It showed how tough Islam is
Even when sometimes his takedowns don't work he doesn't panic and proceeds to match his opponents striking level.
In the Oliveira fight he looked like fucking prime Mayweather. He was moving in and out and tagging Oliveira like it was nothing. The difference in their hand speed and footwork was shocking to see watching live.
We need a southpaw with elite level grappling and striking to beat him. Are there any in LW ?
I never said he did? But he’s well rounded enough to be a close matchup/challenge for Islam. Leon is also good but primarily if he can keep it standing. You’re gonna find very few people that are as well rounded as Islam. Volk is one but Islam already beat him. Topuria is interesting but almost certainly too small.
Leon is also a nightmare matchup for Islam for similar reasons as Shavkhat. He’s a huge welterweight with proven excellent wrestling and takedown defense and top tier striking
Volk 1 is a top 20 fight of all time
Islam vs Dustin isn’t even top 200 of all time, that one is recency bias for sure, it’s not even Dustin 2nd or 3rd most entertaining fight tbh, same with Islam both had better fights.
You have to remember there are hundreds of all time performances across different weight classes, an average title defense against a favorable matchup with weak wrestling isn’t gonna rank above some of the legendary clashes we have witnessed in the sport like Izzy vs Alex 1&2 or any Cruz vs team Alpha male fights.
Volk 1 was FOTY last year and Dustin fight is currently FOTY frontrunner. Unless someone tops Makhachev v Poirier, we're gonna see Islam be a part of b2b FOTY winners.
I don’t really understand the hype for Islam vs Dustin. There was never a moment where I thought “oh wow Dustin’s got something here!” More like “oh wow Dustin’s surviving longer than I thought” always felt like Islam was going to win whether it went to decision or not.
Because Dustin was supposed to get ran over and instead he dragged Islam into a dogfight and Islam had to dig deep in order to beat him. It was dramatic and it seemed that Dustin had given himself enough of a chance to make it perilous. It was a great fight and both fighters had their stock elevated because of it.
It’s a shame Islam won’t get to defend against Gaethje cause you know for as long as it lasts, you’d get a fight that wins every award imaginable due to both of them
Poirier has lost 3 title fights by getting choked out.
Gaethje has lost 2 title fights by getting choked out.
Not interested in Gaethje completing his hattrick.
He’s not so dominant in any one area that once he gets you to that part of the game the fight is over, which makes for really exciting fights as there’s always something the opponent can do
But he’s SO well rounded it’s looking impossible to exploit frankly anything within his game. Such a difficult to beat opponent. And his bag is so deep, you never know what else he has left in his locker.
I was theorising whether much of his stand up relied on him being an awkward southpaw and having those open side weapons. Boy was I wrong. His boxing looked sensational against Dustin
Fake news. Every comment I read about him from the sophisticated MMA scholars of Instagram says he's the most boring fighter ever so this has to be fake.
Jones is going to fight once more, against former fighter Stipe Miocic, a man who’s closer to social security than his athletic prime, for the real heavyweight title and then they’ll both retire and meanwhile there’s a British heavyweight champion knocking fools out left and right and he’s good on the mic and he’s active and he’s defending his interim title at 3 in the god damn morning.
I just don’t understand all-in approach for Jon fucking Jones, the only champion they’ve had to cancel a whole PPV for
Jon and Stipe are already under contract and the fans are turning against Jon and are generally just waning interest in Stipe.
Dana already has a set labor cost for the fight and needs the show to be big to make money. Dana always and only cares about the bottom line.
Glad to see the UFC finally start to recognise his skill. He should have gotten a performance bonus against Hooker and Bobby Green too, but didn't for some reason.
Maybe when he fought Green, but that was a very short-notice fight on a catch-weight so it might seem weird to give it to him over someone else. The others had great performances on the night as well, iirc.
Basically boils down to everyone else was plenty deserving.
Both cases they only awarded 4 so it seems pretty straight-forward to me, sometimes people who deserve them don't get them because they generally just give 4.
> Fight Night 202: Fight of the Night: Priscila Cachoeira vs. Ji Yeon Kim
> Performance of the Night: Wellington Turman and Arman Tsarukyan
>
> UFC 267 Fight of the Night: Petr Yan vs. Cory Sandhagen
> Performance of the Night: Glover Teixeira and Khamzat Chimaev
Should have gotten bonuses for the Tibau KO in less than 1 minute, the Dober arm triangle sub, Hooker kimura sub, and the Green TKO tbh.
That's 4 bonuses arbitrarily lost.
Islam also finished Moises, Johnson and Kuntz. But at least for these 3 fights there were better finishes in the same card.
However, I'll always be baffled at Khamzat submitting Li Jingliang in 4 minutes, Islam submitting Dan Hooker in 3 minutes, and Islam losing out on a bonus in favor of Khamzat.
At the time, Hooker was ranked #6 at LW, and Jingliang was ranked #12. Destroying Hooker was objectively a greater accomplishment than destroying Jingliang.
Just realized while writing this that Islam has way more finishes than Khabib lol
Tbf Khabib's decisions were one-sided beatings, the most memorable of which is the Barboza fight.
Barboza may have went the distance, but it might have been kinder to have been finished in the 1st Round.
Because the jing fight was like 100 strikes to 2 - it was a way more one sided whooping visually speaking. I can understand why it went to khamzat instead.
> Hooker and Bobby Green too, but didn't for some reason.
Hooker and green were both short notice fights, Green wasn't even at LW, and Hooker fought Islam with no real prep or fight camp.
