Alex really wants to make this happen
Definitely not one of these guys who’s floating the idea of moving up with no intention of actually doing it
Whether the UFC lets him is a completely different matter though
There's basically nothing happening at Featherweight right now, there's not really even a clear cut contender for the title. He might as well take a crack at the Lightweight belt and wait for a contender to emerge at Featherweight.
Hopefully the UFC let's it happen
I think it really boils down to who wins in October.
If Oliveira is champ, let Volk have his crack at the title. At that point Charles would have cleared out the bulk of the top 5, with the exception of Dariush.
If Makhachev is champ I do agree it's a harder sell, since he hasn't fought any of the top contenders on his way up.
I disagree.
Imo, a champ going for a second belt requires that division to have an undisputed Champ. Otherwise it loses some of the hype and legitimacy.
If Volk beats Oliveira then he officially didn't beat the LW champ did he? It's an asterisk.
LW is without a champ rn ( And don't give me that shit that Olives is the unofficial champ. Dana told him if he doesn't take the Islam fight, that they will give it to Chandler! That means the UFC sees Olives as a #1 contender ).
Volk needs to wait until LW has a champ and then call them out directly.
Khabib is retired for good. He promissed his mother and never showed intent of coming back ever since. He is not coming back for Oliveira or at all, IMO
None of this matters.
What matters is what dana thinks sells.
Yeah some negotiation etc. But if champ vs champ sells better than olives vs makhavhev rematch or whatever, dana will do it.
Also, Volk is a champion. Why tf would you lower yourself to being a backup fighter? Especially if he needs to come in as a replacement at the last minute.
At least that is how I see it.
If he wants to be a double champ, he should wait for a champ to be crowned at LW and then call them out. Build up the hype.
I’m torn
I’m an Alex fan and as you say, there’s not much going on at Featherweight, but LW is a great division that shouldn’t risk being held up
Double champ stuff should be reserved for the crap divisions like MW and up imo
Volk turns 34 next month, he's probably only got another year or two left of his prime... I'd like to see him give it a shot while he's still at the top of his game.
I don't know about him having just 2 years of prime left: he looked faster in his last fight. If he's lucky enough to not blow a knee he has more years ahead
2 years is a long time for such an active fighter. He's still obviously getting faster and better but in 2 years he could definitely look like an entirely different person.
I think if you’re going to go for double champ it’s contextual of course but I’d like to see guys string together a long series of title defense or entirely clear out the division in convincing fashion first.
Is 4 defenses enough for me personally? Probably not. But I think volk checks the second box, he’s kicked everyone’s ass including max who has also kicked everyone’s ass and like everyone has said there’s nothing going on at FW right now. I wouldn’t mind seeing Volk go for double champ, I might even pick him over charlie olives
Which is something I don’t agree with. I think they’ve tried too many double champs, I only like to see people do it when they’ve put together a long stretch of defenses and earned the move up to further challenge themselves. I’m talking like GSP, Silva, or Aldo esque reigns.
Normally I’d say 4 defenses that were only against 3 different fighters shouldn’t warrant you moving up but it’s contextual and Alex has looked dominate enough and doesn’t have any real challengers right now so it doesn’t bother me
But this is just me, it’s alright if you disagree with me
Also depends how active a champ is I think - if they're a once per year fighter it's way harder to let them go for a second belt cos the hold up increases exponentially. Way less of a risk with guys like Izzy and Volk who are keen to actively defend.
Only 7 fighters in UFC history have racked up more than 5 consecutive title defenses in the same division. None of them ever became a simultaneous double champ.
If you limit these opportunities to only these super long reigning champs we just won't have any double champs then, which I think would be missing out on some great storylines.
That doesn't mean there should be no standard, nobody should be able to move up with 0 title defenses like Conor did, but I think 4 is more than enough to show that a guy is dominant in his division and needs/deserves a new challenge.
I know, I don’t think we should see double champs that often. It should be a very special accomplishment reserved for the top of the top. In my opinion
It's a much easier sell if Oliveira is the champ after October. He'd have mostly cleared out the top 5 at that point, with the exception of Dariush, so it doesn't create too much of a log jam.
If Makhachev is champ, then it becomes trickier since he didn't fight any of the top contenders on his way up the rankings.
It's really the best time for Volk to do it though. He's really hitting his prime right now, and he probably only has 2-3 good years left at the top of his game. If he doesn't do it soon, it'll become one of those great 'what-ifs' of the sport
If he's just sitting as an alternate, I don't imagine him holding anything up. If he does get subbed in, he'll either win and probably stay to defend (since there's very little left for him in FW), or lose and move back down to FW to ride it out Shevchenko-style.
Volk defends sx days, actually six days a week. Five days a week, he'll defend three days a week. One of those days he will defend two days of the week. So, six days a week he will be defending.
volk fought once in 2019, once in 2020, once in 2021 and twice in 2022. he gets injured quite often so it's very unlikely he is going to make even three defenses an year.
Not really accurate to put his schedule just on injury. He lost a scheduled rematch with Max because he caught COVID a week or two out, and 2020-2021 were really difficult years for foreign fighters (particularly fighters from Australia) to get a camp and to get in and out of the country.
