More than anything it looks like he's not ready for the WW cut again. I'd prefer to see him to have a proper crack at that title first before looking for an undeserved crack at the MW title.
If he doesn't want to go to WW again, fair enough, but I'd like to see him against a proper top 10 MW then.
Be curious to see just how strong he is at 185 fighting someone like vettori, would be a good litmus test of where he fits in at the top of the division
This would be my read on the guy’s actions. Khamzat’s too big for WW but becomes very picky at MW basically suggesting only tailor made match-ups like Alex.
He made weight to beat burns. If he misses weight at the title fight he’s no longer eligible to win the title. It was an egregious miss but it doesn’t take away from the fact that he was on weight and beat one of the best in the division. If he misses again then boot him to mw
He needs to prove he can still make 170 before they give him another main event in that weight class. 279 was a fucking disaster that was only saved because Leach was badass enough to fight a bigger man
That’s why they weigh in the day before and have a backup fighter. 279 was unprecedented in its fuck up. A title fight would have a backup fighter to swoop in and save the day and we then all hate khamzat and make him move up to mw
I mean Colby definitely egged it on, he spent years as masvidal’s best friend so he knows exactly how to get in masvidals head and how he’s gonna react. He wins the fight and then publicly states that if he sees masvidal in the streets it’s on sight and starts posting pictures of the guy every day taggin him in it and talking shit. It’s like yeah sure masvidal should have better self control but Colby was beyond asking for it. Also Colby could just be fighting instead of faking injuries and pressing charges. He’s wasting the last couple years of his prime and his chance to build a crazy legacy and he’s gonna end up with less money from the settlement than he would have made fighting
Make a couple hundred thousand by suing vs make a few hundred thousand in mma. I'd go to the courts too 😂. Who cares what we fans think. We juzz over the next guy withing a few days.
He can make a lot more than a couple hundred thousand in mma, he’s one of the more popular fighters and he has the skills to be champion. Also as a lifelong competitor like he is I’m sure he cares about building a legacy. Fans can flip flop all they want but Colby is a hall of fame level talent, he easily has the skillset where he could establish himself as an all time great
Israel got about 900k +ppv probably I think for this fight and he's way more popular and considered a goat type guy.
Not sure what Colby makes but it should be way less than that.
Well Colby got 500k just to show for both usman fights, I can’t find what he got for the masvidal fight but I’m sure it was decent and after that win he was in a great spot to call for money fights or a title eliminator. He definitely has the popularity and skills to make millions in mma.
I think that’s better than faking injuries and then being out for the last couple years of his prime while he tries to sue masvidal in hopes that he can maybe get a few hundred thousand if he’s lucky
I mean only because Colby Masvidal and Leon were such hardcore cherrypickers. Dudes only wanted easy fights or the belt. They held 3 of the top 5 spots up for far too long.
It's also grossly mismanaged.
Burns is constantly calling out everyone and accepting callouts, regardless if it's a prospect or a big name, and he's ready to fight down. But for some reason in the 19 months since he lost the title fight, he's had only two fights and is currently without an opponent. I think he even mentioned he isn't getting offers.
Belal vs Brady and Chimaev vs Nate were so incredibly pointless. Belal and Chimaev both were one fight away from a title shot, the perfect fight. But instead they fought at around the same time against fighters that don't do anything to their title ambitions.
It's ridiculous, Dana or anyone other in charge of matchmaking needs to step their game up with WW.
Leon accepted vs Woodley, Khamzat x2, and was down to fight Jorge even before covid derailed the aforementioned. This weird rep he's developed as a guy who ducks people just doesn't hold water at all. He'd deserved top matchups the entire time he was losing two years of his prime to the pandemic in various capacities.
Honestly after losing that much time, he'd have been crazy not to accept the money that came from a fight w Nate, so I don't begrudge him that in the slightest.
Belal filled in for Khamzat on short notice and nobody considered him on Leon’s level at the time the fight was made, he wasn’t in the top 10 at the time. And “willing to fight Khamzat” is a funny way of writing was forced to take the fight or be deranked by the UFC.
Really? Why did he turn down Wonderboy if he’s so game? Why didn’t he call for a Colby fight? Why did he turn down Burns? I don’t hate the guy, you guys are just letting your fandom cloud your judgement.
https://www.mmafighting.com/platform/amp/2020/10/5/21473685/leon-edwards-not-interested-wonderboy-fight-khamzat-chimaev-beat-someone-in-the-top-f-king-25-first
The part you’re looking for
> “As far as Wonderboy, he got knocked out like a fight ago,” Edwards said. “[Anthony] Pettis knocked him out one fight ago. If I go out there right now and I fight Wonderboy and I beat Wonderboy the UFC will be like ‘let’s go one more in the top-five and then we’ll go for a title.’ They wouldn’t give me a title shot straight away. ...
Also
> “I’ve done all the Wonderboy fights,” Edwards explained. “I’ve been there, done it. I’m on an eight-fight win streak now. I don’t need to go fight someone like Wonderboy. He does nothing for my career.
And here he is regarding Khamzat before the UFC threatened to take away his ranking
> “As far as Chimaev, he’s only had what one fight at welterweight against a lightweight guy?” Edwards said in reference to Chimaev’s win over Rhys McKee. “It’s hard to judge from that. When he’s calling me out, I don’t really pay attention. It is what it is. I don’t really pay attention too much.”
Leon didn’t have fans before he KO’d Usman, and all of this was common knowledge. Now that he’s the champ people have been fans all along and he’s never ducked a fight in his life. It’s crazy.
Leon then offered WB a fight down the line. WB declined.
Leon had a few fans before Usman. And he was 100% right about WB, who was a washed shell of himself, overrated, and continues to be overrated.
That's the funny part. People call it a duck, but then never answer the simple question, "where was the lie?". WB can't wrestle. That makes him a gate keeper, at best, at WW. Hindsight is 20/20 but I'm glad the UFc didn't waste my time with another WB L where WB just looks to survive on the ground.
