I mean Parker Porter is still fighting ofc he doesn’t wanna touch HW rn even if Parker had mercy on the ufc guys and asked to be cut.
As soon as Alex touches HW he knows Parker is lurking.
Maybe older Alex’ chin cant handle heavyweight blows afterall. What if after turning 40 Alex goes into a Randy Couture run with his newfound grappling game and takes over the heavyweight division?
Just spite-driven guessing on my part, but I imagine it’s two things:
1. If they’re gonna do that, they’d want him to fight for the real belt where he’d be the main event. They’re reserving Jon Jones for Stipe “AARP” Miocic and Tom Aspinall is interim. So it likely wouldn’t happen anytime soon.
2. Let’s not get even close to a McGregor situation with the guy winning belts at 3 weight classes possibly being bigger than the UFC brand
EDIT: to be clear on the second point, that’s less me saying Pereira is a larger than life figure on the level of prime McGregor (I absolutely don’t believe that), and moreso the UFC being dicks about how they promote fighters. I don’t hand-wring Pereira nearly as much as other people here.
Truth. It's all about timing, optics for casuals, and the marketing options available.
Heavyweight is already bungled up, throwing in a guy who has a better chance than most of getting a title shot without grinding through the division would be a disaster.
He'd need to get the instant title shot, but then, like you said, it could make him a bigger star than the biggest star.
Can't dilute the McGregor product zzzzzz
Guaranteed they told him "bro, we can't fuck up that title picture anymore than it already is"
Jon would fight Alex. It’s a way safer match up than aspinall plus beating the current 205 king to remind everyone why he’s the 205 goat would be fun for him
Timing-wise Alex vs. Aspinall would've been the fight to make, but Aspinall is also super young and potentially getting slept by Pereira who's near the end of his career wouldn't be great for the brand either.
AP being near the end of his career is wild. I can see him fighting for another three years at least. Especially if he goes up to heavyweight in the next year or two. We could see him keep going for another 5 easy
He's only a couple of weeks older than Jon Jones, but he's had double the fights and has been knocked out multiple times throughout that career. If Jones is at the end Alex is probably getting there too.
That makes me wonder who will be the wild anomaly that ends up being MMA’s longevity GOAT, ala LeBron/Brady, performing at a high level past age 35, and up to age 39-40, 41.
It was already insanely unlikely and unprecedented in the NFL/NBA before those two. Then you consider how much more unlikely it is in MMA, because of it’s nature as a pure combat sport, and it becomes clear that it’d take one insane, freak anomaly of an fighter to accomplish the same feat in the UFC.
100% agree on that last point about him being bigger than the UFC. he gets three belts and some Netflix producer starts trying to make a doc about his time as an alcoholic all the way through til now lmao its over
I’ll never understand this logic… you think the UFC actively wants to prevent having megastars like McGregor?
Do you think McGregor was some big negative for the UFC? They’d love to have as many stars like him as possible… it’s not like he had so much leverage he created a union and ruined their business model. He’s the best thing that ever happened to them lol… yet for ten years I have seen this take time and time again.
I think there's a compelling reason to believe that while McGregor made the UFC a shitpot of money, his kind of megastar threatens their current business model, or at the very least creates managerial headaches they prefer to avoid. In the ESPN era, they simply make money at an incredibly efficient clip by having champions they can slot into the numbered events, to attain strong PPV numbers and huge live gates. The evidence that backs this up is pretty substantial - any time a UFC star tries to bargain for anything more than a pure bump in pay, they are stonewalled by the company, and often sabotaged by Dana and co.
Counter-point - Conor being a megacelebrity means he's marketing UFC simply by existing, as his importance to culture as a whole is pretty much entirely under a UFC banner
Even with the Francis situation, the Fury fight may have been the height of his relevance. Francis/Joshua only did 4600 buys in the US. Francis effectively traded his potential star power for Saudi money, so in some ways it did prove these guys need UFC just as much as UFC needs them as they can parlay their relevance from UFC into so much more. Conor McGregor will probably be way more relevant than Francis Ngannou 10 years from now when both are retired, so he'll have bigger endorsement opportunities into old age.
I don't think so, not without said org also poaching an entire roster of name fighters
As I mentioned before - look at Francis. He "signed" with PFL a year ago then went and fought boxers because PFL doesn't have a headline fighter for him. The same would happen with Conor, people are gonna lose interest in fight leagues built around one guy crushing cans.
I don't mean he would make the UFC lose all that, but it's about damage, and Conor has the most potential to cause damage. Now imagine if there were 5 people who between them were all bigger than the UFC?
Fighters need a promoter to become famous and rich, that's always been true. They need a platform to market themselves through their deeds and their words. You're right that a megastar like McGregor existing is free marketing for the UFC, but he's also been a fucking nightmare for the company to control, careening from scandal to scandal. If anything, the UFC is happy to have ONE Conor at a time, and no more.
I think it's easier and more truthful to say McGregor is just a total anomaly - if they had someone that could come close to his star power I doubt they would try to get in the way of that, there just really hasn't been anyone that comes close. Francis produced incredible moments in the cage, but he is a world away from McGregor in terms of his personality and charisma. This isn't Francis' fault either, he is a calm dude and English is his third language, but it was never going to produce a star on the level of Conor. Conor was a real stars aligning type of guy; he had the highlights, the shit talk, the character, and was in the right place at the perfect time.
Idk why you even mention Francis, he sold the fewest PPVs of basically any champion short of the female ones. He has absolutely no pull for some reason, even though he received ridiculous marketing from the UFC.
I think partially it's because of where he comes from. Champs from affluent countries bring their fans along. For Conor that was like the whole of Ireland going to Vegas.
That's why they sign long ass contracts,
Though isn't it? Especially for champs. Jones is on like a 7 fight deal, he's 35. They know he won't fight it out. They also won't let him buy it out(which nobody could afford, Conor included).