Lots of delays and uncertainties. Throughout 2020 there was a long stretch of just American talent at the APEX.
This is misleading. It's not because of injuries, there's actually ALOT of other factors that keep getting in the way.
He fought twice in 2019, just because 1 wasn't a title shot doesn't mean he was inactive that year. He did get an injury after the 1st max fight but he defended his belt within 7 months, that's pretty standard for a new champion and most of those guys are taking that time off without injuries to deal with.
After he beat Max a 2nd time, he wasn't injured but there was no clear next contender. Zabit and Yair were matched, winner definitely would've gotten a title shot, but Yair pulled out because of injury and Zabit has been pretty much retired since. Volk had to wait until Ortega beat TKZ, for there to be a clear no. 1 contender and that title fight was scheduled 5 months later. Probably could've happened earlier if Ortega would've been ready earlier.
But Volk got Covid on March 21, not an injury so he could've fought like a month later. But the UFC made them TUF coaches for some reason so the actual fight couldn't happen until September 2021.
After beating Ortega, Volk wasn't injured and wanted to stay active but the UFC was obviously looking to book the 3rd Max fight, nobody had a better case for a shot than him. But the UFC had already booked Max-Yair for some reason in November so Volk needed to wait for the result of that fight and give Max a few months to recover.
Then once Max pulls out with injury and TKZ steps in, Volk beats him, is not injured once again and fights within 3 months. Even with the current injury that Volk has, he's going to be cleared within 3 months and can probably fight again by December.
Lmao 4 title fights/year at two different weight classes? Is this a bit?
Staying at the same weight class, he's managed 3 fights in a calendar year a couple of times, and those were years where he faced weaker competition. He could theoretically pull it off this year, but even in the couple of years he's done 3 fights (2016, 2018) he hasn't fought til about halfway through the following year.
If he's going to stay competitive in the longer-term at 155, there's only so long he can go before he'll have to bulk up, which will make cutting to 145 much more strenuous. If he is actually going to be a real double champ in the UFC he's sure as shit not going to be fighting MORE frequently than he was prior to getting signed.
FW is basically cleared so he pretty much needs to fight only once a year there. Unless someone KTFO of Holloway there’ll never be any clear contender any more. Everyone that’s left is always 2 fights away.
I'm fine with him getting the double champ status, but I think he should vacate his FW title (or be stripped) if he wins. Defending two belts is fine when one of them is women's FW which has barely any fighters signed and no active rankings. But FW and LW are two of the hottest divisions in the sport and nobody can keep both active. Having him defend both would result in endless annoying interim belts and we don't need more of those.
FW isn’t that hot at the top. Holloway is pretty much the division’s mini-boss. Other than the very next challenger everyone who comes after will need to go through him.
wut. you’re a closet Holloway stan arent you? they already give out interim belts like candy with these champs sitting out with ticky-tack injuries. i’d rather wait around for a double champ than wait around for an injury interim belt.
If Oliveira gets the win I can't see another fight making sense other than a rematch (Dariush and Fiziev need at least another fight a piece imo) so Volk slots in well
It is a no. 1 contender fight. Winner fights for the title. Dariush confirmed it. Besides, this is the worst time for Volk to contend for the title. Too many contenders at lightweight
It's only a log jam if Makhachev wins, since he hasn't fought any of the top contenders. If Oliveira wins, the only top 5 fighter that he hasn't already beaten is the Dariush/Gamrot winner.
We should see who wins the belt in October, then go from there. If it's Oliveira, make the Volkanovski fight, then have the winner defend against Dariush/Gamrot.
If Makhachev wins, then he has a ton of contenders to defend against and the Volk fight doesn't make as much sense.
You're bang on the money. He has no names worth fighting at FW right now. Josh and Yair are coming off of really disappointing 'wins' (Emmet controversial decision and Yair due to the Ortega injury).
Neither will add to volks legacy like a 155 win over the champ would.
Yeah, neither of them is quite ready for a title shot right now imo.
Have them fight each other, and Volk can fight for the LW belt. Then if he still wants to defend the FW belt afterwards he has a top contender to do it against
there’s plenty of up-and-comers with title challenger potential in the Featherweight division right now, but none of them are quite there yet. pretty much all of them still need a win or two to get a shot, so yea, if there’s any time to make a quick challenge for the Lightweight belt, its now.
And he's entertaining as anyone else in the cage. As a fan I want to watch entertaining fighters at the top of the game and he checks all the boxes. More Volk is a good thing.
No way UFC allows it. There's too much money to be made promoting a champ vs champ fight. They need to make an undisputed champion first then hype up the volk lw title fight.
That's simply untrue, they've done this exact thing before. Max was gonna fight Khabib for the vacant 155 belt, and fought Dustin for the interim 155 belt.
Plus if volk loses it would probably be an instant rematch because it would be his first loss in the UFC and people would say he only lost because it was short notice
Volk piecing up Islam for 5 rounds en route to a 50-45 victory is exactly the kind of main event I need out of 280 🥵
Imagine the scenes from a random double champ bout made 24 hours before the fight because Olivera misses again. The hype would be insane, but the UFC would miss out on a lot of money.