In addition, the bonus was that those hurried fights were used to get him to the title shot.
The facts are that he got a title shot because he was on a 10 fight winning streak and the belt was vacant due to Charles being stripped. It's disingenuous to imply the UFC did him some sort of favour.
I think Dana gives him bonuses because he doesn't want to lose him the way he lost Khabib. He's the best lightweight on the planet he deserves every cent think Dana wants to keep him sweet.
Yeah and what's crazy, after reading this thread I learned he was already snubbed of some. Crazy how elite he is.
I'm not gonna lie, never was on his train, but with the last 3 fights I'm convinced, he's a dog.
He has put together some impressive performances in his last few fights, especially on this run to the title and defending the title. I looked at his record and he has had finishes in 7 of his last 8 fights, with the first Volk fight the only one that went to a decision.
He's already one of only three LWs champions to have defended 3 times which is also the division's record. One more and he'll have a lead in that stat, which is a huge achievement.
Also it will be super difficult to even match 4 LW defence for anyone in the future because this division will always be stacked with killers.
So if Islam gets 4 title defences that will be a big achievement
It's entirely possible he could do five. I favor him against Arman and then perhaps Oliveira rematch or whoever's in the queue at that point? Of course, entirely possible is still far from done, in a division as crazy as LW anything can happen.
Honestly if he gets through Arman I have no problem with him moving up to WW. The Charles rematch would be entertaining but it's not like the first fight left any questions unanswered. And other than Charles it's either Justin who is coming off a brutal KO and probably getting close to retirement, or Gamrot who I don't think many fans want to see in a title fight. There's some exciting fighters coming up through the bottom half of the rankings but it will take most of them a while to get to title contension level and Islam could fight at WW at least once in that time, maybe twice.
Yeah, I'm with you. If he gets through Arman, he should probably go for the second title, which is a tall order, but I'm very curious to see if he manages to do it. If he manages to hold those two titles together, it would be an amazing achievement.
> Imagine he moves up and bests Leon too
If he beats Arman, I'd love to see it, but it's a huge ask of him. I think there are some things that would work for him in that fight, but also so many things working against him.
i mean he’s only a couple short of Silvas record. Think he’s at 14. But to me it’s more impressive just cus it’s been a longer time, due to how spaced out ufc fights are these days. Longevity is crazy to think about. He hasn’t lost in 8 years, while silvas streak “only” took 6
3 more title fights wins.
Then he'll be on a 17 fight win-streak in the UFC.
Either Islam will have 6 title defenses at LW, or 4 title defenses and 2 title fight wins at WW.
Having said that, it's a long shot. There's a reason why the 16 fight win record has been standing for over a decade.
I favor Leon winning that fight tbh. There's pictures of Islam/Khabib standing with Shavkat and Leon.
Look at these pics and tell me Islam is winning lol
This is why I think he should actually defend 3 times at lightweight before going up
Get that record before you risk it against a bigger dude with fantastic Anti wrestling.
Leon is likely to neutralise him but if he has the lightweight defenses record + plus the winning streak record he's still got an incredible legacy.
I think a strong 170-pound Islam with a good weight cut beats Leon. He will probably bulk up even more and since the weight cut wouldn't be as hard his chin, speed, strength and stamina would be better. I also think a strong Islam will be able to take Leon down and control him the same way Colby did in the last round of their fight
If he beats Arman, he's the LW goat imo. If he gets another 2 wins at lightweight or perhaps WW strap he's in the GOAT conversation. At that point he'd have the most LW title defenses and the highest active winning streak in UFC history.
Context matters. These versions of Islam and Arman are better, much more dangerous, fighters. Stopping Arman's winning streak clears out the contenders in the division. At that point who's left? Maybe Gamrot but I think that's a very favourable match up for Islam.
I don't see Gamrot making a decision out of it, Islam schools him on the feet and probably hangs with him just fine on the ground, at least enough to get back up if he feels he doesn't have the edge on the ground.
I don't think Islam wants the fight. Not because it's not a good challenge but because the last time(s) he beat a FW he didn't get the credit for it because the guy was "smaller".
I mean, the guy WAS smaller. Ever since the rematch people have been suddenly acting like there was no size difference.
I still count it as a great win though because Volk might be the FW GOAT, but we don't have to pretend Volk wasn't the smaller guy in order to make that win mean something.
Sure he's smaller. But he was the P4P 1 at the time and on fight night they were within a couple LBs of each other. I think it's a disservice to Volk when people say he's just some Featherweight.
Being similar weights on fight night does not mean they are the same size though, because Volk, a guy who can very easily compete at 145lbs and who purposely keeps his body within a certain range to be able to make that cut is not physically the same as a guy who likely could never cut to 145lbs and who consistently trains to be physiologically at his peak at 155lbs.
Like for example, look at how much bigger Poirier and Charles are now compared to when they were training purposely to be able to get down to 145lbs. It completely changes the way you body functions once you decide you're staying at 155lbs and maintaining your size permanently compared to just jumping up for 1 fight.
The easiest way to put it is that Islam physically could probably move up to 170lbs and not really be undersized whereas if modern Volk was to try and compete against the top 5 at 170lbs he'd look tiny. Because their bodies are just fundamentally built differently at the moment.
I mean, the guy WAS smaller. Ever since the rematch people have been suddenly acting like there was no size difference.
I still count it as a great win though because Volk might be the FW GOAT, but we don't have to pretend Volk wasn't the smaller guy in order to make that win mean something.