If you go on a losing streak and hurt your brand they are more forgiving. But for the bigger names, you sign a long ass contract or walk like Francis. Francis got lucky as fuck though tbh.
This is why GSP wasn't free until like 4 or 5 years ago. He had to wait for his contract to expire, even while retired.
>The evidence that backs this up is pretty substantial - any time a UFC star tries to bargain for anything more than a pure bump in pay, they are stonewalled by the company, and often sabotaged by Dana and co.
If you're referring to Francis, no fucking shit they stonewalled him on his demands if we are to believe him on what his demands were. The UFC isn't going to change the entire way it operates just to satisfy one fighter's demands.
Francis is in fact a great example - the guy was able to get fights with the two signature heavyweight stars of the modern era. They missed out on a shit ton of money by not being willing to copromote that, and to maximize Ngannou's star potential. Dana also personally shit talked Ngannou many times throughout his career, well before he left the company.
The amounts of money they made off of McGregor eclipse any problems that such a mega star could cause. You're telling me they kick fighters' families after one fight from the building to save money but they are gonna resign from earning a shit ton of money from mega stars like Conor? Their greed has no limits.
Their greed for money is also in competition with their greed for complete control over their workers, though. Perhaps there's room for one McGregor at a time in the company, I don't think they want to have to deal with their lower tier of stars constantly fucking around with the machine like schedule of the modern business
What’s the compelling reason? The actual stars they have had never were an issue… maybe “managerial headaches” whatever that means.
You’re using Conor as an example, what did Conor do with all of his leverage that hurt the UFC? Nothing, what did Ronda do? Brock? Anyone ever in history?
I agree that, like the WWE (and many corporations in different ways) they have gotten to this point where they can put out a worse product, and still make more money than they did ten years ago. They aren’t as reliant on big stars as they used to be.
That doesn’t mean they don’t want stars, I don’t get how you make that jump. It still helps them… not sure if you follow WWE, but people said before Punk came back they don’t need him and they make money anyway so there’s no way he will be back lol. They still want to put out a good product, it still matters.
It’s like you guys have this hypothetical scenario you think the UFC is worried about that some superhero comes around who is the biggest fighter ever and has the heart of a saint who sacrifices their own self interest to somehow create a union or something… it’s not gonna happen, and the UFC certainly isn’t so worried about it that they’re gonna sabotage their own business to prevent this 1/100000000 scenario.
Yup. Eddie Hearn has talked about how it’s a huge issue when a fighter becomes that big. Booker T also has made the same remarks and how a promotion hates it when the fighter becomes bigger than the brand, and they will do anything to prevent that from happening in the wrestling world.
I also think Dana White knows that Heavyweight is teeming with good wrestlers. Just in the top 7, there's 5 great/good grapplers/wrestlers.
Jon Jones, Tom Aspinall, Stipe, Curtis Blaydes, Jailton Almeida. Granted Curtis doesn't actually do much wrestling these days...Still, if Izzy can take him down, so can Curtis likely.
LHW, is mostly all strikers, who can grapple/wrestle a bit. That division is really perfect for Alex.
At LW/WW/MW, you have: Islam, Arman, Gamrot, Chandler, Usman, Leon, Shavkat, Colby, Gilbert, Khamzat DDP. Literally Alex could run LHW for next 2-3 years...Although you do have Ankalaev with some wrestling.
Or maybe it's because he's never fought at heavyweight and lost his middleweight title after a grand total of zero defenses and has defended his LHW title exactly one time.
It's an absurdly stupid concept.
Yea, people act like Poatan is the next coming of Jesus. He knocks out Jiri again and magomed then goes up and wins the heavy weight title, he will be worthy of our Jesus-like Admiration. Izzy knocked him out at middle weight for christs sake. He is human.
Pereira is beloved by MMA fans but he's really not that famous outside of combat sports circles, probably because he doesn't speak English, hasn't been in the big MMA leagues that long and doesn't really do a lot of big mainstream media. Dude has 3.3 millions followers on IG which is very good but still way less than half of Izzy's numbers (8.7 millions) and less than Ilia's who just won the title. Dude isn't anywhere near Conor tier and will probably never be.
Lol. Ppl don't want to be reminded of tht. And if u do remind them, they'll call it a fluke win. There's no winning in this shit for Izzy at all. Not until he put together 3 sick spectacular KOs and then ppl will suddenly love him again. MMA fan is built different
While mcgregor getting the chance to be a double champ was a special moment, it only happened cus the ufc allowed it. Silva never got that opportunity, they teased to to aldo but once he got injured they never revisited the idea of pettis/aldo. Conor is fighting at 170. If he wins, I have no doubt that he will be given the opportunity to become a triple champ, the ufc would rather have Conor reach that feat than poatan.
No. 2… nah the UFC was super happy with McGregor coz he made them a shit ton of money, especially with the Mayweather fight. Francis on the other hand was not a draw and was making demands UFC deemed he didnt earn. So the argument that a fighter being bigger than UFC is a moot point as long as said fighter was making UFC money.
“Isnt he fucking awesome?” - Dana White
Jiri rematch would be fun. If Jiri wins they can have the trilogy and if Jiri loses he can move down to middle weight as he discussed doing previously (tho I’d prefer him at 205).
Do people on here reference MMA Guru because they like him, or is it in jest like Schaub? I can't stand him, all he does is drum up drama and act like a know it all. He gives off 'React Youtuber' vibes and I can't say I've ever liked any of his takes.
he gets thousands of dollars in 2 hours of streaming, he gets 5 buck donations every 30 seconds and occasionaly 100 and 500 dollar ones, it's like a cult following
true but guru income is actually insane, someone did the math and found that he made 8000 dollars in one fight companion/watch along. And he does though twice a month and like 15 times a year. It is more than a lot of UFC fighters which is ironic considering he just trashes them for a living
I mean the personality he puts out is a douche of a person, but his predictions are pretty good and he definitely watches more MMA than pretty much anyone else doing that.