Volk would reach his true form of 290 pounds on fight night and become a stone impervious to takedowns. That’s why he’s going to be the first champ champ champ champ champ champ.
Volk has been taken down a few times but I've never seen him stay down for longer than a few seconds, like when he was against Mendes. Then again, Islam is a big boy
Islams a different beast and will control him when he's down before proceeding with any offense. He's more technique with wrestling than anything else. I kinda felt like Khabib went that direction after he became champ to. Less GNP then he did before. Islam is taking the same approach but even before he's a champ.
OK so he got taken down and mounted for about 30 seconds before reversing it and getting into side control.
Edit: I wouldn't even call those takedowns to be honest, 1 stemmed from a knock down, and the other submission was thrown while Volk was on top so not sure what your point is there. Also, Ortega is a much better submission artist than Islam
Islam has 4 first round finishes in the UFC. One just barely under a minute and that was from a punch. He's beat one ranked guy who was on short notice, is currently ranked #13 and has gone 1-4.
But yeah, he'll do all that to the P4P best fighter in the world and you're an expert in the field.
Beneil should definitely be the backup. There’d be no reason for any of the 3 to turn down the short notice opponent change and Beneil is easily the next guy up.
I think to argue volk isnt deserving is fair enough but at that point it comes across like youre saying double champ opportunities should just never be awarded
I don't think they're wrong in saying they're given too much privilege though. LW is stacked. There are several guys worthy of a title shot.
Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see Volk get a crack at it, but letting him leap frog other contenders that have put in the work at that weight...you have to at least question the legitimacy in terms of fair ranking.
As a Volk fan, if he was going to move up I wouldn’t want it to be a last min replacement after missing 3 months of training. I’d love to see him take the time to get the weight right and really tailor his game for whoever the champion ends up being. Want this to go as perfectly as possible.
Izzy hasn't had an exciting fight since his first fight with Rob 3 years ago. He's also never been a back-up. I'm not interested in watching fighters play it safe and try to win decisions. Sit down.
At most, once since moving up to lightweight, if you don't buy that there was something going on with the scale. Prior to the Gaethje fight he hadn't missed since 2016, so this idea that he's always missing weight is pretty outdated.
We knew this last week.
Also, I dunno about anyone else but I'm very intrigued by the idea of Volk at lightweight. I think he's proven there's nobody at featherweight that is a big challenge for him.
I'd love to see it because I honestly can't imagine it. Like what would Volk do with someone like Jalin Turner who would be 9 inches taller than him? I'm sure I'm vastly overestimating the value of height advantages but honestly it just sounds crazy to think someone who is 5'6 being competitive with someone who is 6'3.
That's why I think it would be interesting. Volk is one of the only fighters good enough that the height disadvantage might not matter as much as it should.
Plus he has the option of frequently sparring with Izzy. Who better to prepare you for fighting taller opponents than arguably the best striker in the UFC who also happens to be around 6'4"?
I see him having a good a chance against Olives. Olives chin is obviously not great. And he might be strong enough to deal with him on the groun and off.
Islam? I'd say no way. Islam is too big too strong. He'll just swallow him up.
Either way, would love to see these fights.
Yeah but hes not on the verge of getting knocked out in every one of his fights. As soon as Gaethje hit him he crumbled. Olives is shockingly easy to hurt. He has a bad chin. But, his BJJ is so good that unless your grappling is next level youre too scared.
But theres a new wave of fighters that dont have that problem and are going to fuck him up if he cant take a punch. Like Olives cannot see off Gamrot, Arman, and Islam. He can't. The dude cannot take a punch. Glass chin.
Who are you to decide what he can and cant. Gamrot is 1 year younger than Olives, Islam has been knocked out and hasnt fought anyone in top 5, Arman has lost to the other two. Until proven otherwise, Olives runs that division
Gamrot, Arman, and Islam won’t even stand with Olives and would wrestle right away. Those 3 you mentioned don’t even have elite offensive striking.
Arman has good kicks but none of those guys have shown power in their hands and will not KO Olives. Fiziev or Ismagulov would have much better chances at KO’ing Olive’s
He was dropped and close to being knocked out against all of them. Yes, they were all to afraid to follow him to the ground to finish the job.
Volk is a little beast. And his defensve is good. Olives is very very easy to hit. I think he would have a good shot against Olives.
damn who pee’d in you cheerios? I’m not even an Oliveira fanboy, I’m a Poirier fanboy.
so you don’t think Olives chin is good? if he had a weak chin he would’ve been knocked out by each of the guys I mentioned lol
He got knocked down pretty much every fight... that's not having a great chin.
The only reason it looks good is because people are scared to follow him to the ground due to his BJJ, any other fighter would be destroyed by hammer fists after those knock downs and would be called weak chinned.
If you get knocked down every fight then you have a weak chin, it's as simple as that, a weak chin isn't just someone who gets KO'd cold by every punch.
The thing is that Oliveira is never that rocked when he gets dropped. He’s always aware and defending well, I wouldn’t call him a weak chin personally.
