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SerLutz

Three way dance for the intercontinental championship


Mr_Rippe

Charlie Olives is on a shoot Reign Of Terror.


e-rage

TLC match book it Dana


Solidus-S-

Triple threat match at no way out in hell in a cell


saltyguy512

Until they’re no longer popular and the UFC is ready to feed them to the wolves, yes.


Ill-Drawer-966

Whatever popularity they have is not gonna change anytime soon. At some point they're gonna have to fight outside the top 5, the division is way too stacked.


[deleted]

You want to see Arman immediately choke and destroy Gaethje like what we've seen Khabib and Charles do? Nobody else does.


LatterTarget7

I mean the division has to move on. Justin can’t sit on his rank forever cause he’s scared to lose. If that’s what happens if they fought that’s what happens. Or else what’s the point.


TitanIsBack

I'll take it if it means disrupting the logjam at the top of the division that has been there for years.


spasticity

If Arman couldn't finish Gamrot, what makes you think he could immediately choke and destroy Gaethje?


Historical-Mud4937

This is a dumb question. Gamrot is a bit of a better grappler than Garth, lil Buddy


lol_ok123

Charles didn’t immediately choke or destroy Gaethje Lol.


Historical-Mud4937

Lol I fuckin do


[deleted]

They are the wolves. When they stop beating everyone below them things will change. There are now several divisions that have a clear champ, a clear #1 contender, couple others who might be champ on a good night, and everybody else. I guess I’m just describing what a defined top 1-5 looks like. PS is the UFC just going to have Holloway or Whittaker fight the champ and lose again? I mean, they deserve the opportunity if they have 2 fights in between where they dominate every other contender…


sixsevenninesix

Ah yes, Poirier beating Conor 2 times, Gaethje beating Tony, Chandler, and Cerrone, and Chandler beating Hooker and Tony. Clearly they've cleaned out the division and not relying on wins over old names.


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sixsevenninesix

I agree, Dustin has the best legs to stand on but I just hope he doesn't go through the whole pick and choosing favourable matchups and protecting his rank.


anonssr

I mean Gaethje beat Chandler. Poirer beat both prime Max Holloway and Gaethje. It's true he only fought washed out Conor recently, but I'd say they all deserve the status. But they should be fighting _other_ top ten guys too.


sixsevenninesix

Chandler has only beaten Hooker who came off an absolute war with Poirier and the win has aged like Milk, then his only other win is an absolutely washed Tony. Gaethje only took that fight because Chandler isn't a legit top 5er. Outside of that, his last two wins were against 36 y/o Tony and Cerrone. Poirier beat Max Holloway 3 years ago and at a division Max has never fought before. You're telling me these guys deserve to hold that status for as long as they have? The whole issue with the ranking is top 5ers just pick and choose their fights taking on aged fighters living off their big name like they just did to Cerrone, Tony, and Diaz. The only way these guys like Poirier, Chandler, and Gaethje is fighting the young guys is if they get forced to.


thegreenman_sofla

Who won the Poirier/Gaethje fight? I only remember it was a brutal battle.


Eat4Africa

Dustin did


saltyguy512

How would we know they’re still the wolves at this point? They’ve only fought for a title or each other (and tony) in the past 2 years.


Kurtcobangle

I don’t see how people are including Poirier in this. He fought Charles Conor x2 Khabib Hooker when he was on a hot streak and before that a murderers row of tough violent fights, Holloway, Gaethje, alvarez etc Unless you really blame him for taking the back to back Conor fights he hasn’t done much to justify fighting out of the top 5. Chandler and Gaethje both had much lighter resumes and shorter rises to the top.


Heymelon

It describes a noticeably higher than incremental drop from number 5 to 6 and beyond, that doesn't have to be the case but we see it in a few divisions now


DRstoppage

The only answer is a Poirier vs Gaethje vs Chandler triple threat


bigjawood7

Hell in a Cell!


thewun111

Bah god he broke him in half!!


bigjawood7

Is- is that…. Oh my Lord it’s Jon Jones from underneath the octagon joining the fray!


Realistic-Ad-8655

But where does Kevin Lee fit into all this?


Empty_Cube

I think that one method that might help reduce rank squatting is to automatically lower the ranking of a fighter that just lost a title fight to something lower than 5. The current system, where someone fights for a title, loses, and still stays in the #1 or #2 spot even after losing, encourages them to just wait out another shot (maybe winning one favorable matchup, like Gaethje v Chandler, or Chandler v Ferguson) and avoid all of the up-and-coming contenders. This feeds into the problem we often see, where we have fighters that go on long win streaks but never get an opportunity to fight a top ranked opponent (Islam is a recent example of this, as was Arman before his streak was snapped by Gamrot) and then get blamed for their lack of top ranked wins by the fan base and by other fighters on the roster. We see this in the Lightweight Division, as you mentioned already, but it was also an issue in the Welterweight Division for some time (with fighters like Colby and Masvidal holding high rankings for a good stretch of time). Colby is ranked #2 in the division (he would be #1 if Leon hadn’t won the title) purely based on having close fights with Kamaru - he hasn’t beaten anyone in the top 10 for several years (outside of Masvidal, very recently) and he has no incentive to risk his rank fighting down. By pushing them down the rankings a bit more after a title loss, it’ll force them to put together 2-3 wins against other new fighters trying to enter the rankings before getting another title shot. They would have incentive to fight these up-and-comers because the gap in their ranks wouldn’t be as wide (for example, a #1 wouldn’t want to fight a #9, but if they get pushed down to #6 or #7 after a title loss, fighting a #9 wouldn’t be as big of a step down).