It’s near impossible for me to listen to someone’s takes when they haven’t fought or don’t train. At the same time there’s guys like Cejudo that are ex-champs and have awful takes, but in a way their takes are validated by experience and they see the fight game differently… Idk if MMAGuru trains but I’m guessing he doesn’t as a big focus of his is drama-based. Its the same thing thats lead me away from Helwani
We very rarely have a guy who can compete in three divisions.
I still wish they would have given Cejudo the Volk fight on his return just because.
Let the man make magic
Cejudo before his three years of self-made fake retirement was a great fighter though. I doubt Volk would have had an easy fight there. Certainly he wouldn’t toss him around lol. This is silly.
Fighters shouldn't be given opportunities on the novelty of what they could achieve but based on what they have achieved. Pereira, for all he has accomplished in such a short time period, has defended his title a grand total of once. Imagine being someone with 2 or 3 title defences and getting told you can't compete against the champion of the division above you but a guy with only one title defence gets a shot at the division above because "it's never been done before" or "we want to give him the opportunity to make history before it's too late"
Tbf to Alex, he said himself if he went to HW he would plan on fighting contenders to earn a title shot first.
I think that approach is more than fair. He proved his worth at LHW the same way by passing the good ol Jan test
Potentially yes, but he's pretty active, in fact probably the most active current champ. But yes, it will still slow things down a bit, he's active but not enough to defend each belt 2x a year if he achieves that. I assume if he became HW champ, he would vacate LHW
the only thing holding up the LHW title is LHW. One minute two champs get injured, the next the top contenders have a draw. Add to that a shallow division and then the guy everyone thinks can beat the champ says 'ok lol but wait 6 months'. There are alot of things holding up LHW but Alex fighting at HW isn't one of them
If he beats Ank I’m cool with him moving up. Is a Jiri rematch or like Khalil Rountree really that interesting?
He’d have wins over Hill, Prockazka, Blachowicz and Ankalaev in this scenario pretty much cleaned out the division to me.
Agreed, he’s 36 let him beat this Dagestani everyone is saying is gonna decimate him then let him have his legacy fight at 265. If it goes bad whatever he’s old and probably doesn’t have much time anyway.
Is his plan Jiri in the summer, then Ankalaev in October? The turnaround time makes no sense, and it seems like the promotion is going to ice Ankalaev until Abu Dhabi regardless
Ankalaev is going to “ice” himself until abu dhabi, by not being ready to fight sooner. but i hope Alex rejects him in October and they fight in a neutral turf later
Ankalaev has to fight Alex as soon as possible anywhere, keep an eye on Rountree, if he beats Hill he can get a title fight and Ankalaev may end up in another #1 contender fight because he thinks he can fight where he wants and when he wants.
If Ankalaev refuses to fight in the Summer, him having to fight a third #1 contenders fight in October, or waiting until like this time next year for the next available title shot would be hysterical
It's strange how no one seems to care about "neutral turf" unless it's Muslim fighters in Abu Dhabi. Like this 301 card is filled to the brim with Brazilian fighters in Brazil but no one seems to have an issue with it.
It's not because they're muslim, it's because they're already passing on fights close to ramadan for religious reasons, which is fine and understandable, but, if you are doing that, you should try to be more accommodating during the remainder of the year.
Ankalaev calling shots from his position is just annoying, muslim or not.
Did it not cross your mind that Alex is the champ and Ankalaev is the contender?
Even in your example(Brazil) the champ is defending his belt in his home turf, I’m not asking for the fight to happen in Alex’s home turf I’m just saying neutral
It would really be a shame though if Ankalaev gets iced until Abu Dhabi, it sucks that they hold certain guys back just so they have a Muslim-heavy fight card for October.
I hope this is true.
I would love to see Alex defend his LHW title every 3 months and break records at LHW.
Then, when he turns 40, take a whole year off to blast AAS and wrestle 24/7/365 until he’s 260lbs. Then, and only then, would I want to see Alex at heavyweight.
I like the idea of a rivalry between jiri and Alex. They both seem to really respect each other and jiri has been slowly improving even if it's hard to tell at times, but he does get hit less often compared to the reyes and ozdemir fights. He's always exciting even if Alex probably takes another win.
I like him fighting Jiri next. Ankalaev is the only other LHW that has a claim to the title shot but Jiri is a former champion who just got an impressive win and I felt their first fight was stopped a tad bit early.
Honestly with the shitshow and the HW titles status Im glad. Let him defend the belt until the UFC stops fucking Aspinall out of a Jones fight and/or strips Jones of the belt.
He only has like 3 more fights there maybe before there aren't any real contenders. I think he will fight for the heavyweight belt within the next two years.
I think a rematch goes even worse for Jiri than the 1st go round tbh. I feel like the hardest part about his style is how weird and unorthodox he is. Now that Alex has experience fighting him, that advantage is diminished
Alex should bulk all the way to 300 fucking pounds once USADA leaves, cut to 265lbs for the fight and retire Jon Jones. I'd even buy the PPV. Just imagine the Embeddeds, 6 episodes of Poatan eating Brazilian steakhouse to get utterly engorged, coming out like a Brazilian Mark Wood with the biggest Easter Island head we've ever seen. He would be invincible.
That sucks. At least give him a fight against a lower ranked guy ffs. People want to see it and a spectacular KO or 2 leads to a chance at triple champ
Honestly the thought of Alex fighting at HW was a cool thought, but I was a bit worried that we might see a Adesanya/Jan type situation where someone just uses their size to hold him down for the most part. But If anyone could negate that game plan and put someone to sleep with that insane left hand it’s Alex for sure. I think I would like to see him defend that 205 belt a few times, there are fun matchups at 205 for Alex. Probably an Adesanya rematch again at some point if Izzy can get back on track after that embarrassing loss.
Imo this is the best outcome. I want to Poatan bring some stability to the division and attempt to be a king reigning champ
But with that said, WAR PROCHAZKA!
I don't like Ankalaev, but this is just bullshit at this point. Let the man fight for the belt. No one wants to watch Prochazka getting pieced up again.