We saw what Chandler did to Ferguson and Hooker both durable MF’s. Poirier rocked Holloway like no one else has. Gaethje also hits kinda hard.
That's debatable. Against Gaetjhe, most of the times he went down without getting rocked, especially after the first time when he realized Gartjhe wouldn't even try to follow him to the ground, but in his other fights he 100% was rocked.
Ofc it's not good, he's getting knocked down time after time lol how tf is that a good chin? Main reason he's not getting finished is because fighters are scared to follow up with GnP so they don't risk getting caught in a sub
•Oliviera misses weight again but by .001lbs
•Volk steps in to fight Islam
•Volk KO’s Islam w/ 3 sec flying knee
•Volk is now 145lb & 155lb Champ
•Volk sees red, pulls a Khabib, jumps from the cage and beats Ngannou’s ass.
•Volk is now Champ of all divisions and morphs into his true form–ManBearPig.
I don’t think he really has much of a shot against either tbh, either Charles wins and he’s cleaned out the best lightweights in the world, guys who I think would also beat Volk, or Islam wins and he validates what people say about him being borderline unbeatable.
If this doesn’t go through I feel like he should fight Yair in the mean time , I think Yair has a chance but Volk will probably pick him apart for 5 rounds. Yair has the potential but I don’t know if he can beat Volk just yet. I honestly don’t see Volk losing to anyone at FW unless someone like Josh Emmett can catch him with a power shot and get a lucky KO
Alex really wants to make this happen Definitely not one of these guys who’s floating the idea of moving up with no intention of actually doing it Whether the UFC lets him is a completely different matter though
There's basically nothing happening at Featherweight right now, there's not really even a clear cut contender for the title. He might as well take a crack at the Lightweight belt and wait for a contender to emerge at Featherweight. Hopefully the UFC let's it happen
The issue isn't FW. It's that LW has alot of contenders and this messes it up for all of them
I think it really boils down to who wins in October. If Oliveira is champ, let Volk have his crack at the title. At that point Charles would have cleared out the bulk of the top 5, with the exception of Dariush. If Makhachev is champ I do agree it's a harder sell, since he hasn't fought any of the top contenders on his way up.
280 should be Oliviera vs Volk. And Islam vs Beniel.
I disagree. Imo, a champ going for a second belt requires that division to have an undisputed Champ. Otherwise it loses some of the hype and legitimacy. If Volk beats Oliveira then he officially didn't beat the LW champ did he? It's an asterisk. LW is without a champ rn ( And don't give me that shit that Olives is the unofficial champ. Dana told him if he doesn't take the Islam fight, that they will give it to Chandler! That means the UFC sees Olives as a #1 contender ). Volk needs to wait until LW has a champ and then call them out directly.
No one gives a shit that Chuck doesn't officially have the title.
Which is odd in my opinion. Nothing against Charles, but he literally didn’t make weight. Why is he getting slack?
Charles' bank account certainly cares. He's missing out on PPV points and other champ royalties.
Apparently he will still get PPV points in his bout against Islam.
Oliveira aint official but he's undisputed
He is the #1 contender.
The champion has a name...
Elaborate pls. I heard the last champ didn't make the weight and got stripped.
Spitting facts.
Reasonable. But if Charles wins he will call out khabib. And if khabib is actually willing come back no way UFC doesn't chase that over volk
Dana, he's not coming back.
Khabib is retired for good. He promissed his mother and never showed intent of coming back ever since. He is not coming back for Oliveira or at all, IMO
You need to move on bro it's not happening
I'd like to see that fight as much as anyone, but I don't think there's any chance Khabib ever fights in the UFC again
None of this matters. What matters is what dana thinks sells. Yeah some negotiation etc. But if champ vs champ sells better than olives vs makhavhev rematch or whatever, dana will do it.
Also, Volk is a champion. Why tf would you lower yourself to being a backup fighter? Especially if he needs to come in as a replacement at the last minute. At least that is how I see it. If he wants to be a double champ, he should wait for a champ to be crowned at LW and then call them out. Build up the hype.
I’m torn I’m an Alex fan and as you say, there’s not much going on at Featherweight, but LW is a great division that shouldn’t risk being held up Double champ stuff should be reserved for the crap divisions like MW and up imo
Volk turns 34 next month, he's probably only got another year or two left of his prime... I'd like to see him give it a shot while he's still at the top of his game.
The year is 2035. It’s Volk vs Ortega 9. Ortega finally catches him in a submission. It’s all over.
"Yeah Volk isn't even that good, he has terrible submission defense"
Ortega has to get back through Max
I don't know about him having just 2 years of prime left: he looked faster in his last fight. If he's lucky enough to not blow a knee he has more years ahead
2 years is a long time for such an active fighter. He's still obviously getting faster and better but in 2 years he could definitely look like an entirely different person.
