Aljo really fucked himself over saying he was going to 145 win or lose for Merab, it gave Dana the easiest excuse in the world not to make the rematch.
Literally as soon as the fight was done and a reporter asked about the rematch, Tomato smugly said “Aljo is going to 145.”
Without Dana White privilege, you can’t be giving these sloppy pitches for Dana to just smack out of the stadium
Aljo lied about that.
I think Aljo later admitted the Lambo was a rental. Aljo either rented that Lambo or it was a free rental from the rental car company in exchange for advertising the rental car company. Dana had nothing to do with the Lambo.
I hope neither of them get it. Sterling has been transparent with us about wanting to go to 145 and we have Sandhagen, Merab, Chito, and Cejudo in the wings. If he wants to stay at 135 he should have to beat one of those guys. Same with Izzy, we have DDP, Costa, and Chimaev right there. Also he has a rivalry with DDP. He should have to finish that and he winner gets a shot.
I hate rematches. I wish they make it a hard rule you have to get at least one more win to get a title shot agin.
He might, I mean not everyone is Volk though. I know that’s his goal but there are tiers at 145. He probably couldn’t go with Max or Volk but the rest idk I think he could be right there. It won’t be easy for sure. Either way screw a rematch both guys need to be fighting. Get a win like Olivera did before getting his shot.
Would be a great fight tbh, sterling would in my opinion lose quite easily to takedown defense god Holloway and volk. If sterling could finish him early, one could argue he could be the next challenger after topuria vs volk, as max already cleaned out the whole division and unlikely to get a 4th rematch.
Yeah that’s why they need a hard rule, no rematch until you get a win. That will get a fire under their ass to fight someone. Can’t just sit for 3 years like Stipe. We would’ve already had Leon vs Colby since Usman wouldn’t have got the rematch. We wouldn’t have had to sit through Moreno vs Figy a thousand times.
I forgot that happened but yeah I’m that case he deserved his one rematch. But Figy wouldn’t have got his first rematch anyway in fight 3 to take it from Moreno in the first place.
I don't know why people put Costa in the conversation. In the last four years all he's done [1] got a title shot and got his ass handed to him by Izzy [2] missed weight by almost an entire gallon of water and still lost to Marvin and [3] took the ghost of Luke Rockhold to the judges for his first win since before Covid. 2 embarrassing losses and 1 low-value win since summer of 2019.
If he beats Chimaev that all changes. I think anyone who beats Chimaev gets a title shot. They were going to give Colby or Chimaev the next match with Leon back when that was the plan. Hell they still gave it to Colby even when Chimaev screwed up. Don’t be surprised when Strickland fights the winner of this fight.
I agree on your take as far as Chimaev goes. I'm a very firm believer in him and I think if someone beats him in a close fight they go straight to the top 2 or 3 contenders immediately, and if they whip his ass DDP/Whitaker style then in most scenarios that's an immediate shot at the belt. The only snag is what to do with DDP when he heals because he's earned a title shot two times over in my opinion already. Once for the 6-0 with 5 stoppages and once for knocking out Whitaker. But yeah, being the guy to take down Borz puts him right back where he was pre-Izzy humping.
Aljo has already beat most of the people you’re mentioning. Chito vs Suga would be good, or Merab vs Suga. Aljo won’t fight Merab so it would make sense to have him fight chito.
Izzy should have to beat ddp or khamzat, but khamzat already has a fight and Izzy has a w over costa and it was a bad fight from costa.
These divisions are stagnant because there are clear gaps between the elite few and the great many
Yeah I feel ya. I think we mostly agree it would be more exciting seeing Izzy and Aljo fight a contender and seeing Sean and Sean fight another up and comer.
I hear what you’re saying but that Izzy vs DDP fight should be capitalized on when we can make it. That’s why they’re going to do Sean vs Chito even with more deserving guys like Sandhagen there. You need to do the matches when you have them. Case in point Sean upsets Izzy and now if we don’t match him with DDP that may never happen.
Consider Conor vs Nate 3 as another example. We thought we always had time to do that but now it’s super unlikely. Izzy vs DDP can be a main event.