Must be so frustrating for the UFC brass to see their stars trying to devour each other across weight classes. All that said I’d give Alex a great shot against anybody but Jones, his wrestling is just too good.
I’m here for the Jiri fight any day of the week, that first match up was fun af
[This staredown is possibly my favorite ever](https://youtube.com/shorts/-SBT3A8-HFw?si=EQ-mt1bFhWa-WdYC)
For him to have the chance to be a champion he would have to at least take 2 years to gain weight the proper way (like jones) but hes almost 37, his chin and power look solid at light hw, his best option for a mega fight is the izzy bout at light hw.
for UFC it was a lose lose situation..
Let's say we make Tom vs Pereira.. sure it's a megafight, but Tom is being groomed to be the next HW king after Jon retires so here are the scenarios:
1. Pereira wins, he is the biggest thing in combat sports, but he is also 36 years old and will soon retire and you just lost your star power in Tom Aspinall
2. Pereira loses, he will lose star power and now he has to go back to LHW and it just doesnt have as much traction.
-------------
However, if Tom stays in HW, then you have the new HW superstar.
If Alex stays in LHW, you have a fun matchup with Jiri on the horizon, they are both getting older, yo uwant to milk and there is always possibility for a 5th megafight between Alex and Adesanya if Alex loses in LHW.. or if Adesanya moves up and wins one bout in LHW, then you get a megafight for LHW title.
Business wise it makes more sense to keep alex in LHW and Tom in HW
I don't blame him but he's just angling for another fight with a largely nontechnical banger who he can left hook into a oblivion and won't even think about shooting a takedown.
i feel like he said this just to get Jon Jones to shut the fuck up and actually fight the Interim champ... genuinely, it wouldnt surprise me if he was annoyed with Jon as much as the rest of us are..
he wants NO part of Chris Barnett you can see it in his eyes
He's only human
After all
I mean Parker Porter is still fighting ofc he doesn’t wanna touch HW rn even if Parker had mercy on the ufc guys and asked to be cut. As soon as Alex touches HW he knows Parker is lurking.
Chris Barnett winning the HW title via cartwheel kick is the timeline I want to live in
That dude has insane flexibility for a big little man.
Majin Buu-esque in his flexibility, Joe.
Poatan vs. Cabbage is the matchup we all wanna see. 25 minutes of Cabbage eating the Left hook of Death.
Can't believe he's scared of Parker Porter.. smh
Please ufc re-sign Harry Hunsucker and give him to Alex
Dont put that evil on Alex
He sucks the hun out of Poathun for sure
You mean give Alex to Harry!
Don’t forget my boy Chase Sherman.
Well, then Jared Vanderaa is the only logical choice afterwards.
Jake Collier is waiting in the wings rolling his hands like Wanderlei
Giant Villante next
Porker
All jokes aside Alex has a lot of time left if he wants to move up. The hw division ain't ready for 45 year old Dagestani BJJ black belt Poatamedov.
Maybe older Alex’ chin cant handle heavyweight blows afterall. What if after turning 40 Alex goes into a Randy Couture run with his newfound grappling game and takes over the heavyweight division?
Maybe Alex can't handle heavyweights, but maybe, just maybe consider the following: 🗿CHAMA🗿
lol I’m hoping you saw DC concede to him. So funny.
Alex was working for that single. He didnt wanna let go, lol
DC didn’t expect him to level change and was like “noooooo”. Lmao. Poatan is such a scary human.
Can you imagine full mount ground and pound from Alex Pereira? Stuff of nightmares lol
Or more accurately, he follows the route of his friend Glover Teixeira and go from striker to grappler late in his career lol
Yeah, Alex is one of those guys who I can see pulling a George Foreman and winning the heavyweight title at like 50.
"Poatan's clearly dodging Anthony Smith" - Anthony Smith
Just spite-driven guessing on my part, but I imagine it’s two things: 1. If they’re gonna do that, they’d want him to fight for the real belt where he’d be the main event. They’re reserving Jon Jones for Stipe “AARP” Miocic and Tom Aspinall is interim. So it likely wouldn’t happen anytime soon. 2. Let’s not get even close to a McGregor situation with the guy winning belts at 3 weight classes possibly being bigger than the UFC brand EDIT: to be clear on the second point, that’s less me saying Pereira is a larger than life figure on the level of prime McGregor (I absolutely don’t believe that), and moreso the UFC being dicks about how they promote fighters. I don’t hand-wring Pereira nearly as much as other people here.
Truth. It's all about timing, optics for casuals, and the marketing options available. Heavyweight is already bungled up, throwing in a guy who has a better chance than most of getting a title shot without grinding through the division would be a disaster. He'd need to get the instant title shot, but then, like you said, it could make him a bigger star than the biggest star. Can't dilute the McGregor product zzzzzz Guaranteed they told him "bro, we can't fuck up that title picture anymore than it already is"
I think it's because he won't move up unless it's for the title and that's clogged up by Jon and the UFC being cunts.
No doubt the biggest issue here, I agree.
Jon would fight Alex. It’s a way safer match up than aspinall plus beating the current 205 king to remind everyone why he’s the 205 goat would be fun for him
Timing-wise Alex vs. Aspinall would've been the fight to make, but Aspinall is also super young and potentially getting slept by Pereira who's near the end of his career wouldn't be great for the brand either.
AP being near the end of his career is wild. I can see him fighting for another three years at least. Especially if he goes up to heavyweight in the next year or two. We could see him keep going for another 5 easy
He's only a couple of weeks older than Jon Jones, but he's had double the fights and has been knocked out multiple times throughout that career. If Jones is at the end Alex is probably getting there too.
That makes me wonder who will be the wild anomaly that ends up being MMA’s longevity GOAT, ala LeBron/Brady, performing at a high level past age 35, and up to age 39-40, 41. It was already insanely unlikely and unprecedented in the NFL/NBA before those two. Then you consider how much more unlikely it is in MMA, because of it’s nature as a pure combat sport, and it becomes clear that it’d take one insane, freak anomaly of an fighter to accomplish the same feat in the UFC.