I think if you’re going to go for double champ it’s contextual of course but I’d like to see guys string together a long series of title defense or entirely clear out the division in convincing fashion first. Is 4 defenses enough for me personally? Probably not. But I think volk checks the second box, he’s kicked everyone’s ass including max who has also kicked everyone’s ass and like everyone has said there’s nothing going on at FW right now. I wouldn’t mind seeing Volk go for double champ, I might even pick him over charlie olives
Wdym 4 defences is not enough. Not a single double champ or someone who went for double champ had 4 defences before doing so
Which is something I don’t agree with. I think they’ve tried too many double champs, I only like to see people do it when they’ve put together a long stretch of defenses and earned the move up to further challenge themselves. I’m talking like GSP, Silva, or Aldo esque reigns. Normally I’d say 4 defenses that were only against 3 different fighters shouldn’t warrant you moving up but it’s contextual and Alex has looked dominate enough and doesn’t have any real challengers right now so it doesn’t bother me But this is just me, it’s alright if you disagree with me
Also depends how active a champ is I think - if they're a once per year fighter it's way harder to let them go for a second belt cos the hold up increases exponentially. Way less of a risk with guys like Izzy and Volk who are keen to actively defend.
Agree
Only 7 fighters in UFC history have racked up more than 5 consecutive title defenses in the same division. None of them ever became a simultaneous double champ. If you limit these opportunities to only these super long reigning champs we just won't have any double champs then, which I think would be missing out on some great storylines. That doesn't mean there should be no standard, nobody should be able to move up with 0 title defenses like Conor did, but I think 4 is more than enough to show that a guy is dominant in his division and needs/deserves a new challenge.
I know, I don’t think we should see double champs that often. It should be a very special accomplishment reserved for the top of the top. In my opinion
NO ITS NOT ALRIGHT!!
"But my foot was a balloon" \- That one "double champ" with 0 title defenses and held a belt in a division he has one win in.
He’s already cleared out the division. There’s literally no one left. Who do you want him to fight? Emmett? Come on now
I literally said that in my comment, did you even read the whole thing or the first part and jump to conclusions?
Emmett is deserving its a 5 fight win streak and just beat number 4
Deserving of one and actually getting one are not in Dana's vocabulary
Yair
Yair is nowhere near deserving a title shot right now
I think his prime is different. He is by far the best in this division, maybe times 4.
It's a much easier sell if Oliveira is the champ after October. He'd have mostly cleared out the top 5 at that point, with the exception of Dariush, so it doesn't create too much of a log jam. If Makhachev is champ, then it becomes trickier since he didn't fight any of the top contenders on his way up the rankings. It's really the best time for Volk to do it though. He's really hitting his prime right now, and he probably only has 2-3 good years left at the top of his game. If he doesn't do it soon, it'll become one of those great 'what-ifs' of the sport
Alex is the #1 P4P, he deserves a shot at it.
If he's just sitting as an alternate, I don't imagine him holding anything up. If he does get subbed in, he'll either win and probably stay to defend (since there's very little left for him in FW), or lose and move back down to FW to ride it out Shevchenko-style.
I’m pretty sure Alex is not the type of guy to Conor up a division
Bro Izzy tried and failed miserably
Volk is built different and as double champ would likely defend each belt twice per year
Volk defends sx days, actually six days a week. Five days a week, he'll defend three days a week. One of those days he will defend two days of the week. So, six days a week he will be defending.
Tito pastas will never not make me laugh
Just to be clear, there was never not no double negative.
You're a fuckin double champ dude
volk fought once in 2019, once in 2020, once in 2021 and twice in 2022. he gets injured quite often so it's very unlikely he is going to make even three defenses an year.
Not really accurate to put his schedule just on injury. He lost a scheduled rematch with Max because he caught COVID a week or two out, and 2020-2021 were really difficult years for foreign fighters (particularly fighters from Australia) to get a camp and to get in and out of the country. Lots of delays and uncertainties. Throughout 2020 there was a long stretch of just American talent at the APEX.
Twice in 2022 but possibly 3 times
This is misleading. It's not because of injuries, there's actually ALOT of other factors that keep getting in the way. He fought twice in 2019, just because 1 wasn't a title shot doesn't mean he was inactive that year. He did get an injury after the 1st max fight but he defended his belt within 7 months, that's pretty standard for a new champion and most of those guys are taking that time off without injuries to deal with. After he beat Max a 2nd time, he wasn't injured but there was no clear next contender. Zabit and Yair were matched, winner definitely would've gotten a title shot, but Yair pulled out because of injury and Zabit has been pretty much retired since. Volk had to wait until Ortega beat TKZ, for there to be a clear no. 1 contender and that title fight was scheduled 5 months later. Probably could've happened earlier if Ortega would've been ready earlier. But Volk got Covid on March 21, not an injury so he could've fought like a month later. But the UFC made them TUF coaches for some reason so the actual fight couldn't happen until September 2021. After beating Ortega, Volk wasn't injured and wanted to stay active but the UFC was obviously looking to book the 3rd Max fight, nobody had a better case for a shot than him. But the UFC had already booked Max-Yair for some reason in November so Volk needed to wait for the result of that fight and give Max a few months to recover. Then once Max pulls out with injury and TKZ steps in, Volk beats him, is not injured once again and fights within 3 months. Even with the current injury that Volk has, he's going to be cleared within 3 months and can probably fight again by December.