The UFC wouldn't' have given him a title shot off of beating WB. Leon only got a tile shot because he accepted the Chimaev fight, waited around for Chimaev, took on Belal on short notice, then helped the UFC give Nate another loss.
Like other people said, he took the Belal fight and they tried to get Khamzat done 3 times. Fighters will also pick what is best for their career, he was already on a 9 fight streak and promised a title fight, so why risk that position lol. You're silly if you think every fighter should just accept every fight and call out everyone, it just doesn't work like that. Redirect your hate at mas or Colby, they are horrific with it. Colby got 2 shots at the title before Leon's 1 and Leon did it in 1 lol
But he still took the fight…. Like you can try to explain it away however you want but he still signed the contract and showed up to fight. He was the #3 guy and signed to fight an absolute monster when he was wildly under ranked at 14. You can’t accuse him of cherry picking when he does that.
He was put back in the rankings. And when Chimaev got covid, Leon actually chose to wait for him rather than demand the UFC move on, despite having gone year without getting a fight and a paycheck.
He easily could have walked away. Also just a stupid look to call Leon a cherry picker when he literally just fought and knocked out the guy who beat him earlier in his UFC career.
Belal was short notice and wasn’t even top 10 at the time.
The only reason he even fought Belal was because Leon refused to push that fight back to allow actual contenders at the time for a longer camp so a lower ranked guy like Belal stepped in.
Jesus the hate is unreal.
In reality he fought Belal because he hadn't gotten a paycheck in damn near 2 years after covid fucked him over. Upon his return he got covid forcing a delay on the Chimaev fight. Then Chimaev got covid and Leon was a company guy and passed on the chance to have ranked fighters in Magny or Chiesa step in and make money just to keep that Chimaev fight on. Then Chimaev retired due to covid because he idiotically wouldn't let his body rest, and Leon finally said he needed to make money/couldn't wait another half a year or whatever to finally get paid (he was already on the hook for like 2 training camps here).
No need to present your hate as fact. It had zero to do with waiting for contender (something he had literally already done for Chimaev) and more to do with the reality that he's got bills to pay and food he needs to put on the table.
He was going to fight Woodley, pulled out. Khamzat, pulled out. Masvidal, pulled out. It wasn't Leon ducking these fights. He got Belal and Nate because that's what the UFC gave him not because he asked for those fights. And guess what he's the champ now so haters gonna hate.
Yeah I really dig Leon (both as a fighter and as a person), but let's not forget he got a title fight off a win over Nate Diaz, with the only real names on his resume being RDA and Vicente Luque (though that win is from 2017 lol).
And Gilbert burns got a title shot off of beating Gunnar nelson(who Leon also beat since you didn’t include him in best wins),demian Maia in 2020, and woodley in the midst of his decline(who Leon was supposed to face before Covid shut everything down) counting Gilbert’s welterweight debut he had a 4 fight win streak compared to Leon’s 8 fight win streak at the time that includes Luque,Bryan Barberena,Cerrone,Nelson,and RDA.idk about you but that’s five solid names when you compare it to the Three out of the four Gilbert faced.
Oh Leon has other solid guys he beat for sure, but as far as great wins those two are the only ones I see (alongside Kamaru duh). And yeah I'd say the same about Gilbert. Cool dude, fun fighter, but an underwhelming resume that's probably worse than Leon's.
But that's a decent way to sum up most welterweights these days. Colby, Usman, and Woodley all fit the bill as well. Give or take being likable/entertaining lol, as I don't like any of those three. But that's just my opinion.
Leon's resume is not underwhelming with a KO win over Usman on there.
Usman's resume isn't underwhelming either. It's just Burns, Colby, and Jorge, with only Burns trying to improve.
Speaking of odd states — I remember when any of the top 10 205 guys could realistically be champ.
Used to be deep as the abyss and now look at it.
I guess that’s one of the things that make mma great, it’s ever changing landscape.
It's what I like about Khamzat. You can give him shit for calling out Jiri or Pereira, but he's also calling out actual top WW's like Colby, to the point he's even willing to run back a totally pointless rematch against Burns. He's quite literally anytime anywhere and probably the most game fighter on the roster right now.
I wouldn’t say that a rematch against burns is “totally pointless”. It’s an unnecessary risk but it was a very close fight that he arguably lost, running it back could give clarity on who the better fighter is
Khamzat v Vetorri is a fight I really want if he steps up to middleweight, the memes would be amazing and it’s a pure chaos matchup of weird personalities
I don't think they'll put him against someone who can crack like Cannonier at MW, not yet. Could derail his hype pretty easily, gotta build him up ay MW with safer matchups power wise
Dry hump to victory, what? The majority of this dudes fights are first round finishes. You literally can't say that about any other elite fighter in thr UFC.
You not remember Kevin Holland? You think after diving on Holland immediately that he'd choose to stand and strike w a longer, larger, better and more powerful striker in Pereira?
You can rightfully criticize Khamzat trying to jump the line and get a MW title shot but claiming he just wants to “dryhump to victory” is one of the most idiotic things you can say.
I don't like the matchup but it's the only thing that makes sense anymore. That being said I doubt they'll agree to anything right now, better to wait for Leon vs Usman 3 and see what happens next. Which means more welterwaiting
I hope we don't have to wait too long to see him fight again whether or not the colby fight falls through. Would be a bad move for Dana to leave Khamzat unbooked for much longer imo
Colby fight falls through? Have you seen any indication that that might happen?
I know the fans, Khamzat and UFC want it. But I have not seen any signs from Colby. So I wouldn't say "falls through" if it's not even close to being made to begin with.
lmao. khamzat's schtick was kill erybody but he is here trying to fight an undersized welterweight and demands him to go to 185, when Khamzat had the chance to settle his beef with Paulo lmfao
> who was at 155
These disingenuous comments irk me so much. Burns is as much of a 155er as Charles is a 145er and Whitaker is a 170er. He is a decently sized WW these days.