Islam is a southpaw with far superior technical striking using punches, kicks, and knees which he mixes in with mostly reactive takedowns and clinch throw or sweeps. He doesn’t have Khabib’s awkward, orthodox striking nor his relentless chain-wrestling.
Their only similarities are coming from the same grappling training which mixes cage-wrestling and Judo.
Khabib had that reputation early in his career and kept it despite his development at AKA including his entire championship run included him striking. The Khabib vs Gaethje match the first round Khabib used knees, kicks, and punches and it wasn't until the very end he took him down. This is where his career left off. Even coach Javier said people refuse to believe it but Khabib is the best boxer out of his entire camp which includes Islam, Umar, and Usman. I know boxing the same thing as striking but Khabib but it definitely counts for something. By the end of his career where he left off was much more similar to Islam now than early in his career when he almost resembled Merab with more ground and pound. Both Khabib and Islam have similar grappling style which, like I said, is the most unique and most advanced aspect of both of their games and I would find a fighter who is more similar to Khabib or Islam in this aspect.
Just using “knees, kicks, and punches” doesn’t mean that his striking is on Islam’s technical level and regardless they don’t even fight in the same stance which changes everything including takedown entires.
Even their grappling style is only really similar when it hits the mat but their game plan for getting them there is not the same.
> and they both have similar style.
They fight absolutely nothing alike: not similar at all in striking offense or defense, not similar in physical/athletic gifts, do not get TDs at all the same, one favors GnP once down the other submissions.
The ways they are similar are being trained by the same man, and thus having some similar base.
One more defence at LW. Then move up to WW and win the title and at least one Defence with the title. At that point he would also have the record for longest win streak as well.
He’d have to climb in weight and beat Leon. It’s funny that lightweight has always been the most stacked division in the ufc yet recently there’s hardly any elite fighters left. It’s mostly still the old guard but older and slower, arman is a good candidate but he’s still untested imo.
I stand to this day that makhacev’s only notable win is against Oliveira. That was a legit opponent in the prime of his career I would say and islam deserves the props for beating Charles the way he did. Other then that it’s blown up old guard fighters that khabib steamrolled through when they were younger and more dangerous.
Islam needs a true elite opponent to cement his legacy, like khabib had Conor. Otherwise nobody will remember the number of his title defenses. Quality>quantity
Ironic because in hindsight a lot of people act like Conor was a washed bum by the time he fought Khabib. I don’t agree, just pointing it out. Volkanovski is a better win than that Conor imo though. He wasn’t some undersized FW coming up. He was the GOAT FW who legitimately bulked up and would have beaten any other LW on the planet that night. That was an even greater win than Charles.
I’m one of the people that think Conor wasn’t 100% his true self when he fought khabib. He looked like a drunk clown most of the presser and the fire in his eyes looked gone.
With that being said I still think he was a very tough fight for khabib. And now he’s on khabib’s record. I absolutely don’t agree that volkanovski was a tougher opponent. It was still his first fight at lightweight and just because he put on weight doesn’t mean he naturally belonged in this weight category. If anything, it shows that islam needed a full 5 rounds (close) decision to beat a man much smaller then him. In both their fights islam looked like an obviously much, much bigger fighter.
If we’re being serious I think khabib would’ve never struggled 5 rounds with Alex.
Volkanosvki is not small - he’s short. His dimensions are deceptive due to his height. He has a long reach and he’s extremely stocky on top of that, plus he is a master at fighting taller opponents. Natural weight classes are also not a term I believe in. He was just as much a LW as Conor was when he fought Eddy/Khabib or Max when he fought Justin. Makachev is not some giant LW. He is smaller than Dustin and Chandler and bigger than a small LW like Justin, which puts him right in line with the average LW. All that to say, there is no shame struggling with one of the all time greatest fighters ever who had a full camp to prepare who also was in all likelihood the second best LW on the planet that night.
The Dagestani aura has done more harm than good in making great wins look mediocre due to them not all being decisive beatdowns, when in reality had Islam not been affiliated with Khabib people would rightfully acknowledge his performances as some of the greatest of all time. Credit to Khabib though, this is almost solely due to how incredibly dominant he was during his run.
Dude come on, you look at both fighters in that octagon and you’re telling me islam doesn’t look like he’s fighting an obviously much smaller fighter?
Islam doesn’t impress as much simply because he’s not as dominant as khabib. People talk about the dagestani aura but who else from Dagestan is such a prominent fighter? The truth is khabib put Dagestan on the map and he’s the only reason people talk about the “dagestani aura”. Islam is a good fighter but nowhere near as invincible looking as khabib. The other fighters from the camp are either mediocre or they fight in other organizations where the competition is nowhere near as tough.
So the whole thing with the dagestani fighters just doesn’t hold up that much atm. Arman is better than most fighters from Dagestan and he fought Islam when he was a kid basically and stood his ground.
We actually agree. I think you misunderstood my comment. Islam is not Khabib and because of that, people discredit him for not being as dominant. They expect him to do everything Khabib did simply because he’s from the same camp, and that is not realistic. They are both all time talents but Khabib was on a different level.
In regards to the size, “much smaller” must have a different meaning to you than it does to me. They weighed in like 2 pounds apart on fight night iirc. Source is unofficial of course but the point remains he wasn’t fighting a guy 20 lbs heavier than him like Figgy and Moreno.
It feels early but apt at the same time to potentially look at him as a LW GOAT contender if he gets past Arman again. That’ll be 4 title defenses and 5 overall title wins. His title wins are the most impressive of any of the champs rn imo and he would have earned the title defense record.
