Everyone will be relieved to know that Khamzat and Team Khabib are apparently friends again, apparently thanks to the intervention of Kadyrov
I’ve never heard talk of Colby moving down, only up. As far as I know he doesn’t do big cuts as it depletes his cardio, so not sure how he’d feel about moving down
I would be surprised if Volk isn't written off, personally; most times fighters go up in weight they aren't expected to win, and with the hype surrounding Islam, I expect that will be amplified multiple times over.
What I’d be interested to see is if his striking and movement is compromised by the threat of a takedown. We’ve seen strikers go against the Dagestani wrestlers and they’re not able to utilise their striking fully because they’re so guarded to avoid being taken down.
Everyone will be relieved to know that Khamzat and Team Khabib are apparently friends again, apparently thanks to the intervention of Kadyrov
| 1 | Islam Makhachev | 23-1 | 12-1 | W-Charles Oliveira (SUB) W-Bobby Green (TKO) W-Dan Hooker (SUB) |
| 2 | Charles Oliveira | 33-9 | 21-9 | L-Islam Makhachev (SUB) W-Justin Gaethje (SUB) W-Dustin Poirier (SUB) |
| 3 | Beneil Dariush | 22-4-1 | 16-4-1 | W-Mateusz Gamrot (DEC) W-Tony Ferguson (DEC) W-Diego Ferreira (DEC) |
I don't think you can frame it like that, really. It doesn't take more than 10 minutes for the tables to turn emphatically to the point the grappler is both out of ideas and sick and tired of being hit; Islam has to plough a very lonely furrow chasing after a vastly superior striker who delights in wrapping his shin across the calves, peppering jabs and strikes from awkward angles and rapidly exiting whichever line he chose to attack from. Islam is a plodder with poor striking; he needs the fight to be right in front of him, not chasing, or trying to close angles off with his own strikes. That means too many reckless engagements and shot attempts, and of which could end him. I can't really emphasize enough how big the gap is in the stand up between these two.
Oliveria's striking really isn't very good, he also fights in straight lines with risky strike attempts and plenty of chances to be hit flush, which is what has happened to him too many times to mention, just that his work off his back prevented the finish or even a consideration of following him to the deck until now. Volkonovski is a wholly different proposition - he is never there to be hit, he does not stay on the centre line, ever, he is awkward because of his height and long appendages and he prides himself on picking fighters apart. Nothing Islam did to Oliveria will have a bearing in a fight with Volkonovski - those two are at polar opposite ends in terms of fight approach and intent, and I'd also say in terms of fight IQ, too. I'm not knocking Charles, but there was plenty of reasons to think he'd lose vs Islam and none of them apply to Volkonovski.
He hasn't fought the pedigree of opponents to say that with regards to the top-level. It may be true, it might not be, but there's no certainty he has a clue what to do when a fighter isn't coming straight at him.
I truly believe it will be an easy and consummate victory. It won't be written as such, for obvious reasons, with the main one being, if anything, people expect a wash the other way round, but I expect Volkonovski to make Islam look like he doesn't belong in the octagon with him. Egg on my face if I'm wrong, but there's nothing I've seen that makes me think otherwise. Grappling won't be a factor in this fight, which renders Islam's chance of winning it almost null, to my eyes. I'm very happy to go way against the tide, and as I say, I expect Islam will be seen as the overwhelming favourite to just maul the little Australian.
Being square and ploddy is going to work against Islam, for me, he'll have to open up his own stance to have a hope in the stand up, which will compromise him and his approach. If he doesn't, he'll be chasing shadows all night, for me.
Islam went from low ranking straight to a title shot pretty much bar the exception of a couple of mid-tier guys. He avoided Poirier, Gaethje and Chandler. The best guys he beat is probably Hooker (a gatekeeper). His title shot came on the back of beating Bobby fecking Green. He may have a long reign and be a great champion, I have no idea... but I do know for a fact that if you look down his fight record... it shocking how he has avoided the holy trinity (and Dariush) to get a title shot.
All true. He would probably feck all three (four) of them up though, which takes the edge off it
I mean there's no way to know that until they fight. No point using MMA math, it never works.
True also. We’ll see him fight Poirier or Chandler in about 6 months time so let’s see
Should be a 2 on 1 match. That would be fun
Chandler would absolutely end up KO’ing Poirier ‘by mistake’. I can actually see Chandler doing a very WWE-style “oh no!” reaction after Islam ducks his front kick and it clobbers PoirierShould be a 2 on 1 match. That would be fun
Colby can’t lose every title fight he has, sit back and let others beat each other then fight for a title shot after a loss. He had a bad habit of doing that.
I mean everyone says everyone is avoiding them. I don't really listen to any of it.
Fair enough, some people get to skip ahead more than others. But I'm sure they look at the odds on fights, and considering Islam was the betting favorite against the champ, and it's fairly rare to see the challenger favored for the title, the decision makes sense to me. They tend to look for the best fights on paper, ones that are fairly close odds wise.
But people usually call out other fighters higher ranked (or McGregor)... That's pretty normal. If Islam is ranked let's say 10th and Poirier is 3rd, it doesn't make sense for Dustin to call him out.
