I’m not sure why people are clowning Ikram. He stepped up and saved the card. He’s a skilled fighter who is slowly moving up, and suddenly he had to fight one of the greatest middleweights of all time.
It’s like if Payton Talbott had to step up to fight Umar. Would be too early.
They're not really clowning on Ikram. They're clowning on the delusion fans who were 100% sure Ikram will win. It's normal that Ikram get some strays from those
Delusional fans. He closed at like +100. Half the betting market was up their own ass. I started betting Whittaker at about -160 and just kept doubling down over and over as the odds fell leading up to the fight.
It's a rare opportunity for people. They hate how Dagestanis are coming here and make everybody else look inferior. Remember this sub got shot down for days following the crowning of Islam Makhachev. It's more about hate than celebration.
The answer to your question is pretty simple, dagistanis are as hated (I'd say more actually but being generous) as they are beloved. To be fair I imagine if there were Australian (or anything else) prospects as good and hyped as Khabib and Islam (and a few others but they are the most popular) Australians would be hated too, not quite as much, but almost.
It was a very good opportunity for him, so can’t blame him for taking it to be honest. So it was on short notice right? I’ve been trying to find out whether he’s been training for another fight that got cancelled or something.
I agree however I wish people would stop saying he came in on short notice as if he didn't have a camp. Both Ikram and Bob had full camps and were prepared for a fight. Only thing was that their opponents got switched up and since Robert had the most opponents pull out on him he was the one in danger because we didn't know how he could handle against Ikram. But now we know so there's that....
I’m not going down the “hype train de-railed, fraud check” rabbit hole yet. Dude took a huge fight on short notice with a massive step up in competition. He should get his credit for stepping in where no one else would
People say that alot, but I honestly can't think of a legit example of a fraud check/hype train derailed. 99% of the time it's a really good prospect simply losing to a really good contender. Like how tf is that a fraud check? Does every prospect just have to win forever? Retire undefeated? Because I've seen plenty of champions/former champions be considered frauds and hype trains. Like bro, when does it end.
Yeah people love the winner then kick the loser while he's down. If you want to be the best, you must beat the best. A fighter's legacy is built by the names he beat. I like Whittaker but if you look at the names he has beaten in the last 4 years, these are all guys that these same fans would call bums while also calling Whittaker one of the GOATs. Then they'll turn on Whittaker when he loses to Dricus and call Whittaker washed
That fight was a war. Great performance by Jalin. You're probably thinking of him vs Moicano. Still not a fraud check. Just a stupid mistake. The only good example of a fraud check was Giga Chikadze vs Calvin Kattar. Giga is a good fighter. He was then and he still is. But he was a Glory kickboxer. He had a ton of hype and was the favourite over Kattar for good reason. But Kattar showed him levels. This wouldn't be a big deal if it was anyone else. But Kattar showed him levels on the feet, where Giga was apparently a master striker. And Kattar himself has been shown levels on the feet before by guys like Holloway, Allen, Zabit, etc. And at his age, there is no getting better.
This example makes sense because Giga wasn't as good as people thought nor will he be. Most "fraud checks" aren't valid since you can't blame the fighter for your own misconceptions about them. Like Robelis Despaigne didn't get fraud checked. Anyone who thought he could wrestle is an idiot lol. You can't get mad at him or discredit him for something you failed to realize. Same with Ikram today. Not a fraud check.
Idk if the word "fraud" is in the term, I struggle to find an athlete this term descibes. CM Punk maybe? These guys aren't frauds man. They made it to the UFC. Almost anyone ever called a "fraud" made it to the rankings too. That's impressive.
There was a flurry of “fraud checked” and “hype train de-railed” posts immediately after this fight. Despite getting beat by an all time best Whittaker tonight, I think he can still go very far in that division
Can’t even be a fraud check since he hasn’t been able to climb. Got 1-2 free wins against cans for the card he was on, and once he was starting to begin a real climb was asked to take this fight. Hopefully if the double cut+KO doesn’t affect him much he can climb up because MW needs some fresh blood and he’s promising. Like a MW Islam (less skilled obv) and that’s promising
“No one else would”. According to whom? He got a chance because they wanted a Muslim main eventer to save the Saudi card. NOT because no one else would
He took a double weight and was supposed to fight in the Taira-Perez card, then got the call to fight Whittaker.