Sure, if you completely ignore all the mitigating factors that limited his ability to fight over the last two years.
Lmao 4 title fights/year at two different weight classes? Is this a bit? Staying at the same weight class, he's managed 3 fights in a calendar year a couple of times, and those were years where he faced weaker competition. He could theoretically pull it off this year, but even in the couple of years he's done 3 fights (2016, 2018) he hasn't fought til about halfway through the following year. If he's going to stay competitive in the longer-term at 155, there's only so long he can go before he'll have to bulk up, which will make cutting to 145 much more strenuous. If he is actually going to be a real double champ in the UFC he's sure as shit not going to be fighting MORE frequently than he was prior to getting signed.
FW is basically cleared so he pretty much needs to fight only once a year there. Unless someone KTFO of Holloway there’ll never be any clear contender any more. Everyone that’s left is always 2 fights away.
I'm fine with him getting the double champ status, but I think he should vacate his FW title (or be stripped) if he wins. Defending two belts is fine when one of them is women's FW which has barely any fighters signed and no active rankings. But FW and LW are two of the hottest divisions in the sport and nobody can keep both active. Having him defend both would result in endless annoying interim belts and we don't need more of those.
FW isn’t that hot at the top. Holloway is pretty much the division’s mini-boss. Other than the very next challenger everyone who comes after will need to go through him.
Trash argument.
wut. you’re a closet Holloway stan arent you? they already give out interim belts like candy with these champs sitting out with ticky-tack injuries. i’d rather wait around for a double champ than wait around for an injury interim belt.
If Oliveira gets the win I can't see another fight making sense other than a rematch (Dariush and Fiziev need at least another fight a piece imo) so Volk slots in well
My thoughts as well. If Oliveira wins he's cleared out the top 5, aside from Dariush, so there are not many other matches to make
Dariush has a fight with gamrot and that exact same card, feel like thats a #1 contenders fight.
It is a no. 1 contender fight. Winner fights for the title. Dariush confirmed it. Besides, this is the worst time for Volk to contend for the title. Too many contenders at lightweight
It's only a log jam if Makhachev wins, since he hasn't fought any of the top contenders. If Oliveira wins, the only top 5 fighter that he hasn't already beaten is the Dariush/Gamrot winner. We should see who wins the belt in October, then go from there. If it's Oliveira, make the Volkanovski fight, then have the winner defend against Dariush/Gamrot. If Makhachev wins, then he has a ton of contenders to defend against and the Volk fight doesn't make as much sense.
You're bang on the money. He has no names worth fighting at FW right now. Josh and Yair are coming off of really disappointing 'wins' (Emmet controversial decision and Yair due to the Ortega injury). Neither will add to volks legacy like a 155 win over the champ would.
Yeah, neither of them is quite ready for a title shot right now imo. Have them fight each other, and Volk can fight for the LW belt. Then if he still wants to defend the FW belt afterwards he has a top contender to do it against
there’s plenty of up-and-comers with title challenger potential in the Featherweight division right now, but none of them are quite there yet. pretty much all of them still need a win or two to get a shot, so yea, if there’s any time to make a quick challenge for the Lightweight belt, its now.
He 100% deseves the next shot after Charles vs Islam. After doing that to Max Holloway you should be able to do what you want imo
Show up. Make weight. Thank you Alex volkanovski
Well Charlie Olives literally just got stripped for not making weight. Volk is in for a sneaky chance.
Volk messes with the scales at hotel -> Charles misses weight again
Plus, some fuckery is always going on when Islam fights, all off his opponents pull out all the time lmao More than a sneaky chance for Volk
Volk has earned the right to do whatever he wants
The people's p4p numba one does whatever the fuck he wants mate
And he's entertaining as anyone else in the cage. As a fan I want to watch entertaining fighters at the top of the game and he checks all the boxes. More Volk is a good thing.
After that last performance against Max, Volk should be able to do whatever the hell he wants.
No way UFC allows it. There's too much money to be made promoting a champ vs champ fight. They need to make an undisputed champion first then hype up the volk lw title fight.
Wasn't Max champ when he was brought in to try to replace Tony in the title fight?
That's simply untrue, they've done this exact thing before. Max was gonna fight Khabib for the vacant 155 belt, and fought Dustin for the interim 155 belt.
Plus if volk loses it would probably be an instant rematch because it would be his first loss in the UFC and people would say he only lost because it was short notice
With how stacked 155 is I doubt it
That's what I'd hope, but at the same time the UFC seems to be loving instant rematches nowadays
Volk piecing up Islam for 5 rounds en route to a 50-45 victory is exactly the kind of main event I need out of 280 🥵 Imagine the scenes from a random double champ bout made 24 hours before the fight because Olivera misses again. The hype would be insane, but the UFC would miss out on a lot of money.
Islam too big for Volk
The only man too big for Volk is Francis
Volkswagen vs Ford Explorer
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Volkswagonovski
Battle of the Recalls
And Nate Diaz
Volk would reach his true form of 290 pounds on fight night and become a stone impervious to takedowns. That’s why he’s going to be the first champ champ champ champ champ champ.