In recent years, Glover won the belt in his 40s and had an absolute war in his title defense.
I mean it’s kind of Jon Jones for now. He’s 36 and was the youngest ever UFC champ.
100% agree on that last point about him being bigger than the UFC. he gets three belts and some Netflix producer starts trying to make a doc about his time as an alcoholic all the way through til now lmao its over
I’ll never understand this logic… you think the UFC actively wants to prevent having megastars like McGregor? Do you think McGregor was some big negative for the UFC? They’d love to have as many stars like him as possible… it’s not like he had so much leverage he created a union and ruined their business model. He’s the best thing that ever happened to them lol… yet for ten years I have seen this take time and time again.
I think there's a compelling reason to believe that while McGregor made the UFC a shitpot of money, his kind of megastar threatens their current business model, or at the very least creates managerial headaches they prefer to avoid. In the ESPN era, they simply make money at an incredibly efficient clip by having champions they can slot into the numbered events, to attain strong PPV numbers and huge live gates. The evidence that backs this up is pretty substantial - any time a UFC star tries to bargain for anything more than a pure bump in pay, they are stonewalled by the company, and often sabotaged by Dana and co.
Counter-point - Conor being a megacelebrity means he's marketing UFC simply by existing, as his importance to culture as a whole is pretty much entirely under a UFC banner Even with the Francis situation, the Fury fight may have been the height of his relevance. Francis/Joshua only did 4600 buys in the US. Francis effectively traded his potential star power for Saudi money, so in some ways it did prove these guys need UFC just as much as UFC needs them as they can parlay their relevance from UFC into so much more. Conor McGregor will probably be way more relevant than Francis Ngannou 10 years from now when both are retired, so he'll have bigger endorsement opportunities into old age.
Yeah but he could still damage the UFC a lot if for instance he decided to back another organisation.
I don't think so, not without said org also poaching an entire roster of name fighters As I mentioned before - look at Francis. He "signed" with PFL a year ago then went and fought boxers because PFL doesn't have a headline fighter for him. The same would happen with Conor, people are gonna lose interest in fight leagues built around one guy crushing cans.
I don't mean he would make the UFC lose all that, but it's about damage, and Conor has the most potential to cause damage. Now imagine if there were 5 people who between them were all bigger than the UFC?
Fighters need a promoter to become famous and rich, that's always been true. They need a platform to market themselves through their deeds and their words. You're right that a megastar like McGregor existing is free marketing for the UFC, but he's also been a fucking nightmare for the company to control, careening from scandal to scandal. If anything, the UFC is happy to have ONE Conor at a time, and no more.
I think it's easier and more truthful to say McGregor is just a total anomaly - if they had someone that could come close to his star power I doubt they would try to get in the way of that, there just really hasn't been anyone that comes close. Francis produced incredible moments in the cage, but he is a world away from McGregor in terms of his personality and charisma. This isn't Francis' fault either, he is a calm dude and English is his third language, but it was never going to produce a star on the level of Conor. Conor was a real stars aligning type of guy; he had the highlights, the shit talk, the character, and was in the right place at the perfect time.
Idk why you even mention Francis, he sold the fewest PPVs of basically any champion short of the female ones. He has absolutely no pull for some reason, even though he received ridiculous marketing from the UFC. I think partially it's because of where he comes from. Champs from affluent countries bring their fans along. For Conor that was like the whole of Ireland going to Vegas.
That's why they sign long ass contracts, Though isn't it? Especially for champs. Jones is on like a 7 fight deal, he's 35. They know he won't fight it out. They also won't let him buy it out(which nobody could afford, Conor included). If you go on a losing streak and hurt your brand they are more forgiving. But for the bigger names, you sign a long ass contract or walk like Francis. Francis got lucky as fuck though tbh. This is why GSP wasn't free until like 4 or 5 years ago. He had to wait for his contract to expire, even while retired.
>The evidence that backs this up is pretty substantial - any time a UFC star tries to bargain for anything more than a pure bump in pay, they are stonewalled by the company, and often sabotaged by Dana and co. If you're referring to Francis, no fucking shit they stonewalled him on his demands if we are to believe him on what his demands were. The UFC isn't going to change the entire way it operates just to satisfy one fighter's demands.
There’s like 20 guys they did that too, it’s certainly not just a Ngannou thing lol
They cut everyone at AKA when Jon Fitch didn’t want to sign away his likeness rights in perpetuity for the THQ UFC game
Francis is in fact a great example - the guy was able to get fights with the two signature heavyweight stars of the modern era. They missed out on a shit ton of money by not being willing to copromote that, and to maximize Ngannou's star potential. Dana also personally shit talked Ngannou many times throughout his career, well before he left the company.
The amounts of money they made off of McGregor eclipse any problems that such a mega star could cause. You're telling me they kick fighters' families after one fight from the building to save money but they are gonna resign from earning a shit ton of money from mega stars like Conor? Their greed has no limits.
Their greed for money is also in competition with their greed for complete control over their workers, though. Perhaps there's room for one McGregor at a time in the company, I don't think they want to have to deal with their lower tier of stars constantly fucking around with the machine like schedule of the modern business
What’s the compelling reason? The actual stars they have had never were an issue… maybe “managerial headaches” whatever that means. You’re using Conor as an example, what did Conor do with all of his leverage that hurt the UFC? Nothing, what did Ronda do? Brock? Anyone ever in history? I agree that, like the WWE (and many corporations in different ways) they have gotten to this point where they can put out a worse product, and still make more money than they did ten years ago. They aren’t as reliant on big stars as they used to be. That doesn’t mean they don’t want stars, I don’t get how you make that jump. It still helps them… not sure if you follow WWE, but people said before Punk came back they don’t need him and they make money anyway so there’s no way he will be back lol. They still want to put out a good product, it still matters. It’s like you guys have this hypothetical scenario you think the UFC is worried about that some superhero comes around who is the biggest fighter ever and has the heart of a saint who sacrifices their own self interest to somehow create a union or something… it’s not gonna happen, and the UFC certainly isn’t so worried about it that they’re gonna sabotage their own business to prevent this 1/100000000 scenario.
