Maybe 5 years ago Max vs Edgar and Max vs Mendes would have been interesting. I don't find those matchups to be interesting whatsoever today. I don't see either of them getting through Jose Aldo or Brian Ortega to get to Max. Yair is still very green. He's fortunate to be in the top 15. It seems Max could move up in weight, take a few fights, and move back down before Zabit is in a title fight.

There are so many more interesting fights for him at 155lbs and 155lbs is now the big money division. If he wants a big payday that's the place to be. Dana wants Max to move to 155lbs due to health reasons, but I'm guessing his tune would be different if the big fights were at 145lbs rather than 155lbs.

Edgar & Mendes are interesting because we haven't seen Max vs any top wrestlers in awhile. Yair just defeated Zombie, he's probably top 5 at 145 after that win, Zombie is no joke.

The problem with Max moving to 155 right now is that it's log jammed and for him to give up his belt for a non title fight equates to less money and no main event slot, that aspect of it makes no sense for Max.

Yeah Max is kinda stuck in a spot where there isnt really a super compelling fight for him @145 and 155 is so stacked at the top that he doesnt really jump to the front of the line. Even if Khabib/Conor get year long suspensions I would still lean towards Poirer or Lee fighting Tony for the belt/interim.

My guess is he fights Edgar or Moicano next and eventually moves up when 155 clears up and he can step right into a title shot.

I find it funny that people are so obsessed with title shots, as if titles really mean all that much these days. The UFC hands out titles like they are lollipops not to mention strips them just to sell other fights and often gives undeserving fighters title shots.

Who cares about title shots? Max certainly shouldn't. The winning two titles thing is pretty played out and when history looks back it people will realize it wasn't as great of an accomplishment as people made it out to be. Max has already cemented his legacy as an all time great. He should be looking for pay days and he matches up a lot better with fighters at 155lbs than McGregor does. There are all sorts of great fights for him there: Holloway vs McGregor, Holloway vs Ferguson, Holloway vs Nate, Holloway vs Cerrone, Holloway vs Gaethje (not to mention Max vs Khabib if Khabib continues fighting and Max does well at 155). Yet you'd rather see him vs lil Frankie and Mini-Mendes, despite the health risks for Holloway and the obvious mismatches on paper. Come on now.

Also, it should be noted that 2 of the 3 biggest UFC PPVs of all time were headlined by non-title fights. The biggest PPV of all time, Khabib vs McGregor would have been the biggest PPV of all time regardless of whether a title was on the line.

I see no point for Holloway to stay at 145, but could Holloway take the power from those 155ers? I haven't seen a lot of Holloway fights but that 3rd round last night got real dicey for him, I think CM/Ferg/and Nate would finish him in that spot.

Brian Ortega has a lot of power and he did land some strong shots on Holloway (even in round 1) and Holloway walked right through them.

I don't think it's reasonable to think Conor would do much of anything in the 3rd round or later. Conor has never finished an opponent beyond the 2nd round. Conor tends to fade the longer a fight goes while Max tends to get stronger late.

Nate is vastly overrated. He is like a poor man's version of Max. Nate is ranked in the top 10 but there are guys outside the top 15 that should be favored vs him. He has 3 wins in the last 6.5 years and only one of those was a quality win (vs Conor, who moved up from 145lbs to fight him at 170lbs). The other wins came vs Gray Maynard who has lost 6 of his last 8 including 5 in a row at LW, and the other was Michael Johnson who lost 4 of his last 5 fights at LW.

You realize their contracts are structured in a way that they make many times more money in title fights than in non title fights? No one is vacating a title to take a non title fight. The last time I can remember it happening was Conor and Nate and that was a special scenario where both fighters got paid more than title money.

Everything can and will be negotiated. Dana White wants Max to move up to 155lbs. When asked how much influence he has on whether Max moves up Dana replied emphatically "A lot."

If they move Max up they're going to make it worth it for him financially. It's not like he was making THAT much as FW champ. No clue what the PPV #s were for this Ortega fight but his PPV #s vs Aldo (twice) and Pettis in championship fights were quite terrible.

Maybe an Edgar fight is somewhat sell-able but it's not a very compelling matchup. A Mendes fight wouldn't really be marketable (casuals have mostly forgotten about him) and nobody even knows who Moicano is. Of course if Max gets a Conor fight it wouldn't even be in the same ballpark as his previous paydays.

I’m sure he would move up to fight Conor or Khabib but him moving up to fight Poirier or Kevin Lee for anything less than a title just isn’t very likely. Not only does a title fight mean money but if you win it guarantees another title fight.

A major Irish sports star is been investigated for an alleged rape in a Dublin City hotel....

He better not say he did nuttin'.

sometimes you are the worst but there are also times where you have gold

Oh come on Roy Keane has urges to fulfill too you know!

Sorry for being a dick at times. It's usually based in insecurity. That, or alcohol.

But then I repeat myself.

Poor Artem took yet another L

Dan Hooker's corner needs to be fired, they should've threw in the towel after the second, save your fighter from himself.

Yeah Hooker way too tough for his own good. Edson needed that one after the last 2 fights he had. Suprised Al took the main event, Im just really bad at picking fights.

lol

Really a bad look for Cormier to come out whining about this. Is he an expert on the testing? USADA has by far the most comprehensive drug testing program for professional athletes. If anything, they are too rigorous.

Yeah, I agree, if there's one person that looks bad in all this, it's DC...

I dont really follow athletic commission but from the small bits ive heard i have always felt like California commission was the best. They seem to have tried to take steps into making weight cutting safer. So i feel comfortable that them licensing Jones while Nevada wont is legit and nothing underhanded.

For selfish reasons im happy that they decided to move the card rather than cancelling the fight as its a fight im really looking forward to seeing.

DC wants to be remembered as the greatest and thats tough after going 0-2 against Jones so he likely sees tearing down Jones as a way of building himself up. Or it could just be some early promotion for the 3rd fight.

It's hard to trust anything that comes out of Jon Jones's mouth but if there is truth to what he said about half-assing the 1st Gus fight as well as any truth to him greatly improving his striking power then Jones is going to absolutely blow Gus out of the water in this fight and if that happens everyone will point to this test and say he was fighting dirty again.

So they are saying there is a leftover trace of a banned substance from 2017 still in JJ system?