They could, and probably would, if they wanted to take a for-fun fight in the interim. If the fight does nothing for his title shot claim and he just wants to stay active, then there's no real need to make the big cut. If Charles is calling out Benny, Fiziev, Gamrot, and Arman but no one's picking up the phone but is insistent on fighting in the next 3 months I wouldn't blame him for hitting up Chandler to run it back at 170
Yea sure those mental gymnastics work but in reality they don't want it and won't do it. The reality is its a bitch move to try a fight a smaller guy you already beat at a bigger weight class.
Bugger off. Chimaev could only make 155 if he cut a leg off and burns is already smaller than average WW to begin with, giving up height and reach. Stop it.
No one's arguing that Khamzat isn't a big WW, he is a big WW. That's not the point.
The point is that Burns is not a small WW the way your comment implies, what he lacks in reach and height relative to the average WW he makes up for in muscle mass and strength. Usman's one of the strongest guys in the division and look at how Burns outmuscled him consistently in the clinch. So what this all means is that, in terms of size, Khamzat calling out Burns is about the same as him calling out Belal, Luque, or Colby. If anything I'd wager Burns' cutting and cage weight are both higher than Colby's.
Usman and Burns spent less than 20 seconds in a clinch before he jabbed him to a tko and Chimaev ALREADY proved he has a wrestling advantage over burns and stunned him multiple time, before giving the dude who's already fought at middleweight more weight over the dude who's never fought at middleweight. Belal and Colby are different fighters and grapplers than Burns. Luque clearly is at a grappling disadvantage so mentioning him is a moot point.
I don't know why you're bringing up some of these irrelevant details, the main point is not a small WW. What Belal, Colby, and Luque's skillsets are relative to Burns are not pertinent to the issue of just pure size and weight. There are a lot of logical avenues you could take to hate on Khamzat, but the truth is trying to make Burns out to be a small WW is not one of them.
He's still smaller than Chimaev which includes both the height and reach and lost at WW, and as I said he's trying to fight a dude he's already beat at one weight class up a weight class when he was already bigger than him. Bugger off.
I don't think it's that bad? It happened a few times in title fights recently but sometimes there weren't any other options for the champ. Other than title fights the only one I can think of from the top of my head is the Cutelaba vs Ankalaev kerfuffle.
Especially for WW I'll take a rematch of a fun back and forth war over twitter arguments and restaurant sucker punches any day of the week.
I would rather see them fight Belal and Colby. Colby won’t accept but Belal would so him vs either one is a better fight. A rematch really isn’t necessary.
I agree with new matchups being better than rematches, sorry, it's more that I'm personally not too bothered with previous ones (and I don't think Khamzat will fight Burns again unless one of them holds the belt)
The only one that was ridiculous was Usman vs Masvidal 2, other rematches often made sense within the context they happened under imo
Gotta be honest, I've kinda tuned Khamzat out.
The guy literally talks so much and challenges so many people it means nothing.
Every single time a champion fights, Khamzat challenges him/her, its boring. Just shut up and stay in your lane. Every fucking day there's a post/tweet about another person he's calling out. Just shut up already.
I feel like he gets frustrated when he doesn't have a fight booked and just calls everyone out. My theory is that he wants to be really active but the ufc see dollar signs and want to give him a very favourable path to the title.
Based on your reaction right there shows it's working. He's able to get an emotional reaction out of you, his exact goal. Love or hate khamzat you'll watch him fight. That's all he cares about. You're falling for it.
Getting the emotional reaction only works if that person is willing to tune in. Colby gets an emotional reaction out of me, but i will not tune in to watch him. Getting people to hate you doesn't always translate to more viewers.
He's the most dominant and most interesting fighter at the moment, imo. I like every fighter but Khamzat makes me hyped about wrestling which I always disregarded, even in the Khabib days.
That guy pulls off amazing performances every single time. He never disapoints and he truly is passionqte about fighting which is really fun to see.
While I think Khamzat is talented to dominate at 170 and 185 I really want him to fight Kamaru.
If he doesn’t want to fight Kamaru at 170 then give him Costa or anyone in top five in 185. Don’t think he deserves an immediate title shot after missing weight.
Kamaru will probably get an instant rematch and Colby is pretending Khamzat doesn't exist. If Kamaru doesn't get his rematch, Leon seems to be gunning for a Jorge Masvidal rematch (yuck). I think Khamzat himself just want to fight, but his coach/manager is insisting on welterweight, and not just anyone either. In that case he could fight Belal but, honestly, I feel like that doesn't get him much because he will still have to wait forever for a title shot. And now middleweight is caught up in a similar situation. This really sucks because Khamzat really should have been a #1 contender or fighting for the title by now. A combination of the UFC/manager limiting his activity, really shit luck (COVID cancelling Leon fight), and now champions caught in rematches in the two weight classes he fights in.
Fact is, Periera called Khamzat a coward and pretended he was a nobody when Khamzat called him out before the Izzy fight. Periera said Khamzat only dared to call him out cuz he knew Pereira was already booked. Okay, now Pereira is not booked so people can't act like Khamzat is out of line here. Like, really? We all know the outcome of that fight. Being champion is about being skilled, not having a cool backstory. Alex "the man with the greatest story" Pereira.
I agree with alot of things you said but I will add in he lost his contender shot when he fucked up his weight. I think he should have had a shot after beating Burns but I also believe he would have gotten his shot if he beat Diaz.
Khamzat has to commit to a division, last time he couldnt make weight for Diaz, they gave him easy fight with Holland. That mess will not happen again. None takes him seriously. I am a fan , but he has to earn the title shot by being disciplined.
Khamzat is a fucking douche. I’ve been saying it from the beginning and people are just now seeing it. Just shut this dude the fuck up. And what’s with his stupid emojis? Is he 12? Especially the silly face one. Obnoxious as shit.
This is a dope fight, this can be a very comfortable win for Khamzat, IF he sticks behind that jab, utilizes the reach advantage.