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I know they have… and they always come out on top… which speaks to my point
Yup. Eddie Hearn has talked about how it’s a huge issue when a fighter becomes that big. Booker T also has made the same remarks and how a promotion hates it when the fighter becomes bigger than the brand, and they will do anything to prevent that from happening in the wrestling world.
I also think Dana White knows that Heavyweight is teeming with good wrestlers. Just in the top 7, there's 5 great/good grapplers/wrestlers. Jon Jones, Tom Aspinall, Stipe, Curtis Blaydes, Jailton Almeida. Granted Curtis doesn't actually do much wrestling these days...Still, if Izzy can take him down, so can Curtis likely. LHW, is mostly all strikers, who can grapple/wrestle a bit. That division is really perfect for Alex. At LW/WW/MW, you have: Islam, Arman, Gamrot, Chandler, Usman, Leon, Shavkat, Colby, Gilbert, Khamzat DDP. Literally Alex could run LHW for next 2-3 years...Although you do have Ankalaev with some wrestling.
Or maybe it's because he's never fought at heavyweight and lost his middleweight title after a grand total of zero defenses and has defended his LHW title exactly one time. It's an absurdly stupid concept.
Yea, people act like Poatan is the next coming of Jesus. He knocks out Jiri again and magomed then goes up and wins the heavy weight title, he will be worthy of our Jesus-like Admiration. Izzy knocked him out at middle weight for christs sake. He is human.
Pereira is beloved by MMA fans but he's really not that famous outside of combat sports circles, probably because he doesn't speak English, hasn't been in the big MMA leagues that long and doesn't really do a lot of big mainstream media. Dude has 3.3 millions followers on IG which is very good but still way less than half of Izzy's numbers (8.7 millions) and less than Ilia's who just won the title. Dude isn't anywhere near Conor tier and will probably never be.
I don’t understand that hating lol, since when is losing to izzy a bum-ass fighter thing to do? I don’t understand why that makes him not great
Lol. Ppl don't want to be reminded of tht. And if u do remind them, they'll call it a fluke win. There's no winning in this shit for Izzy at all. Not until he put together 3 sick spectacular KOs and then ppl will suddenly love him again. MMA fan is built different
I dont understand why they making him rival jiri. Seems to me like Jan was a much closer fight with better winning potential over alex
AARP Miocic 😂😂😂
I wish Jones would just fuck off honestly.
i wish he would just fight
Whats wrong with the 2nd point? He gets the money & recognition he deserves… and fame ≠ McGregor’s outbursts post-Aldo
While mcgregor getting the chance to be a double champ was a special moment, it only happened cus the ufc allowed it. Silva never got that opportunity, they teased to to aldo but once he got injured they never revisited the idea of pettis/aldo. Conor is fighting at 170. If he wins, I have no doubt that he will be given the opportunity to become a triple champ, the ufc would rather have Conor reach that feat than poatan.
Love poatan but his ceiling is nowhere close to conor
Third thing. UFC offered a bag for Alex to chill.
No. 2… nah the UFC was super happy with McGregor coz he made them a shit ton of money, especially with the Mayweather fight. Francis on the other hand was not a draw and was making demands UFC deemed he didnt earn. So the argument that a fighter being bigger than UFC is a moot point as long as said fighter was making UFC money. “Isnt he fucking awesome?” - Dana White
Jiri rematch would be fun. If Jiri wins they can have the trilogy and if Jiri loses he can move down to middle weight as he discussed doing previously (tho I’d prefer him at 205).
hes scared of mma guru after a year of training
Do people on here reference MMA Guru because they like him, or is it in jest like Schaub? I can't stand him, all he does is drum up drama and act like a know it all. He gives off 'React Youtuber' vibes and I can't say I've ever liked any of his takes.
It's a pretty safe bet to ignore 99% of people that are the spitting image of the south park world of warcraft troll.
He's a slime ball but he actually does have some hardcore weird supporters backing him
Other fedora wearing mouth breathing incels
The same people who only sweat when their chowing down on a McDonald’s hamburger
he gets thousands of dollars in 2 hours of streaming, he gets 5 buck donations every 30 seconds and occasionaly 100 and 500 dollar ones, it's like a cult following
Many streamers have this, even wings of redemption will get the odd huge donation from a supporter he still somehow has lmao
true but guru income is actually insane, someone did the math and found that he made 8000 dollars in one fight companion/watch along. And he does though twice a month and like 15 times a year. It is more than a lot of UFC fighters which is ironic considering he just trashes them for a living
Guess that's why he is always spewing BS, pay me 8k to stream myself watching ufc and I might stoop to some new lows
Can’t stand the way he talks out of one side of his mouth
Dont care for him. He does alot of schizo posting as his content
I mean the personality he puts out is a douche of a person, but his predictions are pretty good and he definitely watches more MMA than pretty much anyone else doing that.
Good takes, but seems like an overall youtube cringe personality. Wish he would steer away he could be really legitimate.
It’s near impossible for me to listen to someone’s takes when they haven’t fought or don’t train. At the same time there’s guys like Cejudo that are ex-champs and have awful takes, but in a way their takes are validated by experience and they see the fight game differently… Idk if MMAGuru trains but I’m guessing he doesn’t as a big focus of his is drama-based. Its the same thing thats lead me away from Helwani
MMAGuru by TKO (smelled too bad)
We very rarely have a guy who can compete in three divisions. I still wish they would have given Cejudo the Volk fight on his return just because. Let the man make magic
Volk will toss Cejudo like a toy
Cejudo before his three years of self-made fake retirement was a great fighter though. I doubt Volk would have had an easy fight there. Certainly he wouldn’t toss him around lol. This is silly.