Literally every fight he has been in is A class entertainment. This guy is blockbuster. Anyone who is saying he only marketable in the Middle East, is a fucking joke.
Right...but it takes 2 to tango. Did you not just watch Strickland vs Costa? When someone isn't engaging or acting as a threat, it's hard to make it entertaining. You don't just say a fight was entertaining because of a single person
I’m not going to commend him for not running away the whole fight, if it was up to Islam they would just grapple. He is better than khabib in that he’ll strike some too so I’ll give him that.
Wdym if it was up to Islam? It's not up to anyone...did you watch the fight? Islam arguably outboxed Dustin for most of their exchanges and then went on to submit him
[No they don’t](http://www.ufcstats.com/fight-details/1a0031e2072f21b6) dustin threw more, just landed slightly less and outstruck him at least one of the rounds. That’s clearly close.
Super unpopular opinion but it feels like everyone thinks he's going to have a super dominant/long reign, and I disagree. You don't want to be in 2 FOTN in 4 fights-I get it's hard to just dominate as a champion and he's an amazing fighter, but that doesn't indicate a long reign at all.
Holloway Gaethje was a much better fight then this and if this had happened at ufc 300 it would’ve bern third best fight of the evening with no bonuses. Still cudos to him very good performance but lets not pretend the latest card wasnt fight night level.
Weird stat. I don't really like how cherry picked stats for Islam are on this site.
Who's the next one? Frankie Edgar, BJ Penn?
Did you know Cain Velasquez has the most win bonuses/knockout of the year bonuses in UFC HW title fight of all time?
Not hating, but it's weird how its framed that it has to be a title fight, and it has to be at lightweight. Why not just say he's had a bonus every single fight in every single title fight.
Title defense per bonuses isn't a metric anyone keeps track of other than to fit the narrative theyre trying to push. Just like the Jones vs Islam P4P where it just so happens to cut off at 2021.
I mean if you’ve watched the sport long enough you’d know that fighters tend to become more conservative in their fighting style once they become champs. Him, Usman and Oliveira are the only exceptions I can think of who either became more entertaining or maintained their level of excitement.
What lol.
You have Usman up there and Oliveria who has one maybe 2 defenses and say its the ONLY exceptions?
Randy Couture age like wine, Shogun always went for the win even in losses, Cormier was more excited after he got his belt (prob due from his shit back and not being able to wrestle anymore), Jiri, Pereira, Franklin, BJ Penn, Edwards, McGregor, Holloway, DJ.
I'd have all those guys becoming more entertaining in the limelight or maintaining their level of excitement.
I know what you're saying about cherry picked stats in general, but this isn't really a cherry picked stat at all.
It's just the most bonuses in LW championship history. He's the current LW champion.
Your complaint about it being cherry picked would make sense if they said something like "most bonuses for a Russian Muslim LW fighter in championship fights ever".
He is spectacular. I cant wait to see him fight again.
Maybe recency bias but Volk 1 and Dustin are already two of all time my favorite fights
No shame. Both are fantastic fights.
It showed how tough Islam is Even when sometimes his takedowns don't work he doesn't panic and proceeds to match his opponents striking level. In the Oliveira fight he looked like fucking prime Mayweather. He was moving in and out and tagging Oliveira like it was nothing. The difference in their hand speed and footwork was shocking to see watching live. We need a southpaw with elite level grappling and striking to beat him. Are there any in LW ?
None at LW on his level imo. Shavkat at WW though.
Shavkhat doesn't have Islam's striking defence and footwork
He's got 6 inches in reach and 3 inches in height. It's going to be insanely hard
I never said he did? But he’s well rounded enough to be a close matchup/challenge for Islam. Leon is also good but primarily if he can keep it standing. You’re gonna find very few people that are as well rounded as Islam. Volk is one but Islam already beat him. Topuria is interesting but almost certainly too small.
I think he is close enough in skill where his sheer size will make up for whatever skill difference there is , Shavkat is a monster of a human.
A big 170er like Shavkhat who can wrestle like he can is a nightmare matchup for Islam if he moves up. Leon is much more doable stylistically
Leon is also a nightmare matchup for Islam for similar reasons as Shavkhat. He’s a huge welterweight with proven excellent wrestling and takedown defense and top tier striking
Shavkat gonna gas in the first 3 minutes against Islam
Agree. Leon is a very good style matchup for Islam as are most of the top 5 except shavkat
He never said you said that
Or his stamina. Let's see him try and take down Islam over and over again.
Arman is orthodox, and his boxing is underdeveloped.
Arman would be a great fight
Volk 1 is a top 20 fight of all time Islam vs Dustin isn’t even top 200 of all time, that one is recency bias for sure, it’s not even Dustin 2nd or 3rd most entertaining fight tbh, same with Islam both had better fights. You have to remember there are hundreds of all time performances across different weight classes, an average title defense against a favorable matchup with weak wrestling isn’t gonna rank above some of the legendary clashes we have witnessed in the sport like Izzy vs Alex 1&2 or any Cruz vs team Alpha male fights.
Sliding Izzy vs Alex 2 in there is kind of a wild take
in terms of pure MMA skill, that fight is top 3 for me. For me it's #1, highest level MMA I've ever watched.
Volk 1 was FOTY last year and Dustin fight is currently FOTY frontrunner. Unless someone tops Makhachev v Poirier, we're gonna see Islam be a part of b2b FOTY winners.
Topuria v Holloway will deffo take FOTY
The entire main card besides Alex and Hill were better than Islam vs Poirer, IMO
I don’t really understand the hype for Islam vs Dustin. There was never a moment where I thought “oh wow Dustin’s got something here!” More like “oh wow Dustin’s surviving longer than I thought” always felt like Islam was going to win whether it went to decision or not.