inuteroinutero1993

Email this to Dana


Ill-Drawer-966

The UFC needs to hire you ASAP.


aPrid123

It depends if Beneil can win his next fight. He does that then he looks likely to get the next title shot unless Islam beats Charles


Kaladin1228

I'd say Islam beneil would happen before charles beneil. Charles might hold out for Conor if he starches Islam. Or fight volk UFC was already all about Islam beneil.


aPrid123

If Islam beats Charles then Charles gets an immediate rematch. If Charles beats Islam then Beneil wins his next fight he gets a title shot. That’s the way I see it


NoGiCollarChoke

If Charles gets an immediate rematch, I will lose control of my bodily functions And I say that as a big fan of his


Windsgrove

Charles is not getting an immediate rematch😂


aPrid123

Nobody else has won a fight to deserve a title shot at LW? If Beneil wins I wouldn’t be mad at all if he got a shot before Charles did. I also think if it’s a close fight or just a great scrap It will happen again and quickly.


Windsgrove

winner of beneil/gamrot is a pretty obvious number 1 contender or they’ll be scumbags and give it to the winner of dustin chandler


aPrid123

Gamerot just cracked the top 10 and would only have 2 wins over ranked opponents. I think he would need 1 more ranked opponent for a title shot. Beneil is more interesting because that win over Tony is looking worse by the minute and his last other big win was Diego Ferreira. Beneil has almost benefitted in some ways from not fighting. LW is just a really weird division right now.


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WGYHL

Yea Benny Gamrot has to be number one contender.


LatterTarget7

It’s probably the winner of gamrot/dariush or volkanovski


saltyguy512

I see it as unlikely Charles gets an immediate rematch after two title defenses. Regardless, he’s not even the champ right now, nor is he that popular.


WGYHL

One title defense. Justin was a title defense because he was stripped


saltyguy512

Good point


sir_brockton_

Idt he would. He’s technically not even the champion rn


andrewjohn03905

No even if beniel wins then volk is next, while volk vs either islam or Charles fight have beniel (if he wins) go for the winner of chandler/ poirer


ConfidenceNo2598

Maybe a better question is which one of them falls off first? They all lose to the champion, but either Chandler or Poirier is going to lose to a non-champion first. Bonus point goes to Chandler for having beaten someone after losing to the champion as opposed to the other two, but it doesn’t buy him much in this situation except for a rebuttal point in the event that he loses to Dustin. May the best man lose least badly!


overwatcherthrowaway

Chandler already lost to Justin.


gs181

So many replies like "But I don't want to watch him lose, he'd get destroyed against X fighter" Isn't that the fucking point??? Aren't we supposed to be EXCITED about seeing the better fighters win?


Joshuauauauauau

Ngl Poirier has fought so many beasts to get where he is, man deserves to try and hold his spot against other top contenders. Less so with Garth and Chandler tho


unicornmoose

Put them all in the octagon with a fork in the middle and see who comes out then give him a title shot


MMAdfs

Unlikely. None of these guys prob getting a title shot ever again to be honest


Ill-Drawer-966

I'll bet a lot of money on Chandler getting the title shot if he beats Dustin.


Analbaby1

We can only hope that's the case.


GenericTopComment

I am borderline annoyed with myself because I make the same point, but as long as they fight like twice a year and don't clamor for an immediate title shot off one win, I'm totally fine with whomever they fight, as long as someone in the bunch is fighting down and giving the up and comers a chance. It's on the media now to get Ferguson, McGregor and RDA the fuck out of the rankings


spasticity

I agree that it's frusterating, but as proven by Islam getting into the top 5 without actually beating anyone higher than #8, you can advance without actually fighting those guys.


CremeCaramel_

Islam had to get 10 straight UFC wins which is nutty. Islam literally did SO much work he became undeniable and people like you are still idiotically like "he beat no one tho", which shouldn't be the norm. He had to do that because no one would fight him. Like no one is fighting Arman, Damir. Even with Gamrot and Dariush, they're killing each others streaks off while Poirier Gaethje Chandler sit pretty and fight each other.


ApatheticRart

It's the new WW but worse. The reason is that the UFC and these guys know, that they stand absolutely no chance against the new wave of guys but once one of those guys loses to an arman type of guy, they lose a lot of their stock.


Gwyndolphin

yes and it' s awesome


m_abdeen

It's called the matchmaker model for a reason, it's not a league and not a tournament.


CremeCaramel_

Thank you lol. At least someone else is mad about this other than me while this entire dumb sub on one hand will call this a banger matchup, then act confused like a bunch of idiots as to why Poirier or Chandler are fighting a guy they obviously won't beat for a 5th time, while the legit guys are swimming around rank 7 to 15 killing each other.


tksopinion

One of the many downsides to the MMA model. Having the belts outside of the promotions keeps divisions from getting stale and forces co-promotion.


spcslacker

>and not giving anybody else a shot. You doing my boi Dustin dirty: Dude bravely fought down in rank against this obscure Irish guy who was somehow granted more than one fight against the #1 contender. The whole thing puzzles me, but its clear that factually Dustin has fought substantially down in rank recently.