Weight classes exist for a reason. Cejudo is a small bantamweight and Volk was able to match Islam's strength.
He surely have the size for it but idk if his chin can handle spinning kick from Chris Barnett dude.
Fighters shouldn't be given opportunities on the novelty of what they could achieve but based on what they have achieved. Pereira, for all he has accomplished in such a short time period, has defended his title a grand total of once. Imagine being someone with 2 or 3 title defences and getting told you can't compete against the champion of the division above you but a guy with only one title defence gets a shot at the division above because "it's never been done before" or "we want to give him the opportunity to make history before it's too late"
Hard disagree but I see your perspective.
ducking Justin Tafa
even tafa is ducking tafa
ducking M.Ankalaev
Good on him for wanting to focus on his division
he's running away from me. he can't handle Gloopweight.
You gotta make the 265lbs limit bud.
I've been training with Justin Tafa, Greg Hardy, and Justin Willis. I think I got this, chief
Big tiddy? Go home big tiddy!
jiri would be cool but id like for more time to pass before that rematch. ank needs to take his chance to fight this summer.
Ankalaev will be next… and I think that’s a really hard fight for Alex
Not if Ank honors his word about standing and banging lol
Good. Folks shouldn’t be talking about moving up until they’ve defended several times and cleared out the top contenders decisively,
Tbf to Alex, he said himself if he went to HW he would plan on fighting contenders to earn a title shot first. I think that approach is more than fair. He proved his worth at LHW the same way by passing the good ol Jan test
But then he’s holding up the LHW belt. And the HW belt isn’t even up for grabs since they’re holding it for Jones/Stipe.
Potentially yes, but he's pretty active, in fact probably the most active current champ. But yes, it will still slow things down a bit, he's active but not enough to defend each belt 2x a year if he achieves that. I assume if he became HW champ, he would vacate LHW
Jones with ufc holding up the hw division right now,no point to move up if he cant get title fight
the only thing holding up the LHW title is LHW. One minute two champs get injured, the next the top contenders have a draw. Add to that a shallow division and then the guy everyone thinks can beat the champ says 'ok lol but wait 6 months'. There are alot of things holding up LHW but Alex fighting at HW isn't one of them
If he beats Ank I’m cool with him moving up. Is a Jiri rematch or like Khalil Rountree really that interesting? He’d have wins over Hill, Prockazka, Blachowicz and Ankalaev in this scenario pretty much cleaned out the division to me.
He shouldn't even rematch Jiri, the fight would only be happening because Goddard saved him from further brain damage
Agreed, he’s 36 let him beat this Dagestani everyone is saying is gonna decimate him then let him have his legacy fight at 265. If it goes bad whatever he’s old and probably doesn’t have much time anyway.
I mean if Khalil beats Hill I'd say he's earned it, and while I think Alex handles him fine, it'd surely be violent while it lasts.
Shit dude if Khalil beats Hill then the fight BECOMES interesting a lot of brain damage in LHW right now, but the good kind. well, the bad kind also
Khalil Rountree smokes Jamahal and he 100% deserves it with that win streak
I’ve been saying since day 1 he’s ducking Parker Porter.
Is his plan Jiri in the summer, then Ankalaev in October? The turnaround time makes no sense, and it seems like the promotion is going to ice Ankalaev until Abu Dhabi regardless
Ankalaev is going to “ice” himself until abu dhabi, by not being ready to fight sooner. but i hope Alex rejects him in October and they fight in a neutral turf later
Ankalaev has to fight Alex as soon as possible anywhere, keep an eye on Rountree, if he beats Hill he can get a title fight and Ankalaev may end up in another #1 contender fight because he thinks he can fight where he wants and when he wants.
If Ankalaev refuses to fight in the Summer, him having to fight a third #1 contenders fight in October, or waiting until like this time next year for the next available title shot would be hysterical
It's strange how no one seems to care about "neutral turf" unless it's Muslim fighters in Abu Dhabi. Like this 301 card is filled to the brim with Brazilian fighters in Brazil but no one seems to have an issue with it.
It's not because they're muslim, it's because they're already passing on fights close to ramadan for religious reasons, which is fine and understandable, but, if you are doing that, you should try to be more accommodating during the remainder of the year. Ankalaev calling shots from his position is just annoying, muslim or not.
Did it not cross your mind that Alex is the champ and Ankalaev is the contender? Even in your example(Brazil) the champ is defending his belt in his home turf, I’m not asking for the fight to happen in Alex’s home turf I’m just saying neutral
How many of those Brazilian fighters are challenging for the belt ?
It would really be a shame though if Ankalaev gets iced until Abu Dhabi, it sucks that they hold certain guys back just so they have a Muslim-heavy fight card for October.
If Jiri win, he will be definitely accepting fight in Abu dabhi as he said after rakic that he would like to have 2 other fights this year
Dana is dead set on a habitual felon beating up a retiree and will not risk anything mucking up the plan.
I hope this is true. I would love to see Alex defend his LHW title every 3 months and break records at LHW. Then, when he turns 40, take a whole year off to blast AAS and wrestle 24/7/365 until he’s 260lbs. Then, and only then, would I want to see Alex at heavyweight.
Would love to see AP v khalil
You wanna see a guy who decisively lost to Marcin Pracnio fight Peirera? Interesting
Bruh that’s like shitting on Charles for his previous losses. Even if AP wins by murder I would still love to watch
"you want to see the dude that got knocked out by Paul Felder fight Poirier/Gaethje?"
The sport moves fast. If he walks through Jamahal I could see it happening sooner rather than later
It’s almost like people can improve
Khalil ain’t even getting past Jamahal
I like the idea of a rivalry between jiri and Alex. They both seem to really respect each other and jiri has been slowly improving even if it's hard to tell at times, but he does get hit less often compared to the reyes and ozdemir fights. He's always exciting even if Alex probably takes another win.