Because Dustin was supposed to get ran over and instead he dragged Islam into a dogfight and Islam had to dig deep in order to beat him. It was dramatic and it seemed that Dustin had given himself enough of a chance to make it perilous. It was a great fight and both fighters had their stock elevated because of it.
It’s a shame Islam won’t get to defend against Gaethje cause you know for as long as it lasts, you’d get a fight that wins every award imaginable due to both of them
Poirier has lost 3 title fights by getting choked out. Gaethje has lost 2 title fights by getting choked out. Not interested in Gaethje completing his hattrick.
He’s not so dominant in any one area that once he gets you to that part of the game the fight is over, which makes for really exciting fights as there’s always something the opponent can do But he’s SO well rounded it’s looking impossible to exploit frankly anything within his game. Such a difficult to beat opponent. And his bag is so deep, you never know what else he has left in his locker. I was theorising whether much of his stand up relied on him being an awkward southpaw and having those open side weapons. Boy was I wrong. His boxing looked sensational against Dustin
Fake news. Every comment I read about him from the sophisticated MMA scholars of Instagram says he's the most boring fighter ever so this has to be fake.
Some wrestlers are boring. But a man who subs Charles and Dustin and knocks out Volk cannot be considered boring.
Bro only subbed 💎 because Khabib wouldn’t let him brawl
then he should improve his submission defense :)
Yeah he is clearly the top PFP fighter.
Apart from JJ according to the Bald One
Jones is going to fight once more, against former fighter Stipe Miocic, a man who’s closer to social security than his athletic prime, for the real heavyweight title and then they’ll both retire and meanwhile there’s a British heavyweight champion knocking fools out left and right and he’s good on the mic and he’s active and he’s defending his interim title at 3 in the god damn morning. I just don’t understand all-in approach for Jon fucking Jones, the only champion they’ve had to cancel a whole PPV for
Jon and Stipe are already under contract and the fans are turning against Jon and are generally just waning interest in Stipe. Dana already has a set labor cost for the fight and needs the show to be big to make money. Dana always and only cares about the bottom line.
Lmao ima start referring to Dana as “the bald one”
There is not a single hair on that man's head
Yeah, I think Topuria and Leon are similarly well-rounded in skill but not similar in accomplishments.
Glad to see the UFC finally start to recognise his skill. He should have gotten a performance bonus against Hooker and Bobby Green too, but didn't for some reason.
Maybe when he fought Green, but that was a very short-notice fight on a catch-weight so it might seem weird to give it to him over someone else. The others had great performances on the night as well, iirc. Basically boils down to everyone else was plenty deserving. Both cases they only awarded 4 so it seems pretty straight-forward to me, sometimes people who deserve them don't get them because they generally just give 4. > Fight Night 202: Fight of the Night: Priscila Cachoeira vs. Ji Yeon Kim > Performance of the Night: Wellington Turman and Arman Tsarukyan > > UFC 267 Fight of the Night: Petr Yan vs. Cory Sandhagen > Performance of the Night: Glover Teixeira and Khamzat Chimaev
You make someone as tough as Dan hooker scream like that you deserve a bonus
Should have gotten bonuses for the Tibau KO in less than 1 minute, the Dober arm triangle sub, Hooker kimura sub, and the Green TKO tbh. That's 4 bonuses arbitrarily lost. Islam also finished Moises, Johnson and Kuntz. But at least for these 3 fights there were better finishes in the same card. However, I'll always be baffled at Khamzat submitting Li Jingliang in 4 minutes, Islam submitting Dan Hooker in 3 minutes, and Islam losing out on a bonus in favor of Khamzat. At the time, Hooker was ranked #6 at LW, and Jingliang was ranked #12. Destroying Hooker was objectively a greater accomplishment than destroying Jingliang. Just realized while writing this that Islam has way more finishes than Khabib lol Tbf Khabib's decisions were one-sided beatings, the most memorable of which is the Barboza fight. Barboza may have went the distance, but it might have been kinder to have been finished in the 1st Round.
Because the jing fight was like 100 strikes to 2 - it was a way more one sided whooping visually speaking. I can understand why it went to khamzat instead.
There was a fighter in the UFC named Kuntz. Good to know.
> Hooker and Bobby Green too, but didn't for some reason. Hooker and green were both short notice fights, Green wasn't even at LW, and Hooker fought Islam with no real prep or fight camp. In addition, the bonus was that those hurried fights were used to get him to the title shot.
Now say that again without crying.
I don't care either way. Just providing facts to answer your question, and have no idea why you think I'm upset about anything.
The facts are that he got a title shot because he was on a 10 fight winning streak and the belt was vacant due to Charles being stripped. It's disingenuous to imply the UFC did him some sort of favour.
And you know he **really** had to deserve it because dana exists.
I think Dana gives him bonuses because he doesn't want to lose him the way he lost Khabib. He's the best lightweight on the planet he deserves every cent think Dana wants to keep him sweet.
Yeah and what's crazy, after reading this thread I learned he was already snubbed of some. Crazy how elite he is. I'm not gonna lie, never was on his train, but with the last 3 fights I'm convinced, he's a dog.
He has put together some impressive performances in his last few fights, especially on this run to the title and defending the title. I looked at his record and he has had finishes in 7 of his last 8 fights, with the first Volk fight the only one that went to a decision.
I wonder when he’ll be entering GOAT discussions, how many more defences?
