Kinda surprised Mighty Mouse turned down the TJ fight. Seems like he wants an easy win to break the record.

On one hand I do think it's better to have him break the record then move up to 135 as the man win the longest title defense streak in UFC history. On the other... ducking TJ is pretty weak.

why would he fight TJ? he said in his last post-fight interview that he's looking for superfights and big paydays now, and that ain't it.

he's so good, he should be able to call out whoever he wants tbqh. TJ isn't even a champion anymore, and never was a big ppv seller iirc

I agree, except I don't think he is ducking TJ. He has a personal goal that he has voiced exactly the same for years. Being a thoughtful achiever with great focus is the key to his success, and also one of several drivers of how uninteresting he is.

MM said he'd fight anyone for a mil, it seems like the only logical fight for him unless he thinks he can get Cody before TJ. So likely just negotiation tactics.

TJ was going to drop down and fight for the FLW title. It wasn't about MM moving up. MM said TJ needs to get a win at FLW first, but come on TJ is by far a better challenger than anyone else at FLW.

Oh my bad. I guess he is ducking which really would be dumb, or negotiating as stated above which isn't as dumb. Nobody cares about that record as much as he does imo.

It's probably the only thing keeping him at #1 p4p too, which has always had a ring to it.

If he cant get paid now, imagine what it's like if TJ KOs him or something.

Can't blame him. Matchmaking is completely broken right now.

ya that does make more sense, if TJ is dropping down

i rly rly think he needs to angle for more money somehow in his next fight, dude is woefully underpaid and underappreciated

Lol at TJs drained-at-135 ass even making 125. Let's say he does and wins, he immediately vacates and MM is champ again?

What a ****show. Cruz v. TH for the interim belt plz, enough with the Fancy Matchmaking Syndrome

While nobody really cares about the record now, it should help with promoting him.

As I said before I think him just beating the record against whoever and then moving up to 135 to face TJ vs Cody winner is a lot more promotable after he's the longest reigning champion in history.

I actually prefer him to just beat some bum and then move up, instead of TJ dropping down.

Still looks bad turning down the fight though.

How could TJ not be deserving of going down a weight class to fight for the title but DJ is deserving of going up a weight class to fight for title?

Really?

2 fight win streak vs 12 fight win streak & champion. Plus DJ has already fought for the BW title before and was a top 5 guy there before FLW was made.

That said I think obv TJ deserves it.

I see DJ side though. TJ moving down at fighting is a huge test, and he likely won't get any more money for it. It's not like DJ vs TJ is gonna do 300k+ ppv buys. Plus TJ has never made the weight before, maybe DJ wants to see him make it first. I'm sure if he won a lot of people would say the weight cut killed TJ.

My point is that if TJ is supposed to be fighting for a belt at a higher weight class, DJ thinking that TJ is undeserving of coming down in weight to fight for the belt should at least apply to himself going up in weight to fight for a belt (regardless of who's won more fights in past).

The recent posts are a little contradictory and confusing. In the past, DJ offered to move up to 135 but he wanted a big payday for it. UFC was not interested. DJ stopped talking about moving up a while ago, I'm guessing he's accepted the fact they aren't going to give him any upfront bonuses.

I don't read DJ's tweet as him ducking, I think he's just trolling TJ a little bit. If Dana wanted to make the fight I don't believe for a second that DJ would attempt to get out of it. I don't even think champs are contractually allowed to turn down certain opponents. They can decline to fight but they can't avoid someone. If Dana really wanted to make the TJ fight, and MM refused, Dana would just wait 6 months and then do an interim title with TJ and someone else.

First: I personally think dj is in the convo for pfp goat.

I don't think his win streak/record on it's own makes that so though. Especially recently, the pool he owns is shallow. I think he is demonstrating superior fighting in those fights, goat level skills, but against non-contenders so the show is worth more than the result of the fight. .

The undefeated thing may be a nice soundbite for hyping him to casuals whenever and however they get him an interesting opponent, but I don't think crushing another can will change his standing in anyone else's eyes the same way beating the **** out of a known name who drops or moving up and taking another belt will. If/when that happens the win streak will just be another thing in the trophy case, anyway.

Reference, Ronda's win streak relevance. Bisping's record. Conor's relevance with zero defenses and a recent loss.

I never watch TUF but I've found this season to be pretty enjoyable.

The Redemption angle is cool and guarantees most fights will be legit. I can't help but feel a little guilty that the UFC has found a way to pay guys already on their roster even less tho.

Cody vs TJ is quality beef because Cody is like a guard dog who remembers the urgency of their beef every time it's brought back up. He just loses it and it doesn't seem that put on to me. I'm also starting to like TJ - he is pretty composed and mostly let's Alpha Male embarrass themselves getting worked up about how he's a traitor. That's how I see it anyways.

The Ludwig vs Buccholz beef this ep was so awkward and uncomfortable tho.

justin buchholz seems like a huge clown

Yeh there's a lot of ego on team Alpha Male

Buccholz telling Ludwig they should fight on the prelims (of TJ v Cody) made me facepalm.

Why it's a such a big deal to Alpha Male is beyond me, but doubling down on ***** mode afterwards is making them look twice as bad. TJ is owning this season, winning all the fights in and out of the cage.

I've kind had the feeling that I've missed something somewhere as I can't really understand the big issue. A coach left to start his own gym and one of the team left to go with him. Hardly high treason. People leave jobs for better prospects all the time. It just seems so petty and childish.

Still, good series so far imo.

I don't really care about the drama but the basic premis is this from what I gather.

TAM worked with tj during his rise to champ including Uriah mentoring tj from an early age. They are a bunch of uber bros who like loads of other hyper masculine dudes create artificial loyalty standards. Military, sports teams, frats, cops, gangs. Standard family replacement.

Ludwig came to TAM and was given a job, arguably having an outsized effect on the team's results. He and tj hit it off. Ludwig wanted to start his own gym and left on somewhat salty terms with Uriah. Tj wanted to train half in Colorado, half in sac, and once he got the belt there was more value to his name for marketing the gym he belonged to. He had some sponsorship $ potential with bangs gym.

This part is my interpretation from their mean girl arguments, but I believe tj said he wanted to train at both gyms because he wanted the $ and liked working with bang, Uriah said he could do that but he wasn't really a "TAM member" if he was only there half time. tj took that opportunity to interpret that as he was being kicked off the team and out of the gym which allowed him to go to bang's gym full time which he really wanted. Cue full on ***** mode from all these babies who really are only concerned with what part of the profit they deserve for what they put into his career. Just a business deal gone sour with lots of dumb dudes involved.

Now add the fact that drama is promoted in the UFC and especially on their reality show and you get a bunch of sack of hammer intellect goons trying to make a fight more interesting with terrible **** talking. They are not only allowed to do this **** by the producers, it is encouraged.

Pretty much everyone at TAM is a scumbag. Only decent people were TJ & Benavidez and both left. Well Chad seems kinda cool too I guess.

They do seem like standard douches, but I have a buddy who is on the kid's wrestling circuit with his son and has interacted with them quite a bit along with D.C. And Tito Ortiz and he thinks pretty highly of them in terms of what they give to the kids etc. I suppose that doesn't preclude them from being scum bags.

TJ and Benavidez seem cut from the same general cloth as the rest of those cats from my observation. Buncha stereotypical jocks.