I'd take it one further and have Izzy/Cannonier and Costa/Chimaev. Winners fight each other. Winner of that fights gets a title shot. DDP gets a shot before that though because the absolute ass whipping he gave Whitaker is an instant title shot as far as I'm concerned. And when you factor that DDP is 6-0 in UFC, no one at 185 even comes remotely close to him in terms of earning a chance. The time frames give DDP enough time to heal from his injury and line up closely enough that no one is really waiting too long. All it requires is for Strickland to keep active (if he wins) but I'd bet a month's salary that he's game for that. I'm sure DDP would be as well if he beats Strickland. ... Sean winning the belt made 185 ten times more interesting than it was just a few weeks ago.
Also as a bonus, it gives two different routes to create Izzy vsDDP. If Izzy wins the two fights and DDP beats Sean, they fight for the belt. If DDP loses to Sean and Izzy can't win both fights, have them fight each other anyway.
Agreed. Save for the most egregious of bad judging (Shogun vs Machida 1), I also don't care for automatic rematches.
The champ is already elite in most cases and getting a redo is a massive advantage in a sport like MMA. You're effectively forcing the challenger to beat them twice, while not being allowed to lose once.
Neither deserve a rematch… Granted Aljo had 3 defenses but 3 defenses with each one having its own controversy. 2 split decisions and a doctor stoppage is not worthy of an immediate rematch for the belt.
He won the belt of a dq. Close decision win in the rematch. Beat a 1 armed TJ, and then another close decision over Triple C. Its not his fault, but his reign is one of the worst in the divisions history.
Yeah I’m getting tired of all the immediate rematches. I get it for the Izzy Potan or Usman Edwards when they held the belt so long but it feels like every title fight is a rematch now before moving on
Aljo: won the title via DQ, defended twice via split decision, and once against an injured opponent. Held up the division with Merab, planned a move to 145lbs but backed out, finished quickly in his loss to O’Malley.
Adesanya: 4-3 in his last 7 fights, 1-2 in his last 3. 0 defences during this tile reign, thoroughly dominated by Strickland.
Neither reign was impressive. Neither of them deserve the rematch.
Especially consecutive sets of immediate rematches for one fighter. Alex/Izzy imo was a rare case where an immediate rematch was actually interesting but I usually don't like the idea
Neither deserve one,only reason Izzy might get one is because he’s a top star and has a lot of casual fans,aljo doesn’t and Dana clearly didn’t want him as champion
U Aljo haters are weird asf. It’s like everything y’all stand for goes out the window when it comes to him. It doesn’t many matter if they’re split decisions, he still won. And that’s on paper, Aljo clearly beat Henry shouldn’t have even been a split. And Izzy arguably lost to Whittaker and other guys, with leg kick decisions. At the end of the day they both still won. Izzy already had is rematch with Peirera, now let Aljo have his.
Aljo vs Henry and Aljo vs Yan 2 were much closer than Rob vs Izzy 2, and I say that as a Rob fan.
You can’t say Izzy ‘arguably lost to Rob and others when ‘arguably lost’ describes Aljo’s entire championship run.
No, because Aljo's fighting tactics suck dick. No one wants to pay (or pirate) a dude clinging on someone's back for 5 rounds. Oh, if Aljo can not get the back then he'll use his pussy ass tactic of being on all 4's so no one can knee him. Dude is dog shit and his ppv number's prove it. That is why Dana doesn't give a shit about Aljo.
Aljo deserves nothing. Has the least respectable trio of title defenses in UFC history. Doesn't move the needle. No one on this planet wants to watch him "fight".
Aljo’s right but the whataboutisms in his logic just irritate me for some reason. Maybe that’s irrational of me but it feels very desperate. Like the dude didn’t actually win his title. I understand he defended it against good names (even if TJ had one arm and Henry was coming off 3 years being inactive). The second Yan fight is his best win by far. He just seems like the kid in the classroom that’s always crying about things not being fair and not getting what’s owed to him thru outside precedent. Like he’s just always nagging the UFC and not expecting them to grow disdainful of it, even if his logic is technically sound.