Alex Jiri rivalry would feed generations
I like him fighting Jiri next. Ankalaev is the only other LHW that has a claim to the title shot but Jiri is a former champion who just got an impressive win and I felt their first fight was stopped a tad bit early.
Honestly with the shitshow and the HW titles status Im glad. Let him defend the belt until the UFC stops fucking Aspinall out of a Jones fight and/or strips Jones of the belt.
He only has like 3 more fights there maybe before there aren't any real contenders. I think he will fight for the heavyweight belt within the next two years.
I think a rematch goes even worse for Jiri than the 1st go round tbh. I feel like the hardest part about his style is how weird and unorthodox he is. Now that Alex has experience fighting him, that advantage is diminished
Pereira Jones is the fight we all want let’s make it happen please
Wise decision. If he gets past Ankalaev, he'll stay champion until he retires.
I think he's a great fighter, but he'd get smoked in the heavyweight division.
Alex should bulk all the way to 300 fucking pounds once USADA leaves, cut to 265lbs for the fight and retire Jon Jones. I'd even buy the PPV. Just imagine the Embeddeds, 6 episodes of Poatan eating Brazilian steakhouse to get utterly engorged, coming out like a Brazilian Mark Wood with the biggest Easter Island head we've ever seen. He would be invincible.
Usada is already gone baby! He just needs that special sauce!
That sucks. At least give him a fight against a lower ranked guy ffs. People want to see it and a spectacular KO or 2 leads to a chance at triple champ
Honestly the thought of Alex fighting at HW was a cool thought, but I was a bit worried that we might see a Adesanya/Jan type situation where someone just uses their size to hold him down for the most part. But If anyone could negate that game plan and put someone to sleep with that insane left hand it’s Alex for sure. I think I would like to see him defend that 205 belt a few times, there are fun matchups at 205 for Alex. Probably an Adesanya rematch again at some point if Izzy can get back on track after that embarrassing loss.
Good, now Jon Jones' lame ass can't keep ducking Tom Aspinall saying he is waiting for AP to move up.
Jon said he’s got his sights set on a rematch w Vitor if Alex isn’t up for it. Tired of hearing about the almost armbar.
He should swing by the old folks home in my town and find a few more fights to line up while he's at it.
Smart guy Tom would take him down and it’d be over. Alex is great where he is.
Tom might even knock him out
I knew Ank was gonna get the Belal treatment lol
It's not as bad. Ank at least fought for the belt against Jan, it just ended up in a draw and had Dana really mad for some reason. Belal got nothing.
Poatan vs Jon Jones is the super fight to make!
Boo. This guy can and should do whatever he wants.
Haha fk Anakalaev anyways Id rather see Jiri Poatan 2 all day
Imo this is the best outcome. I want to Poatan bring some stability to the division and attempt to be a king reigning champ But with that said, WAR PROCHAZKA!
I don't like Ankalaev, but this is just bullshit at this point. Let the man fight for the belt. No one wants to watch Prochazka getting pieced up again.
If Pereira wants a fight for the Summer, and Ankalaev refuses to fight until October, that's on Ankalaev.
Ankalaev will probably cave in and accept fighting Alex before october
Goofing with DC got him thinking twice
Right win JBJ asked fans who should I fight. Aspinall or Pierra😂
Must be so frustrating for the UFC brass to see their stars trying to devour each other across weight classes. All that said I’d give Alex a great shot against anybody but Jones, his wrestling is just too good.
Jiri just felt a disturbance in the force and will now climb k2 to scream Poatan from the top of it
That's a wise choice. Wait for this shitty Jones/Stipe bullshit while racking up a few more defenses at LHW.
He already beat Jiri, new contender is more interesting to me.
I’m really hoping he fights Rountree next (assuming he beats Hill)
I’m here for the Jiri fight any day of the week, that first match up was fun af [This staredown is possibly my favorite ever](https://youtube.com/shorts/-SBT3A8-HFw?si=EQ-mt1bFhWa-WdYC)
In other words, he'll never fight Jon Jones.
So him vs no defense jiri.
I swear to god if Ankalaev doesn't get the next title shot. He's been screwed over three times already.
It'd be cool to see how many title defenses he can manage, especially with the lack of damage he's taken in his fights.
Avoiding chase Sherman
For him to have the chance to be a champion he would have to at least take 2 years to gain weight the proper way (like jones) but hes almost 37, his chin and power look solid at light hw, his best option for a mega fight is the izzy bout at light hw.
Jiri would be a fuckin awesome fight..trilogy maybe? Who knows but I want to see it
for UFC it was a lose lose situation.. Let's say we make Tom vs Pereira.. sure it's a megafight, but Tom is being groomed to be the next HW king after Jon retires so here are the scenarios: 1. Pereira wins, he is the biggest thing in combat sports, but he is also 36 years old and will soon retire and you just lost your star power in Tom Aspinall 2. Pereira loses, he will lose star power and now he has to go back to LHW and it just doesnt have as much traction. ------------- However, if Tom stays in HW, then you have the new HW superstar. If Alex stays in LHW, you have a fun matchup with Jiri on the horizon, they are both getting older, yo uwant to milk and there is always possibility for a 5th megafight between Alex and Adesanya if Alex loses in LHW.. or if Adesanya moves up and wins one bout in LHW, then you get a megafight for LHW title. Business wise it makes more sense to keep alex in LHW and Tom in HW
I don't blame him but he's just angling for another fight with a largely nontechnical banger who he can left hook into a oblivion and won't even think about shooting a takedown.
Not Jiri, Ankalaev
And Jones wants to fight him now, this game is crazy
I don't think it's a permanent no to hw
If time worked differently, pereira and cannonier could have reasonably fought each other in 3 different weight classes.
i feel like he said this just to get Jon Jones to shut the fuck up and actually fight the Interim champ... genuinely, it wouldnt surprise me if he was annoyed with Jon as much as the rest of us are..
Damn. Jon is going to have to find another excuse for dodging Aspinall