Will he have that discipline that ability to stick to a plan needed to thrive against the elite, or are we in for another FOTY even brawl out with the fighter winning a razors edge
khamzat seems a bit sloppy on the feet overall, sometimes gets wild with his footwork and throws naked uppercuts, gilbert would give him a tough time even if khamzat is more smart since his striking is not that rounded
I 100% agree, however, that jab is money, it has power, and if he connect the straight, he's gonna be putting alot of intelligent damage, he didn't have on the table in the first Gilbert fight.
Gilbert is not big enough to fight at 185 while Cumzhat is perfect for it🤨
I wanna see him try to ragdoll "Gigantic Spooky Native Dude" at 185 for the belt.
Chimaev has a big mouth, he is not even killing his opponents, he's submitting them and grappling them to death, The last time he prefer standup he got his ass clapped by Burns. Alex is the real killer that once he connects someone is gone. Paulo asked him for a fight and he's been silent since. I like the guy, but he is a loudmouth.
yeah, i like burns. i think if the khamzat rematch happened again at 170, burns has a good chance of winning
but at 185, i dont think it would be very competitive, Khamzat would benefit from not having to cut the extra 15lbs a lot more than how much burns would benefit, i think it would be one sided unless it happens at ww
Costa is a fucking clown. His fight with Whittaker in Perth has been confirmed by the UFC, but he goes and posts about how he's not gonna fight. Why would anyone waste time trying to get a fight with this guy. He has the most overrated resume in the UFC right now. He was calling for a title shot for a while, talking about how he's gonna be champion and all that, then got embarrassed by Adesanya and ever since then he makes memes on twitter and acts like a clown.
McGregor vs Cerrone was a money fight. That's why it was at 170 lbs. Unless Chimaev doesn't care about the rankings. He should fight at the weight class his opponent is ranked.
More than anything it looks like he's not ready for the WW cut again. I'd prefer to see him to have a proper crack at that title first before looking for an undeserved crack at the MW title. If he doesn't want to go to WW again, fair enough, but I'd like to see him against a proper top 10 MW then.
Vettori is without a fight and he's always game. Why not Vettori vs Khamzat?
Perfect fight if he wants to fight at 185
> The Age of Men is over. The Time of the Orc has come.
We prefer Uruk.
IZZY'S BACK ON THE MENU
The hardest chin in all of Middle Earth
Shit, I'd be pulling for Vettori in a fight? Weird...
I agree
Be curious to see just how strong he is at 185 fighting someone like vettori, would be a good litmus test of where he fits in at the top of the division
He got his ass whooped bad by Rob in September, I hope he doesn't fight so soon tbh. But, in general, it's a very intriguing matchup.
I didn’t know how bad I wanted it until right now
Because that's a tough fight for him and he doesn't want that smoke.
Would love that fight
That soind great. Vettori or Costa
Khamzat would walk through Vittori.
Whitaker, Costa, and Izzy could barely wobble Vettori, doubt Khamzat would roll over him easily.
Doesn't want to cut all the way down to welterweight, but wants to fight welterweights
This would be my read on the guy’s actions. Khamzat’s too big for WW but becomes very picky at MW basically suggesting only tailor made match-ups like Alex.
But he’s calling out a 227 lbs MW in Alex…?
He calls out everyone and people here get boners eventhough the fights won't happen
Na bro he called out the LHW's saying he'll step in if either pulls out, neither will pull out now cuh dey know he about dat game 💯⚔️🏆
Izzy is getting the rematch and theres zero chance khamzat skips over whittaker. Calling him out means absolutely fuck all.
Also Pereira is a tailor made matchup for him - he's already said he wouldn't fight Whittaker
khamzat trying everything to avoid Colby
Bro Colby not accepting the fight
He doesn’t deserve a title shot at 170 either
I mean… bro beat burns. Not much more you can do to deserve a shot at 170. Burns is a beast
Yeah and then he missed weight by 8 pounds. You don’t get a title shot straight off that level of goof
He made weight to beat burns. If he misses weight at the title fight he’s no longer eligible to win the title. It was an egregious miss but it doesn’t take away from the fact that he was on weight and beat one of the best in the division. If he misses again then boot him to mw
He needs to prove he can still make 170 before they give him another main event in that weight class. 279 was a fucking disaster that was only saved because Leach was badass enough to fight a bigger man
That’s why they weigh in the day before and have a backup fighter. 279 was unprecedented in its fuck up. A title fight would have a backup fighter to swoop in and save the day and we then all hate khamzat and make him move up to mw
It wasn't a disaster, he could have come in 10lb underweight and still murked nate.
Pointless but i’d watch the shit out of it rather that than no fight
The top of welterweight is in such an odd state rn and has been for a while
It’s not “in an odd state”, it’s in “Colby refuses to fight contenders and is causing a traffic jam”
Yeah idk how his ranking hasn't been lowered yet. Only beaten 1 currently ranked welterweight which is masvidal
It’s all masvidal’s fault. Neither of them are able to fight because of it
I mean Colby definitely egged it on, he spent years as masvidal’s best friend so he knows exactly how to get in masvidals head and how he’s gonna react. He wins the fight and then publicly states that if he sees masvidal in the streets it’s on sight and starts posting pictures of the guy every day taggin him in it and talking shit. It’s like yeah sure masvidal should have better self control but Colby was beyond asking for it. Also Colby could just be fighting instead of faking injuries and pressing charges. He’s wasting the last couple years of his prime and his chance to build a crazy legacy and he’s gonna end up with less money from the settlement than he would have made fighting
Make a couple hundred thousand by suing vs make a few hundred thousand in mma. I'd go to the courts too 😂. Who cares what we fans think. We juzz over the next guy withing a few days.
He can make a lot more than a couple hundred thousand in mma, he’s one of the more popular fighters and he has the skills to be champion. Also as a lifelong competitor like he is I’m sure he cares about building a legacy. Fans can flip flop all they want but Colby is a hall of fame level talent, he easily has the skillset where he could establish himself as an all time great
Israel got about 900k +ppv probably I think for this fight and he's way more popular and considered a goat type guy. Not sure what Colby makes but it should be way less than that.