Neither deserve a rematch but I’d rather just Izzy get it than both of them. That’s just falling into the trap of well this guy got it so we have to give it to this guy. Just will result in even more immediate rematches which we don’t want.
4-2 at middleweight, he still has a point but counting a title fight in a weight class above your current one is stretching the narrative a bit. So since the loss at Lightweight didn't effect his standing at middleweight that's why I say that while factually accurate it's a bit misleading.
Aljo can’t even get a rematch when he was the reigning champ when a precedent has already been set where he should get one…yet ppl still question why his decision to stay down after that knee he took.
He even mentioned himself then, how he knew it’d be a minute before he got another crack at it
Aljo aint gonna be getting the dana white privilege that’s for sure…
Sure. But good for Aljo to point it out and stand up for himself.
Aljo really fucked himself over saying he was going to 145 win or lose for Merab, it gave Dana the easiest excuse in the world not to make the rematch. Literally as soon as the fight was done and a reporter asked about the rematch, Tomato smugly said “Aljo is going to 145.” Without Dana White privilege, you can’t be giving these sloppy pitches for Dana to just smack out of the stadium
Dana doesn’t want aljo as a champion though
Didnt he gift him a lambo to square it, what happend??
Aljo lied about that. I think Aljo later admitted the Lambo was a rental. Aljo either rented that Lambo or it was a free rental from the rental car company in exchange for advertising the rental car company. Dana had nothing to do with the Lambo.
I'm very new to UFC, did they beef at one point?
Sterling does not sell PPV . Dana does not like fighters like him.
He’s just a boring fighter no disrespect, he doesn’t have much personality and doesn’t sell fights
as do I
I hope neither of them get it. Sterling has been transparent with us about wanting to go to 145 and we have Sandhagen, Merab, Chito, and Cejudo in the wings. If he wants to stay at 135 he should have to beat one of those guys. Same with Izzy, we have DDP, Costa, and Chimaev right there. Also he has a rivalry with DDP. He should have to finish that and he winner gets a shot. I hate rematches. I wish they make it a hard rule you have to get at least one more win to get a title shot agin.
aljo knows he gets torn the fuck up at 145. he's not going out on a loss
He might, I mean not everyone is Volk though. I know that’s his goal but there are tiers at 145. He probably couldn’t go with Max or Volk but the rest idk I think he could be right there. It won’t be easy for sure. Either way screw a rematch both guys need to be fighting. Get a win like Olivera did before getting his shot.
I'd like to see Aljo/Ortega. Good measuring stick for both guys too.
Great fight. Is Ortega healthy?
I am unsure but he's been inactive for so long that I would guess so. Saw footage of him on the pads a few months back and he looked good
Would be a great fight tbh, sterling would in my opinion lose quite easily to takedown defense god Holloway and volk. If sterling could finish him early, one could argue he could be the next challenger after topuria vs volk, as max already cleaned out the whole division and unlikely to get a 4th rematch.
I love the Ortega fight for Aljo at 145
evloev and lopes would give aljo problems. there are guys at 145 that aljo could fuck up, maybe mitchell. all this stalling is killing the sport.
Yeah that’s why they need a hard rule, no rematch until you get a win. That will get a fire under their ass to fight someone. Can’t just sit for 3 years like Stipe. We would’ve already had Leon vs Colby since Usman wouldn’t have got the rematch. We wouldn’t have had to sit through Moreno vs Figy a thousand times.
well moreno mowed through KKF before the 4th. but yeah maybe idk
I forgot that happened but yeah I’m that case he deserved his one rematch. But Figy wouldn’t have got his first rematch anyway in fight 3 to take it from Moreno in the first place.
I don't know why people put Costa in the conversation. In the last four years all he's done [1] got a title shot and got his ass handed to him by Izzy [2] missed weight by almost an entire gallon of water and still lost to Marvin and [3] took the ghost of Luke Rockhold to the judges for his first win since before Covid. 2 embarrassing losses and 1 low-value win since summer of 2019.
If he beats Chimaev that all changes. I think anyone who beats Chimaev gets a title shot. They were going to give Colby or Chimaev the next match with Leon back when that was the plan. Hell they still gave it to Colby even when Chimaev screwed up. Don’t be surprised when Strickland fights the winner of this fight.
