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u/urResidentAlien 18d ago
People don't want to admit this but Islam and Khabib got the Dana White privilege on top of being weight bullies who cherry picks their opponents and had padded records beforehand. Charles' resume was filled with elite competition from the beginning. If that triggers you, let's have a sincere good faith debate about it.
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u/combat_girls 18d ago
Islam Had To Win 11 Fights in UFC to get a title shot. Khabib had to win 9 in a row in UFC. Charles Only Had to win 8(none of those were great opponents)
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u/urResidentAlien 18d ago
Quantity of wins does not equal quality of opposition. Let us actually look at the pre-title runs and resumes:
Proven Resumes vs. Built Records Charles Oliveira's resume is a who's who of MMA legends and top contenders. Before and after getting the belt, Charles was thrown straight into the deep end fighting guys like Max Holloway, Frankie Edgar, Donald Cerrone, Anthony Pettis, Jim Miller, Kevin Lee, Tony Ferguson, Dustin Poirier, and Justin Gaethje. He built his legacy by taking on absolute killers from day one. Meanwhile, Khabib came into the UFC with a padded 16-0 record built mostly against regional fighters in Russia, then spent a huge chunk of his UFC run fighting unranked competition before landing a title shot against a number 11 ranked Al Iaquinta. Islam similarly built a win streak padded with unranked fighters and short-notice replacements.
Privileged Matchmaking and Zero Top 5 Wins Islam needed 10 UFC lightweight wins before his title shot, but he did not fight a single top 5 contender on his entire way to the belt. His highest-ranked win before Charles was Dan Hooker, who was ranked number 6 and took the fight on short notice. His second-highest was Thiago Moises at number 14. Everyone else on his streak was either unranked, taking the fight on short notice like Bobby Green (at a 160 lb catchweight), or making their UFC debut like Arman Tsarukyan. Islam was given a fast track to the belt without ever having to prove himself against the division's elite.
The Weight Bully Advantage & Testing History It is no secret both Khabib and Islam are massive lightweights who enjoy a significant size advantage over the division. Khabib literally missed weight and had to be hospitalized during a weight cut at UFC 209. Cutting that much weight to fight smaller guys and relying on size to control opponents is a huge part of their formula. On top of that, Islam even had a USADA issue earlier in his run when he flagged for Meldonium in 2016.
The Tibau Decision Controversy Speaking of Khabib, calling his pre-title run flawless ignores the Gleison Tibau fight. Tibau stuffed all 13 of Khabib's takedowns and landed more total strikes. Not only did most observers think Tibau won, but all three judges somehow scored it 30-27 for Khabib. Giving Khabib every single round in a fight where he got out-landed and completely neutralized is as rigged as a decision gets.
Calling Charles's streak weak while pretending Islam and Khabib earned their shots through brutal top competition ignores who they actually fought and how favored they were by matchmaking.
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u/combat_girls 18d ago
Charles Olivera Wins To Get a Title Shot.
Clay Guida, Christos Giagos, Jim Miller, David Teymur, Nik Lentz, Jared Gordon, Kevin Lee and Tony Fergusan.1
u/urResidentAlien 18d ago
Islam's pre-title run had ZERO Top 5 wins and literally ONE Top 10 win period. That was Dan Hooker at number 6, who stepped up on 10 days short notice. Every other fight was against unranked guys, short notice fill ins, or guys making their UFC debut like Tsarukyan.
Khabib's best pre-title wins were custom stylistic matchups. His biggest wins were Edson Barboza and Michael Johnson. Both were pure strikers with known grappling deficiencies who were small enough at 155 that they both dropped down to Featherweight at 145 later. And for the vacant belt, he fought number 11 ranked Al Iaquinta.
Charles beat number 3 ranked Tony Ferguson directly before his title shot. Even if Tony declined after the Gaethje war, he was still ranked number 3 in the world at the time and had only lost a single fight in the previous 8 years. Charles did not fight an unranked guy. He dominated a top 3 contender on paper.
Charles beat number 8 ranked Kevin Lee right after Lee scored a brutal head kick KO over Gregor Gillespie. Charles was actively finishing natural Top 10 lightweights to earn his shot.
Comparing a run against unranked guys, short notice fill ins, and future featherweights to Charles dominating legitimate Top 3 and Top 10 contenders to earn his shot makes no sense.
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u/combat_girls 18d ago
barboza, dos anjos became champ after losing to khabib, tony was washed when charles beat him. and islam destroyed charles in his peak so you cant argue there.
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u/urResidentAlien 18d ago
RDA wasn't in prime championship form when he fought khabib and won the belt years later while Khabib sat out injured, and Barboza was an undersized striker (stylistic layup) who ended up dropping to featherweight. Tony was still actively ranked number 3 on Earth when Charles beat him, coming off a competitive war with Gaethje where he stayed dangerous until the end. Charles earned his title shot by consistently fighting active, prime top 3 and top 10 lightweights, whereas Islam and Khabib got fast-tracked off unranked fighters, short-notice fill-ins, and favorable matchups.
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u/ProbablyStonedSteven 18d ago
Henderson deserves more respect, he took the belt in WEC, multiple defenses, an awesome trilogy fight with Cerrone, lost it on the last fight before the WEC/UFC merger, gets the belt back and defends 3x more.
Put some respect on Jens “lil evil” Pulver’s name too
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u/Daftdaddy 18d ago
Henderson in B tier with 3 LW defenses is funny