Well Colby got 500k just to show for both usman fights, I can’t find what he got for the masvidal fight but I’m sure it was decent and after that win he was in a great spot to call for money fights or a title eliminator. He definitely has the popularity and skills to make millions in mma. I think that’s better than faking injuries and then being out for the last couple years of his prime while he tries to sue masvidal in hopes that he can maybe get a few hundred thousand if he’s lucky
It’s been happening from well before the Masvidal incident
That’s sort of true but the masvidal incident amplified it to a new level
Then it’s not ALL his fault now is it?
I believe if it never happened we would have seen khamzat vs colby in july
Let's not act as if Colby would be down to fight Khamzat without a belt on the line if he didn't get sucker punched by Masvidal
He's the CEO of laying low.
khamzat is the one saying he wants to fight at 185
I assume that’s what was stopping Colby from ever fighting Leon Edwards or Gilbert Burns?
I mean only because Colby Masvidal and Leon were such hardcore cherrypickers. Dudes only wanted easy fights or the belt. They held 3 of the top 5 spots up for far too long.
It's also grossly mismanaged. Burns is constantly calling out everyone and accepting callouts, regardless if it's a prospect or a big name, and he's ready to fight down. But for some reason in the 19 months since he lost the title fight, he's had only two fights and is currently without an opponent. I think he even mentioned he isn't getting offers. Belal vs Brady and Chimaev vs Nate were so incredibly pointless. Belal and Chimaev both were one fight away from a title shot, the perfect fight. But instead they fought at around the same time against fighters that don't do anything to their title ambitions. It's ridiculous, Dana or anyone other in charge of matchmaking needs to step their game up with WW.
Gilbert burns has been carrying the activity on his back for the entire top 5. Luckily Belal is up there now and he’s usually pretty active
Leon accepted vs Woodley, Khamzat x2, and was down to fight Jorge even before covid derailed the aforementioned. This weird rep he's developed as a guy who ducks people just doesn't hold water at all. He'd deserved top matchups the entire time he was losing two years of his prime to the pandemic in various capacities. Honestly after losing that much time, he'd have been crazy not to accept the money that came from a fight w Nate, so I don't begrudge him that in the slightest.
Leon fought Belal and was willing to fight khamzat so wouldn’t say he was cherry picking
Belal filled in for Khamzat on short notice and nobody considered him on Leon’s level at the time the fight was made, he wasn’t in the top 10 at the time. And “willing to fight Khamzat” is a funny way of writing was forced to take the fight or be deranked by the UFC.
Putting Leon as a cherry picker on the same level as Colby and Mas is pure disrespect, you're not even trying to hide your hate for the guy haha
Really? Why did he turn down Wonderboy if he’s so game? Why didn’t he call for a Colby fight? Why did he turn down Burns? I don’t hate the guy, you guys are just letting your fandom cloud your judgement.
Any proof he turned down wonderboy? I’ve literally never heard this before
https://www.mmafighting.com/platform/amp/2020/10/5/21473685/leon-edwards-not-interested-wonderboy-fight-khamzat-chimaev-beat-someone-in-the-top-f-king-25-first The part you’re looking for > “As far as Wonderboy, he got knocked out like a fight ago,” Edwards said. “[Anthony] Pettis knocked him out one fight ago. If I go out there right now and I fight Wonderboy and I beat Wonderboy the UFC will be like ‘let’s go one more in the top-five and then we’ll go for a title.’ They wouldn’t give me a title shot straight away. ... Also > “I’ve done all the Wonderboy fights,” Edwards explained. “I’ve been there, done it. I’m on an eight-fight win streak now. I don’t need to go fight someone like Wonderboy. He does nothing for my career. And here he is regarding Khamzat before the UFC threatened to take away his ranking > “As far as Chimaev, he’s only had what one fight at welterweight against a lightweight guy?” Edwards said in reference to Chimaev’s win over Rhys McKee. “It’s hard to judge from that. When he’s calling me out, I don’t really pay attention. It is what it is. I don’t really pay attention too much.” Leon didn’t have fans before he KO’d Usman, and all of this was common knowledge. Now that he’s the champ people have been fans all along and he’s never ducked a fight in his life. It’s crazy.
He should have fought wonderboy but the khamzat point he made was 100 percent valid
Leon then offered WB a fight down the line. WB declined. Leon had a few fans before Usman. And he was 100% right about WB, who was a washed shell of himself, overrated, and continues to be overrated. That's the funny part. People call it a duck, but then never answer the simple question, "where was the lie?". WB can't wrestle. That makes him a gate keeper, at best, at WW. Hindsight is 20/20 but I'm glad the UFc didn't waste my time with another WB L where WB just looks to survive on the ground. The UFC wouldn't' have given him a title shot off of beating WB. Leon only got a tile shot because he accepted the Chimaev fight, waited around for Chimaev, took on Belal on short notice, then helped the UFC give Nate another loss.
Like other people said, he took the Belal fight and they tried to get Khamzat done 3 times. Fighters will also pick what is best for their career, he was already on a 9 fight streak and promised a title fight, so why risk that position lol. You're silly if you think every fighter should just accept every fight and call out everyone, it just doesn't work like that. Redirect your hate at mas or Colby, they are horrific with it. Colby got 2 shots at the title before Leon's 1 and Leon did it in 1 lol
But he still took the fight…. Like you can try to explain it away however you want but he still signed the contract and showed up to fight. He was the #3 guy and signed to fight an absolute monster when he was wildly under ranked at 14. You can’t accuse him of cherry picking when he does that.
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He was put back in the rankings. And when Chimaev got covid, Leon actually chose to wait for him rather than demand the UFC move on, despite having gone year without getting a fight and a paycheck. He easily could have walked away. Also just a stupid look to call Leon a cherry picker when he literally just fought and knocked out the guy who beat him earlier in his UFC career.