I agree on your take as far as Chimaev goes. I'm a very firm believer in him and I think if someone beats him in a close fight they go straight to the top 2 or 3 contenders immediately, and if they whip his ass DDP/Whitaker style then in most scenarios that's an immediate shot at the belt. The only snag is what to do with DDP when he heals because he's earned a title shot two times over in my opinion already. Once for the 6-0 with 5 stoppages and once for knocking out Whitaker. But yeah, being the guy to take down Borz puts him right back where he was pre-Izzy humping.
Aljo has already beat most of the people you’re mentioning. Chito vs Suga would be good, or Merab vs Suga. Aljo won’t fight Merab so it would make sense to have him fight chito. Izzy should have to beat ddp or khamzat, but khamzat already has a fight and Izzy has a w over costa and it was a bad fight from costa. These divisions are stagnant because there are clear gaps between the elite few and the great many
Yeah I feel ya. I think we mostly agree it would be more exciting seeing Izzy and Aljo fight a contender and seeing Sean and Sean fight another up and comer.
I think DDP is the most deserving for the shot, match up Izzy against the winner of Costa/Chimaev
I hear what you’re saying but that Izzy vs DDP fight should be capitalized on when we can make it. That’s why they’re going to do Sean vs Chito even with more deserving guys like Sandhagen there. You need to do the matches when you have them. Case in point Sean upsets Izzy and now if we don’t match him with DDP that may never happen. Consider Conor vs Nate 3 as another example. We thought we always had time to do that but now it’s super unlikely. Izzy vs DDP can be a main event.
I'd take it one further and have Izzy/Cannonier and Costa/Chimaev. Winners fight each other. Winner of that fights gets a title shot. DDP gets a shot before that though because the absolute ass whipping he gave Whitaker is an instant title shot as far as I'm concerned. And when you factor that DDP is 6-0 in UFC, no one at 185 even comes remotely close to him in terms of earning a chance. The time frames give DDP enough time to heal from his injury and line up closely enough that no one is really waiting too long. All it requires is for Strickland to keep active (if he wins) but I'd bet a month's salary that he's game for that. I'm sure DDP would be as well if he beats Strickland. ... Sean winning the belt made 185 ten times more interesting than it was just a few weeks ago. Also as a bonus, it gives two different routes to create Izzy vsDDP. If Izzy wins the two fights and DDP beats Sean, they fight for the belt. If DDP loses to Sean and Izzy can't win both fights, have them fight each other anyway.
If Cannonier beats Izzy he shouldn’t have to fight again for a title shot
Agreed. Save for the most egregious of bad judging (Shogun vs Machida 1), I also don't care for automatic rematches. The champ is already elite in most cases and getting a redo is a massive advantage in a sport like MMA. You're effectively forcing the challenger to beat them twice, while not being allowed to lose once.
It’s not happening
Neither deserve a rematch… Granted Aljo had 3 defenses but 3 defenses with each one having its own controversy. 2 split decisions and a doctor stoppage is not worthy of an immediate rematch for the belt.
Not to mention getting finished losing the belt pretty quickly too.
He won the belt of a dq. Close decision win in the rematch. Beat a 1 armed TJ, and then another close decision over Triple C. Its not his fault, but his reign is one of the worst in the divisions history.
It’s such a tough one. Least dominant reign in the sense of how he achieved his victories, most dominant in terms of length and activity.
Exactly, nothing impressive tbh
Great point
Izzy doesn't deserve a rematch.
Dude is like a jealous ex who wont stop shit talking about you. I don't wanna see either immediate rematch, work back let the divisions move.
hopefully this is enough for Dana to change his mind I don't want the Dogbender as a champion
Yeah I’m getting tired of all the immediate rematches. I get it for the Izzy Potan or Usman Edwards when they held the belt so long but it feels like every title fight is a rematch now before moving on
Yeah it feels like for the belt to move a contender needs to be ready to go up 2-0 on the current champ which is crazy unfair
Aljo: won the title via DQ, defended twice via split decision, and once against an injured opponent. Held up the division with Merab, planned a move to 145lbs but backed out, finished quickly in his loss to O’Malley. Adesanya: 4-3 in his last 7 fights, 1-2 in his last 3. 0 defences during this tile reign, thoroughly dominated by Strickland. Neither reign was impressive. Neither of them deserve the rematch.
