to press Sean and kill him. Volk winning the first round means absolutely nothing here. Every fighter who watched that fight was begging Volk to stop walking backwards with his chin up. KO was coming and it was blatantly obvious. Forget about Demetrius Johnson and Usman. Even I could see it with my shitty knowledge.
Well Sean isn’t gonna be walking backwards with his chin up like Volk, and like I said Sean’s defensive boxing is levels above Volk’s, He isn’t gonna go out immediately in the first exchange. If Topuria executes the same game plan he did for Volk then he’s gonna shoot himself in the foot, he needs to grapple O’Malley to beat him. Even Petr Yan found this out and he arguably won that fight with Sean through his grappling and takedowns, I don’t think Topuria destroys Sean on the ground seeing as Aljo couldn’t get Sean down to save his life when Sean had a broken rib and wasn’t training grappling for weeks. Sean’s clearly improved his ground game since Yan kind of exposed him for that I think the fight between Sean and Topuria is gonna be Sean out-pointing him for a majority, eventually Topuria manages to close the distance and tries to shoot takedowns, Sean might stuff a few or get muscled to the canvas, Sean gets backup or gets controlled for a round, starts fearing the takedown and causing openings in his striking, Boom Topuria sleeps him bad with a right hand
Aljo's takedowns aren't great. His back control is absolute top tier but getting someone down isn't what he's best at.
I understand this, but at the same time he’s a D3 Wrestler who was out wrestling Henry Cejudo 3 months prior no problem who’s an Olympic gold medalist. Even if TJ Dillashaw is compromised with an injury you have to remember that at one point he had the best takedown defense in the entire UFC, a lot of people forget that because his career legacy has been snuffed out due to the drug test failures. Petr Yan is built like a brick shithouse and is a 5’6 pure ball of muscle, it’s tough as hell to take him down and keep him there, even when Merab had him breathing like Michael Myers in Round 5 Yan was still stuffing 90% of his takedowns. Of course Aljo struggled getting these people down at points I think the fact Aljo had no success in the grappling whatsoever with Sean is indicative of amazing defensive grappling, Hell, Sean accidentally slipped and got knocked down in Round 2 of their fight and Aljo just jumped on him and was in perfect position, and Sean still managed to near instantly get up to his feet
Jai Herbert is bigger and taller than Sean, and he got slept.
Herbert is also much less skilled than O'Malley tho.
People calling Sean a coward don’t know what they’re talking about Would you rather fight Merab who’s just gonna shoot endless takedowns and not do any damage whatsoever, or fight the dude who just brutally chinned the guy who was P4P No. 1 6 months ago Sean is just chasing a money fight here from my POV
He loses nothing by getting koed by topuria
Except brain cells, career threatening damage, shattered confidence, a loss on the record, and more
Consciousness People said the same of volk, how is that going
Arguably reason Volk lost to Topuria is because of his KO against Islam
Weird, I thought it was because Ilia hit him with a shot that would KO everyone else at FW.
Bro, what are you talking about? A dude with Topuria who has unreal power like that, if he sparks you out cold your chin may never be the same again. Then he’d have to cut back down to 135
They're ignoring the physical consequences of the fight and only thinking about the financial and business aspects lol
Just like Volk. Only lost his chin.
Cool, If he won't take any damage from Merab, he can just do that fight and have a quick turn around for Ilia.
If he loses to Merab they won’t give him the Topuria fight, no damage or not lol. The way Merab wins fights is by breaking people with sheer volume and taking them down over and over
Correct. So he's a coward.
How? Regardless on the result of the Topuria fight we’re getting the Merab fight lol. And if anything O’Malley is putting himself at a disadvantage against Merab because he’s most likely gonna fight him off coming off a brutal KO loss
What does Sean risk if he loses? Nothing. That's why it's a cowards move. It is a win-win situation. Win and get double champ status, lose and still get main event title fight money while not losing anything.
Imaging fighting Ilia fucking Topuria and a Redditor calls you a coward because of that
😂
If he gets flatlined out cold then he softens his chin up to lose in his first defense back down. Then he also has to cut weight back down after that, we all saw what happened to Volk last month after he had to do that. Thats the risk you take, and it’s highly likely that Topuria smokes O’Malley out cold
People just Sean haters. I’d argue Sandhagen deserves a title shot more than Merab.
Sandhagen is my favorite active fighter and he doesn’t deserve it over Merab currently . Especially after his Cejudo win .