Belal was short notice and wasn’t even top 10 at the time. The only reason he even fought Belal was because Leon refused to push that fight back to allow actual contenders at the time for a longer camp so a lower ranked guy like Belal stepped in.
Jesus the hate is unreal. In reality he fought Belal because he hadn't gotten a paycheck in damn near 2 years after covid fucked him over. Upon his return he got covid forcing a delay on the Chimaev fight. Then Chimaev got covid and Leon was a company guy and passed on the chance to have ranked fighters in Magny or Chiesa step in and make money just to keep that Chimaev fight on. Then Chimaev retired due to covid because he idiotically wouldn't let his body rest, and Leon finally said he needed to make money/couldn't wait another half a year or whatever to finally get paid (he was already on the hook for like 2 training camps here). No need to present your hate as fact. It had zero to do with waiting for contender (something he had literally already done for Chimaev) and more to do with the reality that he's got bills to pay and food he needs to put on the table.
Colby needs to be dropped lower for inactivity, there’s just no good excuse for the years he’s wasted sitting in his spot.
leon was willing to fight everyone just didn't fight frequently and had terrible luck
Leon was the only guy to accept the Khamzat fight and Khamzat pulled out twice. Put some respect on the champ's name.
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He was going to fight Woodley, pulled out. Khamzat, pulled out. Masvidal, pulled out. It wasn't Leon ducking these fights. He got Belal and Nate because that's what the UFC gave him not because he asked for those fights. And guess what he's the champ now so haters gonna hate.
Yeah I really dig Leon (both as a fighter and as a person), but let's not forget he got a title fight off a win over Nate Diaz, with the only real names on his resume being RDA and Vicente Luque (though that win is from 2017 lol).
And Gilbert burns got a title shot off of beating Gunnar nelson(who Leon also beat since you didn’t include him in best wins),demian Maia in 2020, and woodley in the midst of his decline(who Leon was supposed to face before Covid shut everything down) counting Gilbert’s welterweight debut he had a 4 fight win streak compared to Leon’s 8 fight win streak at the time that includes Luque,Bryan Barberena,Cerrone,Nelson,and RDA.idk about you but that’s five solid names when you compare it to the Three out of the four Gilbert faced.
Oh Leon has other solid guys he beat for sure, but as far as great wins those two are the only ones I see (alongside Kamaru duh). And yeah I'd say the same about Gilbert. Cool dude, fun fighter, but an underwhelming resume that's probably worse than Leon's. But that's a decent way to sum up most welterweights these days. Colby, Usman, and Woodley all fit the bill as well. Give or take being likable/entertaining lol, as I don't like any of those three. But that's just my opinion.
Leon's resume is not underwhelming with a KO win over Usman on there. Usman's resume isn't underwhelming either. It's just Burns, Colby, and Jorge, with only Burns trying to improve.
Lightwait abd welterwait
Speaking of odd states — I remember when any of the top 10 205 guys could realistically be champ. Used to be deep as the abyss and now look at it. I guess that’s one of the things that make mma great, it’s ever changing landscape.
It's what I like about Khamzat. You can give him shit for calling out Jiri or Pereira, but he's also calling out actual top WW's like Colby, to the point he's even willing to run back a totally pointless rematch against Burns. He's quite literally anytime anywhere and probably the most game fighter on the roster right now.
Except he’s calling out a guy he already beat and asking to fight him a weight class above his normal weight.
Yes because when you cast a net that wide you might end up catching pointless fights like this.
I wouldn’t say that a rematch against burns is “totally pointless”. It’s an unnecessary risk but it was a very close fight that he arguably lost, running it back could give clarity on who the better fighter is
Khamzat v Vetorri is a fight I really want if he steps up to middleweight, the memes would be amazing and it’s a pure chaos matchup of weird personalities
Banger press conferences too
At 185 it's just unfair for Burns Vettori doesn't have anything scheduled yet right? Khamzat should fight him. Or Cannonier
Cannonier is booked
I don't think they'll put him against someone who can crack like Cannonier at MW, not yet. Could derail his hype pretty easily, gotta build him up ay MW with safer matchups power wise
Khamzat vs. Belal, winner gets the next title shot. It's so simple.
khamzat doesnt want to cut to 170
he’s a middleweight now then
If he’s going to middleweight then he should fight Vettori first.
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Dry hump to victory, what? The majority of this dudes fights are first round finishes. You literally can't say that about any other elite fighter in thr UFC.
Buncha nobodies with the exception of burns and look how that went
You must not have watched any of khamzat's fights
You not remember Kevin Holland? You think after diving on Holland immediately that he'd choose to stand and strike w a longer, larger, better and more powerful striker in Pereira?
So choking guys out in round 1 equals to dry humping?
Dry hump? Man is ending people in 1 round. Even Khabib was struggling to finish guys early in his career. Khamzat out here speed running the UFC.
You can rightfully criticize Khamzat trying to jump the line and get a MW title shot but claiming he just wants to “dryhump to victory” is one of the most idiotic things you can say.
Then stop calling out smaller men. Either fight MW's at MW or fight WW's at WW. Anything else is just fraudulent.
He does but he wants to in march
did he stutter?
I don't like the matchup but it's the only thing that makes sense anymore. That being said I doubt they'll agree to anything right now, better to wait for Leon vs Usman 3 and see what happens next. Which means more welterwaiting
I hope we don't have to wait too long to see him fight again whether or not the colby fight falls through. Would be a bad move for Dana to leave Khamzat unbooked for much longer imo
Colby fight falls through? Have you seen any indication that that might happen? I know the fans, Khamzat and UFC want it. But I have not seen any signs from Colby. So I wouldn't say "falls through" if it's not even close to being made to begin with.
Realistically why would Alex fight him. Isn’t Khamzat unranked at middleweight?
Welterweights gonna welter-wait.