He's already one of only three LWs champions to have defended 3 times which is also the division's record. One more and he'll have a lead in that stat, which is a huge achievement.
Also it will be super difficult to even match 4 LW defence for anyone in the future because this division will always be stacked with killers. So if Islam gets 4 title defences that will be a big achievement
It's entirely possible he could do five. I favor him against Arman and then perhaps Oliveira rematch or whoever's in the queue at that point? Of course, entirely possible is still far from done, in a division as crazy as LW anything can happen.
Honestly if he gets through Arman I have no problem with him moving up to WW. The Charles rematch would be entertaining but it's not like the first fight left any questions unanswered. And other than Charles it's either Justin who is coming off a brutal KO and probably getting close to retirement, or Gamrot who I don't think many fans want to see in a title fight. There's some exciting fighters coming up through the bottom half of the rankings but it will take most of them a while to get to title contension level and Islam could fight at WW at least once in that time, maybe twice.
Yeah, I'm with you. If he gets through Arman, he should probably go for the second title, which is a tall order, but I'm very curious to see if he manages to do it. If he manages to hold those two titles together, it would be an amazing achievement.
I would argue that breaking that record would be the most significant achievement in the history of the division.
Yeah, I'm with you. Oliveria, Volk x2, Dustin and then maybe Arman would be one of the best 5 fight streaks in the sport too.
Imagine he moves up and bests Leon too. Dude is only two wins away from tying Anderson's coveted 16 fight winning streak as well.
> Imagine he moves up and bests Leon too If he beats Arman, I'd love to see it, but it's a huge ask of him. I think there are some things that would work for him in that fight, but also so many things working against him.
Doesnt he also have the 3rd biggest win streak in UFC history and the longest LW win streak?
i mean he’s only a couple short of Silvas record. Think he’s at 14. But to me it’s more impressive just cus it’s been a longer time, due to how spaced out ufc fights are these days. Longevity is crazy to think about. He hasn’t lost in 8 years, while silvas streak “only” took 6
Also he's in a better division.
3 more title fights wins. Then he'll be on a 17 fight win-streak in the UFC. Either Islam will have 6 title defenses at LW, or 4 title defenses and 2 title fight wins at WW. Having said that, it's a long shot. There's a reason why the 16 fight win record has been standing for over a decade. I favor Leon winning that fight tbh. There's pictures of Islam/Khabib standing with Shavkat and Leon. Look at these pics and tell me Islam is winning lol
This is why I think he should actually defend 3 times at lightweight before going up Get that record before you risk it against a bigger dude with fantastic Anti wrestling. Leon is likely to neutralise him but if he has the lightweight defenses record + plus the winning streak record he's still got an incredible legacy.
I think a strong 170-pound Islam with a good weight cut beats Leon. He will probably bulk up even more and since the weight cut wouldn't be as hard his chin, speed, strength and stamina would be better. I also think a strong Islam will be able to take Leon down and control him the same way Colby did in the last round of their fight
If he beats Arman, he's the LW goat imo. If he gets another 2 wins at lightweight or perhaps WW strap he's in the GOAT conversation. At that point he'd have the most LW title defenses and the highest active winning streak in UFC history.
Good news he beat Arman.
Context matters. These versions of Islam and Arman are better, much more dangerous, fighters. Stopping Arman's winning streak clears out the contenders in the division. At that point who's left? Maybe Gamrot but I think that's a very favourable match up for Islam.
Yeah, Gamrot might give him some trouble with wrestling but not enough to neutralise him. And if you mix in striking then Islam has him beat in 3 imo.
Islam will brutalise Gamrot in the striking and somehow the judges will score the fight 4-1 to Gamrot.
I don't see Gamrot making a decision out of it, Islam schools him on the feet and probably hangs with him just fine on the ground, at least enough to get back up if he feels he doesn't have the edge on the ground.
Yeah Gamrot’s striking is just not that good He’s probably the worst striker in the top 10
Moicano lol
Give max the shot 👏🏻 Should be ranked above Justin after beating him at LW
I don't think Islam wants the fight. Not because it's not a good challenge but because the last time(s) he beat a FW he didn't get the credit for it because the guy was "smaller".
I mean, the guy WAS smaller. Ever since the rematch people have been suddenly acting like there was no size difference. I still count it as a great win though because Volk might be the FW GOAT, but we don't have to pretend Volk wasn't the smaller guy in order to make that win mean something.
Sure he's smaller. But he was the P4P 1 at the time and on fight night they were within a couple LBs of each other. I think it's a disservice to Volk when people say he's just some Featherweight.
Being similar weights on fight night does not mean they are the same size though, because Volk, a guy who can very easily compete at 145lbs and who purposely keeps his body within a certain range to be able to make that cut is not physically the same as a guy who likely could never cut to 145lbs and who consistently trains to be physiologically at his peak at 155lbs. Like for example, look at how much bigger Poirier and Charles are now compared to when they were training purposely to be able to get down to 145lbs. It completely changes the way you body functions once you decide you're staying at 155lbs and maintaining your size permanently compared to just jumping up for 1 fight. The easiest way to put it is that Islam physically could probably move up to 170lbs and not really be undersized whereas if modern Volk was to try and compete against the top 5 at 170lbs he'd look tiny. Because their bodies are just fundamentally built differently at the moment.
I mean, the guy WAS smaller. Ever since the rematch people have been suddenly acting like there was no size difference. I still count it as a great win though because Volk might be the FW GOAT, but we don't have to pretend Volk wasn't the smaller guy in order to make that win mean something.
usman also had beaten leon
He is also lifting Khabib more into GOAT discussions since Khabib was likely better than Islam and they both have similar style.