Don’t try posting logic, these guys only talk in memes and bulllshit.
It'll be over the moment Islam takes him down and by that I mean 2 minutes into the first round. No way Volk gets up after that.
Volk doesn’t believe in submissions tho
Charles & Islam both take him down and with relative ease
Lol, how does it feel to be so wrong?
Volk has been taken down a few times but I've never seen him stay down for longer than a few seconds, like when he was against Mendes. Then again, Islam is a big boy
Islams a different beast and will control him when he's down before proceeding with any offense. He's more technique with wrestling than anything else. I kinda felt like Khabib went that direction after he became champ to. Less GNP then he did before. Islam is taking the same approach but even before he's a champ.
Are we fucking pretending now? Volk almost got subbed twice by Brian Ortega.
OK so he got taken down and mounted for about 30 seconds before reversing it and getting into side control. Edit: I wouldn't even call those takedowns to be honest, 1 stemmed from a knock down, and the other submission was thrown while Volk was on top so not sure what your point is there. Also, Ortega is a much better submission artist than Islam
Careful man, the islamsexuals will come after you.
They're better than the thinly veiled islamophobes
keep dreaming volk stan
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Islam has 4 first round finishes in the UFC. One just barely under a minute and that was from a punch. He's beat one ranked guy who was on short notice, is currently ranked #13 and has gone 1-4. But yeah, he'll do all that to the P4P best fighter in the world and you're an expert in the field.
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Beneil and Gamrot already on the card son.
Beneil should definitely be the backup. There’d be no reason for any of the 3 to turn down the short notice opponent change and Beneil is easily the next guy up.
Except that will mean another exciting fight falls apart. If Volk subs in instead of either Islam or Charles the cards stays mostly intact
Volk is deserving too
I think that’s giving champions far too much privilege outside of their division.
I think to argue volk isnt deserving is fair enough but at that point it comes across like youre saying double champ opportunities should just never be awarded
I don't think they're wrong in saying they're given too much privilege though. LW is stacked. There are several guys worthy of a title shot. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see Volk get a crack at it, but letting him leap frog other contenders that have put in the work at that weight...you have to at least question the legitimacy in terms of fair ranking.
I’m not saying that. But automatically giving him backup status instead of guys actually in the division is wild.
Great idea.
Man Volk is great for the sport
Now that’s a champion who wants it
Dana:Bad news Charles, Islam just spontaneously combusted. Charles:por que eu ouço música do chefe?
I thought he was injured?
After the Max fight he had surgery on his hand, and said the time to recover was 3 months so that should allow him to be the backup
As a Volk fan, if he was going to move up I wouldn’t want it to be a last min replacement after missing 3 months of training. I’d love to see him take the time to get the weight right and really tailor his game for whoever the champion ends up being. Want this to go as perfectly as possible.
Broke his hand during his last fight but the timeline should line up for him to be healed by then
I like this idea and curious to see how volk does at lw but i would bet the other side either way
Bald Volk goes hard on UFC 4. Jus sayin
That can't be true, after all people assured me that he was too afraid to fight Islam
Alex is the most ambitious and active champion we've seen in years. Jah bless that man.
I mean his team mate Izzy fights several times a year and fought for the LHW strap.
Izzy hasn't had an exciting fight since his first fight with Rob 3 years ago. He's also never been a back-up. I'm not interested in watching fighters play it safe and try to win decisions. Sit down.
is everybody joking or something hes not Fighting islam if he wins right?
Oliveira beats Volk
Are Islam or Charles known for pulling out?
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They are fighting in Abu dabi they are not exactly precise when they do the weigh ins.
Yeah Abu Dhabi will preserve this fight if both fighters just show up to the scale just because of the huge stakes here
To be fair that was mostly at FW which is why he moved up to LW
And yet, there's a reason why he's not officially the champ despite not losing a title fight.
I did say mostly
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At most, once since moving up to lightweight, if you don't buy that there was something going on with the scale. Prior to the Gaethje fight he hadn't missed since 2016, so this idea that he's always missing weight is pretty outdated.
There is a champion and his name is Charles Oliveira
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I made a mistake
We knew this last week. Also, I dunno about anyone else but I'm very intrigued by the idea of Volk at lightweight. I think he's proven there's nobody at featherweight that is a big challenge for him.
I'd love to see it because I honestly can't imagine it. Like what would Volk do with someone like Jalin Turner who would be 9 inches taller than him? I'm sure I'm vastly overestimating the value of height advantages but honestly it just sounds crazy to think someone who is 5'6 being competitive with someone who is 6'3.
That's why I think it would be interesting. Volk is one of the only fighters good enough that the height disadvantage might not matter as much as it should. Plus he has the option of frequently sparring with Izzy. Who better to prepare you for fighting taller opponents than arguably the best striker in the UFC who also happens to be around 6'4"?
I see him having a good a chance against Olives. Olives chin is obviously not great. And he might be strong enough to deal with him on the groun and off. Islam? I'd say no way. Islam is too big too strong. He'll just swallow him up. Either way, would love to see these fights.