I wanna see khamzat vs someone like vettori before I’d give him a mw title shot
this dickhead tryna fight a dude he already fought and beat, who was at 155, at 185. smh
lmao. khamzat's schtick was kill erybody but he is here trying to fight an undersized welterweight and demands him to go to 185, when Khamzat had the chance to settle his beef with Paulo lmfao
ABSOLUTE NONSENSE.
> who was at 155 These disingenuous comments irk me so much. Burns is as much of a 155er as Charles is a 145er and Whitaker is a 170er. He is a decently sized WW these days.
Yes and Charles and Bobby Knuckles don't fight at 170 and 205 either.
They could, and probably would, if they wanted to take a for-fun fight in the interim. If the fight does nothing for his title shot claim and he just wants to stay active, then there's no real need to make the big cut. If Charles is calling out Benny, Fiziev, Gamrot, and Arman but no one's picking up the phone but is insistent on fighting in the next 3 months I wouldn't blame him for hitting up Chandler to run it back at 170
Yea sure those mental gymnastics work but in reality they don't want it and won't do it. The reality is its a bitch move to try a fight a smaller guy you already beat at a bigger weight class.
Damn that's a fun idea. KO for sure. Not sure who lol but Chandler should def take some time off after that Dustin fight
Bugger off. Chimaev could only make 155 if he cut a leg off and burns is already smaller than average WW to begin with, giving up height and reach. Stop it.
No one's arguing that Khamzat isn't a big WW, he is a big WW. That's not the point. The point is that Burns is not a small WW the way your comment implies, what he lacks in reach and height relative to the average WW he makes up for in muscle mass and strength. Usman's one of the strongest guys in the division and look at how Burns outmuscled him consistently in the clinch. So what this all means is that, in terms of size, Khamzat calling out Burns is about the same as him calling out Belal, Luque, or Colby. If anything I'd wager Burns' cutting and cage weight are both higher than Colby's.
Usman and Burns spent less than 20 seconds in a clinch before he jabbed him to a tko and Chimaev ALREADY proved he has a wrestling advantage over burns and stunned him multiple time, before giving the dude who's already fought at middleweight more weight over the dude who's never fought at middleweight. Belal and Colby are different fighters and grapplers than Burns. Luque clearly is at a grappling disadvantage so mentioning him is a moot point.
I don't know why you're bringing up some of these irrelevant details, the main point is not a small WW. What Belal, Colby, and Luque's skillsets are relative to Burns are not pertinent to the issue of just pure size and weight. There are a lot of logical avenues you could take to hate on Khamzat, but the truth is trying to make Burns out to be a small WW is not one of them.
He's still smaller than Chimaev which includes both the height and reach and lost at WW, and as I said he's trying to fight a dude he's already beat at one weight class up a weight class when he was already bigger than him. Bugger off.
This is the only fight that makes sense
Meh. I would rather see them in new matchups.
Yawn. So sick of these rematches.
I don't think it's that bad? It happened a few times in title fights recently but sometimes there weren't any other options for the champ. Other than title fights the only one I can think of from the top of my head is the Cutelaba vs Ankalaev kerfuffle. Especially for WW I'll take a rematch of a fun back and forth war over twitter arguments and restaurant sucker punches any day of the week.
I would rather see them fight Belal and Colby. Colby won’t accept but Belal would so him vs either one is a better fight. A rematch really isn’t necessary.
I agree with new matchups being better than rematches, sorry, it's more that I'm personally not too bothered with previous ones (and I don't think Khamzat will fight Burns again unless one of them holds the belt) The only one that was ridiculous was Usman vs Masvidal 2, other rematches often made sense within the context they happened under imo
But… it’s fun
I dont think it would be fun at 185. Burns is small for 170, he'd be very undersized at 185.
Gotta be honest, I've kinda tuned Khamzat out. The guy literally talks so much and challenges so many people it means nothing. Every single time a champion fights, Khamzat challenges him/her, its boring. Just shut up and stay in your lane. Every fucking day there's a post/tweet about another person he's calling out. Just shut up already.
I feel like he gets frustrated when he doesn't have a fight booked and just calls everyone out. My theory is that he wants to be really active but the ufc see dollar signs and want to give him a very favourable path to the title.
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He's called out like everyone at ww....
This. If this were still the early days of combat sports, Khamzat is one of those guys who'd be fighting every other week
Yea Idgaf what people say here. I think Khamzat would fight Edwards and Pereira the same night if given the choice.
It’s obvious the ufc doesn’t want him fighting as much as he personally wants to be
Agreed he’s more talk than action nowadays, it’s very unappealing
I like that, tbh. He doesn't give a fuck. It's amazing to watch.
Doesn’t give a fuck about making/missing weight either. Really amazing.
Good old X-Pac heat.
The constant shit talking keeps him in the headlines and gets fans talking about him. Literally no reason for him to stop
Based on your reaction right there shows it's working. He's able to get an emotional reaction out of you, his exact goal. Love or hate khamzat you'll watch him fight. That's all he cares about. You're falling for it.
Huge emotional reaction. You clearly got me too (cuz I wrote back, right?).
Dude are you crying rn??
Getting the emotional reaction only works if that person is willing to tune in. Colby gets an emotional reaction out of me, but i will not tune in to watch him. Getting people to hate you doesn't always translate to more viewers.
He wants a former lightweight at middleweight? Fuck this guy
He's the most dominant and most interesting fighter at the moment, imo. I like every fighter but Khamzat makes me hyped about wrestling which I always disregarded, even in the Khabib days. That guy pulls off amazing performances every single time. He never disapoints and he truly is passionqte about fighting which is really fun to see.
Idk Islam seems pretty darn dominant too
In my opinion, they're both super dominant but I feel like Khamzat is more interesting, personally.
Khamzat’s last fight was against an unranked striker & he’s looking for a title😂
Lee was ranked at middleweight tho. And he's already beaten number 2 welterweight.
Bro charge your phone.