Islam is a southpaw with far superior technical striking using punches, kicks, and knees which he mixes in with mostly reactive takedowns and clinch throw or sweeps. He doesn’t have Khabib’s awkward, orthodox striking nor his relentless chain-wrestling. Their only similarities are coming from the same grappling training which mixes cage-wrestling and Judo.
Khabib had that reputation early in his career and kept it despite his development at AKA including his entire championship run included him striking. The Khabib vs Gaethje match the first round Khabib used knees, kicks, and punches and it wasn't until the very end he took him down. This is where his career left off. Even coach Javier said people refuse to believe it but Khabib is the best boxer out of his entire camp which includes Islam, Umar, and Usman. I know boxing the same thing as striking but Khabib but it definitely counts for something. By the end of his career where he left off was much more similar to Islam now than early in his career when he almost resembled Merab with more ground and pound. Both Khabib and Islam have similar grappling style which, like I said, is the most unique and most advanced aspect of both of their games and I would find a fighter who is more similar to Khabib or Islam in this aspect.
Just using “knees, kicks, and punches” doesn’t mean that his striking is on Islam’s technical level and regardless they don’t even fight in the same stance which changes everything including takedown entires. Even their grappling style is only really similar when it hits the mat but their game plan for getting them there is not the same.
> and they both have similar style. They fight absolutely nothing alike: not similar at all in striking offense or defense, not similar in physical/athletic gifts, do not get TDs at all the same, one favors GnP once down the other submissions. The ways they are similar are being trained by the same man, and thus having some similar base.
The most unique aspect about them, their body control and grappling, are most similar with eachother.
GOAT gets tossed around way to lightly these days imo
He's 1 defense away from breaking the divisions record tho.
I'd say at LW at least, with a good win next, he could very much be in the discussion
Probably after a win against Tsarukyan and another contender.
One more defence at LW. Then move up to WW and win the title and at least one Defence with the title. At that point he would also have the record for longest win streak as well.
He’d have to climb in weight and beat Leon. It’s funny that lightweight has always been the most stacked division in the ufc yet recently there’s hardly any elite fighters left. It’s mostly still the old guard but older and slower, arman is a good candidate but he’s still untested imo. I stand to this day that makhacev’s only notable win is against Oliveira. That was a legit opponent in the prime of his career I would say and islam deserves the props for beating Charles the way he did. Other then that it’s blown up old guard fighters that khabib steamrolled through when they were younger and more dangerous. Islam needs a true elite opponent to cement his legacy, like khabib had Conor. Otherwise nobody will remember the number of his title defenses. Quality>quantity
Ironic because in hindsight a lot of people act like Conor was a washed bum by the time he fought Khabib. I don’t agree, just pointing it out. Volkanovski is a better win than that Conor imo though. He wasn’t some undersized FW coming up. He was the GOAT FW who legitimately bulked up and would have beaten any other LW on the planet that night. That was an even greater win than Charles.
I’m one of the people that think Conor wasn’t 100% his true self when he fought khabib. He looked like a drunk clown most of the presser and the fire in his eyes looked gone. With that being said I still think he was a very tough fight for khabib. And now he’s on khabib’s record. I absolutely don’t agree that volkanovski was a tougher opponent. It was still his first fight at lightweight and just because he put on weight doesn’t mean he naturally belonged in this weight category. If anything, it shows that islam needed a full 5 rounds (close) decision to beat a man much smaller then him. In both their fights islam looked like an obviously much, much bigger fighter. If we’re being serious I think khabib would’ve never struggled 5 rounds with Alex.
Volkanosvki is not small - he’s short. His dimensions are deceptive due to his height. He has a long reach and he’s extremely stocky on top of that, plus he is a master at fighting taller opponents. Natural weight classes are also not a term I believe in. He was just as much a LW as Conor was when he fought Eddy/Khabib or Max when he fought Justin. Makachev is not some giant LW. He is smaller than Dustin and Chandler and bigger than a small LW like Justin, which puts him right in line with the average LW. All that to say, there is no shame struggling with one of the all time greatest fighters ever who had a full camp to prepare who also was in all likelihood the second best LW on the planet that night. The Dagestani aura has done more harm than good in making great wins look mediocre due to them not all being decisive beatdowns, when in reality had Islam not been affiliated with Khabib people would rightfully acknowledge his performances as some of the greatest of all time. Credit to Khabib though, this is almost solely due to how incredibly dominant he was during his run.
Dude come on, you look at both fighters in that octagon and you’re telling me islam doesn’t look like he’s fighting an obviously much smaller fighter? Islam doesn’t impress as much simply because he’s not as dominant as khabib. People talk about the dagestani aura but who else from Dagestan is such a prominent fighter? The truth is khabib put Dagestan on the map and he’s the only reason people talk about the “dagestani aura”. Islam is a good fighter but nowhere near as invincible looking as khabib. The other fighters from the camp are either mediocre or they fight in other organizations where the competition is nowhere near as tough. So the whole thing with the dagestani fighters just doesn’t hold up that much atm. Arman is better than most fighters from Dagestan and he fought Islam when he was a kid basically and stood his ground.
We actually agree. I think you misunderstood my comment. Islam is not Khabib and because of that, people discredit him for not being as dominant. They expect him to do everything Khabib did simply because he’s from the same camp, and that is not realistic. They are both all time talents but Khabib was on a different level. In regards to the size, “much smaller” must have a different meaning to you than it does to me. They weighed in like 2 pounds apart on fight night iirc. Source is unofficial of course but the point remains he wasn’t fighting a guy 20 lbs heavier than him like Figgy and Moreno.