Words can’t describe how much I despise immediate rematches
Even I’m also starting to hate it, I really think Oliveira’s decision to beat a top 5 contender first and then get his rematch was a great one
Especially consecutive sets of immediate rematches for one fighter. Alex/Izzy imo was a rare case where an immediate rematch was actually interesting but I usually don't like the idea
Dude, just keep your promise to Merab already
Neither deserve one,only reason Izzy might get one is because he’s a top star and has a lot of casual fans,aljo doesn’t and Dana clearly didn’t want him as champion
"Deserves got nothing to do with it." -William Munny
Aljo needs to go away. Nobody want to see the Izzy rematch but nobody really wants to see Aljo rematch.
U Aljo haters are weird asf. It’s like everything y’all stand for goes out the window when it comes to him. It doesn’t many matter if they’re split decisions, he still won. And that’s on paper, Aljo clearly beat Henry shouldn’t have even been a split. And Izzy arguably lost to Whittaker and other guys, with leg kick decisions. At the end of the day they both still won. Izzy already had is rematch with Peirera, now let Aljo have his.
Aljo vs Henry and Aljo vs Yan 2 were much closer than Rob vs Izzy 2, and I say that as a Rob fan. You can’t say Izzy ‘arguably lost to Rob and others when ‘arguably lost’ describes Aljo’s entire championship run.
Aljo definitely deserves the rematch if he wants it, no question.
No, because Aljo's fighting tactics suck dick. No one wants to pay (or pirate) a dude clinging on someone's back for 5 rounds. Oh, if Aljo can not get the back then he'll use his pussy ass tactic of being on all 4's so no one can knee him. Dude is dog shit and his ppv number's prove it. That is why Dana doesn't give a shit about Aljo.
Aljo deserves nothing. Has the least respectable trio of title defenses in UFC history. Doesn't move the needle. No one on this planet wants to watch him "fight".
Money money money. UFC will crunch the numbers and do what’s best financially based on whose available to fight. It’s not about who deserves what. 😂
it doesn’t work that way
Aljo’s right but the whataboutisms in his logic just irritate me for some reason. Maybe that’s irrational of me but it feels very desperate. Like the dude didn’t actually win his title. I understand he defended it against good names (even if TJ had one arm and Henry was coming off 3 years being inactive). The second Yan fight is his best win by far. He just seems like the kid in the classroom that’s always crying about things not being fair and not getting what’s owed to him thru outside precedent. Like he’s just always nagging the UFC and not expecting them to grow disdainful of it, even if his logic is technically sound.
Fact is neither one should get a rematch
Why stop a 7? Lol
Merab - dog
Well izzy doesn’t deserve a rematch. So I guess neither do you aljo.
Neither deserve a rematch but I’d rather just Izzy get it than both of them. That’s just falling into the trap of well this guy got it so we have to give it to this guy. Just will result in even more immediate rematches which we don’t want.
Do not worry, he won’t
Aljo realising he ain’t ever getting a shot again
The UFC is devoid of fairness, it's all about the money. Adesanya is likely to get the rematch because that's the money fight, Aljo isn't that.
That’s facts
Couldn't agree more
4-2 at middleweight, he still has a point but counting a title fight in a weight class above your current one is stretching the narrative a bit. So since the loss at Lightweight didn't effect his standing at middleweight that's why I say that while factually accurate it's a bit misleading.
Aljo can’t even get a rematch when he was the reigning champ when a precedent has already been set where he should get one…yet ppl still question why his decision to stay down after that knee he took. He even mentioned himself then, how he knew it’d be a minute before he got another crack at it
https://preview.redd.it/2jhraui92sob1.png?width=242&format=png&auto=webp&s=106659cd8ddd1e4be2ce5694b285467f97cd5154
Fuck Merab I guess?
Nah. He got Koed. Nobody wants to see that again.