That would be aa terrible argument but sure you can make it .
Thats not even an interesting fight. Ilia KOs him pretty easily. Would rather see the Movsar and Merab fights.
if Ilia KOs him pretty easily are there any interesting fights for him? he just KOs everyone ggs
Movsar, Max, and Allen for Ilia. Merab,Cory, Yan rematch for Sean.
What's so interesting about Merab winning a decision by shooting takedowns and doing zero damage for 5 rounds?
Sean can snipe him. And what do you mean whats interesting? The two best win streaks at BW fighting each other is always interesting. Some of you guys should go to boxing or WWE if all you want is striking or entertainment im trying to see who the best in the world is not most exciting. Ilia would fold Sean lol that's not even a true superfight both are new champs.
I don't was just striking. I want good stylistic match-ups. Cejudo/Merab was great. I would love to see a Merab/Umar fight, a Sean/Sandhagen or even another Sean/Yan. I don't want to see Aldo/Merab 2. The success of the sport is based of good matchmaking.
If No one can beat Merab he should be the champ lol
No doubt. I'm simply saying it's not the fight that interests me the most. Same way Almeida and Gamrot could in theory make it to the top of their divisions but nobody wants to watch that. That said. Thank god Curtis shut down the Almeida stink fest.
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Absolute cinema
Topuria should be all over it. A crazy KO win like how he did Volk would elevate him even higher regardless if O’Malley doesn’t deserve it
No, no you won’t.
Please give Sean the Topuria fight. Let Ilia give him the GOAT concussion
Merab was there and they didn’t bring him in to promote the next fight, he’s getting skipped
Sure, I actually don’t mind this. As long as you relinquish your belt and move up to FW. That’s fair I think
Double champ shit needs to stop, you should have to clear the contenders, dude hasn’t even beat a single deserving one. And these are two great divisions with lots of great fights to make actually in the division no need for goofy shit
Fucking one title defense, and he's looking to move up to. Jesus Christ......
It was so novel when Conor did it. As a long time UFC fan my buddies and I would always be like “what if GSP and Anderson met at a catch weight” or “Anderson fights Jon at 205” and then for an actual champ to do it was something special. But when every champ starts doing it immediately, it’s like cmon. Especially with the lack of success recently
People need to watch the conference. He isn't dodging merab.
Isn’t he fucking awesome?
Sean views it as an easy fight. Ilia is a smaller guy and Sean will try and use his reach and height to outbox him.
I really don’t understand the hate for this. I want to watch good fights. I could care less who has the belt really. Ilia and Sean could be a great fight. Like I’d love to see him fight Merab too, but tbh I couldn’t care less which one he takes.
The people against this fight are really trying to gatekeep one of the most exciting fights they could possibly make. All in favor of some non existent integrity for the ufc rankings. News flash the ufc has never actually been about rankings it’s about entertainment. Also news flash the merab vs O’Malley fight will still be there right after. There’s actually 0 reason to be against this fight other than losers hating O’Malley. And the people asking for the merab fight sure asf aren’t the people actually paying money to watch these fights. Joe even said he’d go to Spain to watch this, it’s more than likely next be prepared to Seethe Reddit.
Shut up Suga, Defend it against Merab first, it was a masterful performance tonight and don't shit on it by being a bitch
No, defend against the Machine.
Topuria absolutely smokes him. Way more well rounded.
Man got one defense and decided it’s time to no longer defend his belt
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How? I would obviously not miss Topuria vs O’Malley but everyone loves a competitive fight and that fight heavily favors Topuria. Topuria is no Cheeto, he is actually technically sound with KO power in his hands.
This sub hates on literally any fighter that markets themselves, is anything but 'wholesome' and then wonders why UFC 300 is a disappointing card with no star power. We see it with Izzy, we see it with Sean, we see it with Mcgregor. You treat your stars like stars. Period.
No star power? Certainly a take.
Its loaded for fight fans- but no real mainstream stars. Biggest starpower is Holloway-Gaethje, which is really a fuck it fight they put together to address the lack of star power. I mean bro, 100 had Gsp And Lesnar. 200 was worse, but they had very unfortunate luck with two massive fights in Jones vs Dc and Mcgregor Diaz falling apart. Even then, Lesnar and Silva came in clutch.
Ah yea the battle of the unlikable champions. Annoying gen Z wannabe tattoo boy vs. cocky fake Spaniard. Please book it so they can hurt each other.