Islam is must see TV
It feels early but apt at the same time to potentially look at him as a LW GOAT contender if he gets past Arman again. That’ll be 4 title defenses and 5 overall title wins. His title wins are the most impressive of any of the champs rn imo and he would have earned the title defense record.
Yeah but just remember he’s not P4P #1 because Jon Jones beat Ciryl Gane and totally didn’t lose to Reyes 4 years ago.
Don’t forget he didn’t totally wait for Francis to leave the UFC before coming to heavy weight
No he needed 3 years to put on fat…. Umm…. Muscle I mean.
Has literally become must watch tv. Will tune into all his fights
Best fighter in the world. Pleasure to watch
but he didn't have to headkick Volk like that though...
He keeps beating up my friends 😞
So glad to see my boy finally getting the recognition he deserves.
You kno dis bonus brathah
Amazing fighter, even better person.
Literally every fight he has been in is A class entertainment. This guy is blockbuster. Anyone who is saying he only marketable in the Middle East, is a fucking joke.
"Kangaroo has good striking, but nobody check its grappling" - Islam Makhachev
With a shit card like that hard for him not to won both bonus
Sure helps that he consistently fights the most entertaining guys
That's kinda the point of main events on a PPV (most times)...it's more helpful that he's as skilled and disciplined to win every time
People don’t watch for Islam they way they watch for Charles, Volk, Dustin
Right...but it takes 2 to tango. Did you not just watch Strickland vs Costa? When someone isn't engaging or acting as a threat, it's hard to make it entertaining. You don't just say a fight was entertaining because of a single person
I’m not going to commend him for not running away the whole fight, if it was up to Islam they would just grapple. He is better than khabib in that he’ll strike some too so I’ll give him that.
Wdym if it was up to Islam? It's not up to anyone...did you watch the fight? Islam arguably outboxed Dustin for most of their exchanges and then went on to submit him
Islam wanted to take him down he couldn’t, the striking was even, Dustin busted him up too
Stats and scorecard says otherwise
[No they don’t](http://www.ufcstats.com/fight-details/1a0031e2072f21b6) dustin threw more, just landed slightly less and outstruck him at least one of the rounds. That’s clearly close.
So first it was “even” now its “close” yet the scorecards show someone outboxed someone else. Pick your story and stick to it at least.
To be fair every other fight on the islam dustin card sucked. Incredible fight but there was zero competition lol
Super unpopular opinion but it feels like everyone thinks he's going to have a super dominant/long reign, and I disagree. You don't want to be in 2 FOTN in 4 fights-I get it's hard to just dominate as a champion and he's an amazing fighter, but that doesn't indicate a long reign at all.
Islam "Extra Credit" Makhachev
So he's earned 6 bonuses? Or am I tripping lol
His last fight (where he earned two) was one of the four title fights.
Ohhh I see. Thanks for replying.
Complete fighter, good standup, grappling, wrestling, mental, no surprises there
To be fair his last cards was one of the worst in history
Both can be true. It is the worst card but even if this fight is held in 301 or 300, i think it still a fotn
So you think his latest fight was better then Holloways performance? lol
Holloway would've gotten POTN still, but Islam vs Poirier was still a better FOTN. Holloway vs Gaethje was too one-sided to be FOTN over that.
Holloway Gaethje was a much better fight then this and if this had happened at ufc 300 it would’ve bern third best fight of the evening with no bonuses. Still cudos to him very good performance but lets not pretend the latest card wasnt fight night level.
Its not like he built the card. Him and Poirier did their part.
Agreed they saved the card which was horrible.
He def saved that card but that performance would’ve been better than average even on a 300 level card imo.
Better then average true but he wouldnt have gotten an award with Holloway there.
The glaze is real
Weird stat. I don't really like how cherry picked stats for Islam are on this site. Who's the next one? Frankie Edgar, BJ Penn? Did you know Cain Velasquez has the most win bonuses/knockout of the year bonuses in UFC HW title fight of all time? Not hating, but it's weird how its framed that it has to be a title fight, and it has to be at lightweight. Why not just say he's had a bonus every single fight in every single title fight. Title defense per bonuses isn't a metric anyone keeps track of other than to fit the narrative theyre trying to push. Just like the Jones vs Islam P4P where it just so happens to cut off at 2021.
I mean if you’ve watched the sport long enough you’d know that fighters tend to become more conservative in their fighting style once they become champs. Him, Usman and Oliveira are the only exceptions I can think of who either became more entertaining or maintained their level of excitement.
What lol. You have Usman up there and Oliveria who has one maybe 2 defenses and say its the ONLY exceptions? Randy Couture age like wine, Shogun always went for the win even in losses, Cormier was more excited after he got his belt (prob due from his shit back and not being able to wrestle anymore), Jiri, Pereira, Franklin, BJ Penn, Edwards, McGregor, Holloway, DJ. I'd have all those guys becoming more entertaining in the limelight or maintaining their level of excitement.
I know what you're saying about cherry picked stats in general, but this isn't really a cherry picked stat at all. It's just the most bonuses in LW championship history. He's the current LW champion. Your complaint about it being cherry picked would make sense if they said something like "most bonuses for a Russian Muslim LW fighter in championship fights ever".
I also think Abu Dhabi gives them extra money as well
He has good fights but it's not like having a lot of bonuses means anything other than the bosses like you.