Originally Posted by alnorth:
OK, it is now official. The main event will be a 5-round one-sided LW title bout between Khabib and Al Iaquinta. Only Khabib is eligible for the title if he wins.
Out of the options they had, this was the best/most interesting fight to make, I didn't think Felder or Pettis had a chance, but Iaquinta? Probably not, but he could get a KO.
Woof, what a let down. If I were Felder I'd be pissed at the commission. [Reply]
Kinda weird they're touting rankings as a thing now but only the title is on the line for Khabib.....couldn't have just made the same fight with Felder?
Should've been Ortega instead of Holloway to begin with and we wouldn't even be in this mess... [Reply]
lol.... Its weekends like this which remind us that MMA is both one of the greatest, and one of the dumbest sports.
We got one last bit of hilarity. Officially, according to the athletic commission and according to the UFC, this is a one-sided title fight and only Khabib is eligible.
Unofficially.... Dana White just flat-out announced that if Al Iaquinta wins, then the title will be vacant, and the promotion has the right to award the title rather than put it up to be contested, and at that point they would promote Iaquinta to champion. (like they did with Aldo and Rousey when UFC bought strikeforce, the UFC just promoted them to champion) So if Khabib wins, he immediately becomes the champion. If Al wins, as far as the state is concerned no one wins the title, but the UFC will wrap a shiny gold belt around his waist and the day after the UFC will strip Conor, declare the belt vacant, promote Al to champion, and give him the vacant title.
Dana justified this by saying that if Al had weighed in without his underwear, maybe he would have made 155, and even if not he would have made it with like 10 minutes in the sauna. And he's right, so... sure, ok.
edit: lol, Dana also said that the UFC actually weighed Al's underwear, and it was 0.2 pounds. [Reply]
Dana also announced that, and this is not a guarantee, but their current thinking is that the winner between Miocic and Cormier (who would then be HW champ) could fight Brock Lesnar in a HW title fight.
Originally Posted by alnorth:
Dana also announced that, and this is not a guarantee, but their current thinking is that the winner between Miocic and Cormier (who would then be HW champ) could fight Brock Lesnar in a HW title fight.