This Ilia s*** surprises me. If he can’t make the weight anymore and it’s bad for his body then I’m happy he just vacated and moved up. But he left a lot on the table at 145, and funny enough I was just saying last week how excited I am for the top matchups we got at 145 to look forward to.

He had fights with Lopes, Movsar, and a rematch with Volk. I’d love all of those fights. Him moving up and now we got Alex vs Lopes just isn’t as exciting imo.

Hopefully Movsar gets the winner.

at least now my glorious king diego can get a belt

My best guess is that they are getting a stadium for Spain and want to put the biggest fight they can make there

I don't think Ilia really needed to vacate just to fight Islam but I guess they don't want any more interims at the moment

i think the ufc always wanted to make Islam vs Ilia at 55 since the division is in a strange spot with contenders

BUT they didnt want to give Ilia a chance at being double champ without him clearing his own division. Theres also just no way they would give Ilia a chance at 2 belts before Islam

So i think dana made ilia vacate in order to chase the belt at 55

I don’t know. If he really can’t make the weight and he can’t do it anymore then fine, but he’s forfeiting building that bigger legacy at 145 to chase 1 fight with Islam which might not go his way.

If he loses and tries to return to 145 he will face the same thing that guys like Israel and Volkanovski did. That weight cut back down always seems to f*** with guys and they aren’t the same after.

To me it’s just risky and a weird career move when you’re in your prime and your coming off of back to back wins over Max and Volk. Guys like Volk and Izzy tried moving up after they had 3-5 title defenses. Even tho they lost they had built up a legacy at their main weight.

Ilia hasn’t built that legacy yet and has just a single title defense. So if this Islam fight goes completely wrong for him, is he gonna panic and try to force another cut back down to 145? Again, that weight cut back down never ends well for anybody. That’s why you should build your legacy first and then be ABSOLUTELY sure when you finally move up. He’s just moving up way to early imo

I don't think he's going to try to go back to 145 tbh. I think he's at 155 to stay, win or lose

Make him fight pimblett on his 155 debut for the lolz

Soldic back

a stadium for spain

this s*** will be happening in new jersey brother

Sorry but i cant get hyped for a 37 year old pitbull

big hespect for illia giving up the title

Very risky. But I respect it.

Who yall got parker or bakole?

seattle crowd already hyped

mr vanzant

Why do boxing fights feel shorter than mma fights

he did that s***

this card

RICKY