I get ya... But they need to reward those on streaks or find new contenders... Can't just run it with the same names... But this is Dana, so yeah, Colby gonna get the shot, Leon rejects and Dana strips Leon and gives it to Colby. That's probably most real scenario.
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Absolutely, and Leon will want his Masvidal payday (and rightly so). They should just pay the fecker properly to fight Belal
Why would Edwards fight either Masvidal or Burns ? They are both in steep decline. Even if we were to consider a Masvidal fight interesting because of their previous beef, Jorge is 38 and just got clobbered twice by Usman, who Edwards just beat twice. Colby is clearly the best fighter available to fight, which is why its the logical fight to make. If Edwards wants to feck around, Dana will simply take his belt and make an interim belt fight between Colby v someone else.
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Masvidal, for the money and the beef.
Burns or Muhammad, because they are the better ranked active fighters after him. (What steep decline from Burns?)
Colby last wins have been over ageing semi retired fighters. He is definitely not the best fighter available to fight Leon. We haven't seen him beating anyone dangerous as of late. He had his title shots and he failed. Time to earn his shot again like everybody else.
Read my previous reply.
100% agree. It's not up to Leon to decide who's next. Regardless of who we think it should be, it's up to the ufc. Leon simply wants the easy fight and the easy money with Masvidal. The same reason he'd take a Conor fight in a heartbeat. Easy money.
What money though ? Jorge at 38 isn't exactly a box office draw.
The mere fact that Edwards would prefer a Masvidal fight would suggest Leon wants to prolong his stay as champ for as long as possible (because he will earn more money that way) by fighting lesser fighters. Whereas there would be a legit chance Colby beats him and brings his reign to an abrupt stop in the process. If he wants to make more money he should fight Colby (who is a much bigger draw than Masvidal), then if he loses, immediately get a rematch with Colby. Those two fights alone would have Edwards financiall set for life because he would get back end points (as he probably already did with both recent Usman fights).
If Leon beats Colby, he could do a big money fight with Chimaev.
Colby is a much bigger draw than Masvidal?
He's a bigger talker and better fighter, so I would say yes. Also, Jorge has lost 5 of his last 8 fights and would be nearly 39 by the time they fought. Makes no sense at all.
All of that may be true, and it may be a better fight for regular mma fans, but I reckon Masvidal does better numbers overall than Colby. Plus, Colby barely has a credible resume of his own anyway
Excluding the two Usman fights, Colby hasn't lost since 2015. He's a far better fighter now than Masvidal ever was at his peak. Also, I don't see any indication that Masvidal is a massive draw, much less at 39. The absurdity of awarding a fighter who loses more than he wins a 3rd title shot in 3 years notwithstanding. Its such a bad idea on so many levels.
I’ve seen Chimaev’s name mentioned a few times but I don’t see how he competes at Welterweight again. He missed weight by loads last time and Dana has already said he will be fighting at middleweight.
Right now it doesn't. But IF, and big IF, Jorge wins vs Burns, then he would have a better claim to the title shot than Colby. (No bigger than Belal's, though)
We are in situations like this because of the flawed ranking system. Popular fighters at the top (Dana White privilege), can duck fights as they please against lower ranked opponents (even after losing), so eventually, when a new fighter reaches the top, he also starts with the same conduct, and is understandable because he himself was ducked for the longest of time. It's totally on Dana. So even if the Colby fight were to be more competitive, I hope Leon picks someone else just to stick it to Dana.
Belal deserves it more imo. Even if Masvidal beats Burns, that wouldn't say much given that Burns just lost to Chimaev. Let's see Jorge square up against Hamzat, that would be a good fight.
Probably true. Another miss of weight and he's definitely done at WW imo.
No way Chimaev makes weight. Even if he did it once and won the belt, he couldn't be relied upon. He'd miss weight sooner rather than later.
I don't think Leon v Belal would do many numbers in a PPV. Belal probably is the fighter that deserves it most. But he's not a draw, and neither is Leon. They'll need Colby to push to PPV numbers. I can't see Masvidal getting another shot, he was easily beaten in the two shots he had. Colby is ranked #2 and had two very close fights against Kamaru. He was alwsys going to be pushed next, especially as he was draw money.
I don't think Leon v Belal would do many numbers in a PPV. Belal probably is the fighter that deserves it most. But he's not a draw, and neither is Leon. They'll need Colby to push to PPV numbers. I can't see Masvidal getting another shot, he was easily beaten in the two shots he had. Colby is ranked #2 and had two very close fights against Kamaru. He was alwsys going to be pushed next, especially as he was draw money.
What makes you say that Burns is in steep decline? Since he lost to Usman in February 2021 he's won a clear if boring decision vs Wonderboy, lost a razor-thin decision in a war against Khamzat, and took apart Magny in one round. In contrast Colby's only wins post-2019 have been against a shot Woodley and Masvidal. I don't really care if Colby gets the next shot as there's no truly compelling candidate at the moment, but it's tough to argue that he deserves it.