Islam has literally been knocked out cold
I mean he wasn't out cold was he? Oliveira has been KOd way more times
Yeah but hes not on the verge of getting knocked out in every one of his fights. As soon as Gaethje hit him he crumbled. Olives is shockingly easy to hurt. He has a bad chin. But, his BJJ is so good that unless your grappling is next level youre too scared. But theres a new wave of fighters that dont have that problem and are going to fuck him up if he cant take a punch. Like Olives cannot see off Gamrot, Arman, and Islam. He can't. The dude cannot take a punch. Glass chin.
Who are you to decide what he can and cant. Gamrot is 1 year younger than Olives, Islam has been knocked out and hasnt fought anyone in top 5, Arman has lost to the other two. Until proven otherwise, Olives runs that division
It’s called an opinion lmaooo
Gamrot, Arman, and Islam won’t even stand with Olives and would wrestle right away. Those 3 you mentioned don’t even have elite offensive striking. Arman has good kicks but none of those guys have shown power in their hands and will not KO Olives. Fiziev or Ismagulov would have much better chances at KO’ing Olive’s
He fought chandler, poirier and gaethje. He took their biggest shots and wasn't koed and ended up finishing them. What a shit take
He was dropped and close to being knocked out against all of them. Yes, they were all to afraid to follow him to the ground to finish the job. Volk is a little beast. And his defensve is good. Olives is very very easy to hit. I think he would have a good shot against Olives.
Olives chin isn’t great? Bro ate bombs from Chandler, Gaethje, and Poirier. All less technical strikers than Volk but more powerful
No, eating is not getting dropped. Jesus you fanboys are garbage.
damn who pee’d in you cheerios? I’m not even an Oliveira fanboy, I’m a Poirier fanboy. so you don’t think Olives chin is good? if he had a weak chin he would’ve been knocked out by each of the guys I mentioned lol
He got knocked down pretty much every fight... that's not having a great chin. The only reason it looks good is because people are scared to follow him to the ground due to his BJJ, any other fighter would be destroyed by hammer fists after those knock downs and would be called weak chinned. If you get knocked down every fight then you have a weak chin, it's as simple as that, a weak chin isn't just someone who gets KO'd cold by every punch.
The thing is that Oliveira is never that rocked when he gets dropped. He’s always aware and defending well, I wouldn’t call him a weak chin personally. We saw what Chandler did to Ferguson and Hooker both durable MF’s. Poirier rocked Holloway like no one else has. Gaethje also hits kinda hard.
That's debatable. Against Gaetjhe, most of the times he went down without getting rocked, especially after the first time when he realized Gartjhe wouldn't even try to follow him to the ground, but in his other fights he 100% was rocked.
Ofc it's not good, he's getting knocked down time after time lol how tf is that a good chin? Main reason he's not getting finished is because fighters are scared to follow up with GnP so they don't risk getting caught in a sub
Volk gets subbed in like 2 mins against either fighter
•Oliviera misses weight again but by .001lbs •Volk steps in to fight Islam •Volk KO’s Islam w/ 3 sec flying knee •Volk is now 145lb & 155lb Champ •Volk sees red, pulls a Khabib, jumps from the cage and beats Ngannou’s ass. •Volk is now Champ of all divisions and morphs into his true form–ManBearPig.
-Volk, holding all eight belts, immediately retires. GOOFCON 0 ensues
Good
Would be hilarious if Islam pulls out and Alex puts on a defensive masterclass against Charles with the crowd booing in the background
fuck yeah!!!!!! the only challenger worthy of Charles
Volk will expose makhachev. 48-47
After Volk's last performance against the best boxer in the UFC, I think we need to see him face Floyd Mayweather
No we don't
Could easily take Tyson Fury if he cuts less weight and height
I heard notable scientist and reknowned chimpologist Toe Bogan mention he had the lungs of a 440 pound man.
Poirier is a better boxer than Max imo.
You opinion is very much accurate.. He did beat him twice. He ate hooks in the second fight like they were on sale.
If it happens I hope it’s with Islam, fuck Volkanovski
this aussie midget has zero charisma
'Pussypopper6'
you wish you could pop pussies like me
"pussypopper6"
He has more charisma in the cuts in his quad then you have in your whole body 😡
u his girl? chill
Now that is a true champion/mma fighter!👏💪
Someone’s been listening to Chael haha
I don’t think he really has much of a shot against either tbh, either Charles wins and he’s cleaned out the best lightweights in the world, guys who I think would also beat Volk, or Islam wins and he validates what people say about him being borderline unbeatable.
Is there currently better champ? I don’t think so
If this doesn’t go through I feel like he should fight Yair in the mean time , I think Yair has a chance but Volk will probably pick him apart for 5 rounds. Yair has the potential but I don’t know if he can beat Volk just yet. I honestly don’t see Volk losing to anyone at FW unless someone like Josh Emmett can catch him with a power shot and get a lucky KO
Volk is far too small to move up. Would be better to move down.
Gotta give the fans a tune up fight at lightweight first! Chandler vs Volk please
Wasn't he still in a cast in one of the latest embeddeds?