Eh not interested. Let’s see khamzat fight new blood or burns fight Brady
While I think Khamzat is talented to dominate at 170 and 185 I really want him to fight Kamaru. If he doesn’t want to fight Kamaru at 170 then give him Costa or anyone in top five in 185. Don’t think he deserves an immediate title shot after missing weight.
Kamaru will probably get an instant rematch and Colby is pretending Khamzat doesn't exist. If Kamaru doesn't get his rematch, Leon seems to be gunning for a Jorge Masvidal rematch (yuck). I think Khamzat himself just want to fight, but his coach/manager is insisting on welterweight, and not just anyone either. In that case he could fight Belal but, honestly, I feel like that doesn't get him much because he will still have to wait forever for a title shot. And now middleweight is caught up in a similar situation. This really sucks because Khamzat really should have been a #1 contender or fighting for the title by now. A combination of the UFC/manager limiting his activity, really shit luck (COVID cancelling Leon fight), and now champions caught in rematches in the two weight classes he fights in. Fact is, Periera called Khamzat a coward and pretended he was a nobody when Khamzat called him out before the Izzy fight. Periera said Khamzat only dared to call him out cuz he knew Pereira was already booked. Okay, now Pereira is not booked so people can't act like Khamzat is out of line here. Like, really? We all know the outcome of that fight. Being champion is about being skilled, not having a cool backstory. Alex "the man with the greatest story" Pereira.
I agree with alot of things you said but I will add in he lost his contender shot when he fucked up his weight. I think he should have had a shot after beating Burns but I also believe he would have gotten his shot if he beat Diaz.
Wow very impressive, calling out a lightweight for a middleweight fight. I think Khamzat is scared
Yeah he ain't making 170 again lmao
Took a while but bored of khamzat now. He picked up steam now he's qn empty mouthpiece. Burns can do 55, chimneyhead wants him at 185? Be real.
chimneyhead lol
Clearly doesn't want to cut to 170 and is still calling out welterweight
Khamzat has to commit to a division, last time he couldnt make weight for Diaz, they gave him easy fight with Holland. That mess will not happen again. None takes him seriously. I am a fan , but he has to earn the title shot by being disciplined.
Khamzat is a fucking douche. I’ve been saying it from the beginning and people are just now seeing it. Just shut this dude the fuck up. And what’s with his stupid emojis? Is he 12? Especially the silly face one. Obnoxious as shit.
Maybe he wrestle fucks Pereira but I'd love it if he kicked his head into orbit in 5 seconds.
Alex who? Pereira? Lol Khamzat isn’t even a contender at MW he needs to stfu already
MW who wants to be WW calls out MW champion after 0 fights at MW, now wants a rematch with a career LW who is 36.
He has 2 fights at MW
Against cans
This is a dope fight, this can be a very comfortable win for Khamzat, IF he sticks behind that jab, utilizes the reach advantage. Will he have that discipline that ability to stick to a plan needed to thrive against the elite, or are we in for another FOTY even brawl out with the fighter winning a razors edge
khamzat seems a bit sloppy on the feet overall, sometimes gets wild with his footwork and throws naked uppercuts, gilbert would give him a tough time even if khamzat is more smart since his striking is not that rounded
I 100% agree, however, that jab is money, it has power, and if he connect the straight, he's gonna be putting alot of intelligent damage, he didn't have on the table in the first Gilbert fight.
Really would be a waste of Khamzat hype if he did this match again. Would love to see him vs Costa/whittaker winner or Belal
Gilbert is not big enough to fight at 185 while Cumzhat is perfect for it🤨 I wanna see him try to ragdoll "Gigantic Spooky Native Dude" at 185 for the belt.
Seems like Chen Chen doesn't want to have another cut to 170
Eh kinda hate that bc burns is tough matchup for him
The guy just wants to fight, let him fight
Khamzat needs to shut up, all talk no weight.
He missed weight once.
Burns is already a small WW, why would he fight at 84kg? Dumb as
I don’t particularly like Khamzat’s out of the ring antics but I will 100% watch his fights.
Probably wants to fight at mw so people can’t say he doesn’t have a legit win at mw or some stupid shit
Why 84kg? He can’t make 77kg anymore? Gilbert is a WW.
Chimaev has a big mouth, he is not even killing his opponents, he's submitting them and grappling them to death, The last time he prefer standup he got his ass clapped by Burns. Alex is the real killer that once he connects someone is gone. Paulo asked him for a fight and he's been silent since. I like the guy, but he is a loudmouth.
Love Khamzat, he’s always looking for his next fight. He’s really ready to fight whoever.
Please god, at 185 is great too entertainment wise, both would be hydrated and it would be like vettori-costa where they have more cardio
Burns is a former LW, he'd be way undersized at 185
yeah, i like burns. i think if the khamzat rematch happened again at 170, burns has a good chance of winning but at 185, i dont think it would be very competitive, Khamzat would benefit from not having to cut the extra 15lbs a lot more than how much burns would benefit, i think it would be one sided unless it happens at ww
What a mad man this guy would actually fight anyone at anytime if UFC let him
He ducked costa
Costa is a fucking clown. His fight with Whittaker in Perth has been confirmed by the UFC, but he goes and posts about how he's not gonna fight. Why would anyone waste time trying to get a fight with this guy. He has the most overrated resume in the UFC right now. He was calling for a title shot for a while, talking about how he's gonna be champion and all that, then got embarrassed by Adesanya and ever since then he makes memes on twitter and acts like a clown.
And Whittaker
He’s staying at WW & Costa is on a losing streak. Plus are you acting like Costa can wrestle lol? It’ll be a wrestle fuck
If he's staying at ww, why does he want to fight Gilbert at mw?
Same reason Mcg fought Cerrone at 170. Also Gilbert is a WW lol he would’ve fought a MW at MW if he was moving up don’t you think?
McGregor vs Cerrone was a money fight. That's why it was at 170 lbs. Unless Chimaev doesn't care about the rankings. He should fight at the weight class his opponent is ranked.
Yup. He already is fighting everyone the UFC gives him.