Wonderboy is himself well over the hill, so beating him wouldn't really be that much of an accomplishment. Burns also lost to Chimaev, who at the time was barely rated in the division. I rate Chimaev as a fighter but there's no way someone unranked should've been able to waltz in and beat the #2 contender in the division Therefore I don't see Burns as a credible fighter in terms of title shots, and given that he's 36, I don't suspect he will ever get back to where he was when he went on his last run from 2018-20.
That seems very harsh on Burns. To claim Chimaev was barely rated in the division seems really revisionist. He was a huge odds on favourite over Burns, and if anything, I felt like Burns stock went up after the fight given how close the fight was. It might be fair to say he hadn't beaten any big names yet, but I wouldn't be really confident in backing any of the current fighters at Welterweight or Middleweight to beat him. Probably Whittaker if I had to place a bet.
I didn't think Burns' stock went up at all. When you're a #1 or #2 contender in your division, losing to a brand new fighter who only joined the UFC during the pandemic is never a good sign. I expected Burns to win that fight and swat Chimaev's rise back a bit, but he ended up delivering an underwhelming performance imo. I would like to see what he can do at MW since he wouldn't have to cut much weight there.
Agreed that Burns doesn't have a particularly compelling case for a title shot at the minute, and that we might have already seen the best of him. It's unfair to hold the Chimaev fight against him though, especially in comparison to Covington, who has chosen to sit on the sidelines rather than fight Chimaev. And Wonderboy may well be over the hill, but he's a better win than the version of Woodley that Colby fought. With their respective Masvidal and Magny wins being broadly similar, and Burns being much more active, he has the more deserving case than Colby for a title shot, which isn't saying much.
No matter, the most deserving guy is probably Belal and even he lacks a big win against a top opponent, so as long as the division keeps moving I don't care if Colby gets the shot. I just take umbrage at any suggestion that he deserves it! Colby vs Edwards next and the winner fights the winner of Belal vs Shavkat looks fine to me.
Yeah fighters like him can beat the entire roster across every division and they'll still not get a title shotProbably, the poor bastard!
I don't feel like I've shat on enough on Colby today, so here's a good one regarding his record. Since October 2017 he's defeated 5 fighters. Of those 5, only Dos Anjos was coming off a win when he fought Covington. Maia was coming off 1 loss, and Woodley, Lawler and Masvidal were all coming off 2 losses going into their fights with Colby.
Exactly. The fact is that outside of the Usman fights we have no idea how good Colby actually is. Usman is a fellow wrestler with similarly basic and poor striking so that match up was always going to be a low level kickboxing match. Don't get me wrong the fights themselves were good to watch but the striking on show was rudimentary. Otherwise Colby has beaten an old Maia (who always loses to wrestlers), an old Masvidal (who was never actually a top fighter anyway), an old Lawlor and a career LW in RDA. His resume is dogshit for someone rated so high in the division. He has done nothing to deserve a title shot over Belal or Burns. Burns may have lost to Khamzat but at least he fought him. Colby has been avoiding him and other top contenders like the plague.
Also Leon can feck of wanting to fight Masvidal. The guy doesn't deserve a title shot and the champs should always fight those most deserving. The funny thing is that if Conor somehow beats Chandler then the WW champ will be frothing at the mouth to fight him and Dana will let it happen. Shit like that makes the sport a joke.
It is definitely going down the boxing route but you have to blame Dana and not the fighters.
Colby only got where he is when he started mouthing off... Until then, he was the white Bella Muhammad... he will promote the fight, unlike Leon, who only says "ghhffhjn 100% fhhhfdhhh 100%"
The fighters will always look for the fight that's the easiest and most financially rewarding. Masvidal will be a cake walk, generate money and it's a win win for Leon... If course he'll want McGregor if that was an option.
It's up to Dana/UFC to incentivize fighters to stop doing that... But they never will.
What do you think the cash difference in Leon’s pocket would be if he faced
Belal
colby
Masvidal
Conor
I’m ranking them in that order as draws but you might have them different
What do you reckon Leon gets paid for each?
Wouldn't know figures and how ppv points etc work.
He would probably earn what he made for the Usman fight - 500k to win, 500k in PPV points + 42k paid sponsorship.
Obviously more for a Conor fight but far less than others would given that he's not a salesman like Conor or Colby are.
Looking forward for some Chito violence tomorrow.
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Prelims starting in 10 minutes 
Won’t be watching tonight as I’ve an early start tomorrow but hoping Cory gets the job donePrelims starting in 10 minutes
What a fight! So entertaining! (Vergara fight)
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Since when is Dan Murgliotta a judge ?
This Santos girl is trash...I mean....what does she do?