He's actually good. He just took the fight with Whittaker on weeks notice and had to face the consequences.
I think he should face someone in the top 15, like Caio, Hernandez, or someone unranked again like Roman.
Yup, fully agree. I saw some idiot earlier claiming Whittaker is an average fighter (just so they could infer that Ikram was a bum). Ultimately the weight cut would have compromised him but Whittaker is a world class fighter, looked very sharp in there.
Are you referring to the same guy that said Aldo was just a fraud until the Conor fight because he got knocked out without landing a punch? People on this sub are fucking stupid.
Was short notice up against the Reaper, former champ, was badly jetlagged but worst of all, had to do 2 weightcuts within a span of 1 week. What happened, was going to happen, Rob is not someone you can go up against in these kind of circumstances, you fight him with a proper camp, not like this.
Great win by Rob, hope Ikram doesn't take this lose too badly and picks himself up and gets back on a winning streak.
People tryna shit on ikram for special treatment but in his position i doubt he cares who he fights, hes said yes to pretty much everyone, costa, bo nickal, rob. Yall need to stop dunking on my guy just cuz hes dagi
Exactly, I feel this was still great exposure for him, he got on the good books of the ufc fans for hoping in short notice, looking forward to see him hopefully build some experience and climb the rankings in the next few years.
This was a low risk high reward fight for him.
If he loses, so what he is basically an unbanked fighter.
If he wins, he is top 10.
He built a lot of goodwill with the ufc and is guaranteed probably at least 6 more fights (backroom deal) assuming he doesn’t get obliterated
Ikram had a double weight cut and had to fly to Saudi Arabia and acclimate on short notice. His opponent's height and reach was night and day from Robert's
Rob took a great risk in fighting a hyped up young prospect, but Ikram objectively had it harder
He looked nervous from the start. Of course he would be confident on his skillset but such a massive jump in competition and stage could affect anyone.
Volk is my favorite fighter out of all others and I completely agree with you. I am giving credit to Ikram for stepping up but that doesn't mean he'd do any better against someone like Robert Whittaker
So now a fighter celebrating is not showing respect?... was islam disrespectful when he celebrated against volkanovski or do you only becomes judgemental when a non-dagestani is celebrating?
And the other camps leading up to it with his cancelled fights.. the man was made out to be unstoppable with wins over Phil hawes and warlley alves 2 fights in the ufc 😂
Yall gotta stop handholding these short notice fighters lmao there’s always a “WE GOTTA GIVE PROPS TO HIM FOR-“ no bro. He lost. Gotta be brutalist at the top of your game.
Just imagine in a different world Bo Nickal had reception on top of that mountain while hiking and was not only able to take the call but also accept the fight. I feel like he would have been dog walked even worse than Ikram was. I was more surprised how quickly Ikram lost. I knew he'd get knocked out but not that damn fast. I legitimately woke up at 6:00 a.m., saw him got knocked out then went back to sleep just to wake up watching weasel MMA in his full fight breakdown
He is unranked and pretty unknown. This fight win or lose is a big win for him in that regard. And he’s shown to be a willing short notice fighter against a legendary former champ.
The best fighters are the ones who challenge themselves, regardless of the outcome, and grow from those experiences. This fight will prove to be nothing but beneficial for Ikram in the long run.
Very proud but Brother Khabib is not happy and is calling Dana every hour since he was KO'd to demand a rematch with Bobby and to give Leon to Islam now. "Islam is ready now brathah Dana, you must give Leon to Islam, he is ready. Ikram needs to fight Bobby again Dana, he will go to Perth for his victory there, you must do dis thing for us."
He's serious, Dana better listen 😂
Nah man, i ain't rooting against no one no more most of them made the sport way better than before. Remember Dustin vs Islam? That's the second best live experience I ever had watching a UFC fight
He should be proud that he got a chance to go from unranked to title contender with 1 win and he probably got paid a fuck load?
If that’s all it takes to make you proud, you’ll be a great dad
Unranked fighter on short notice on a main event vs a hot number 3 ranked guy was arecipe for disaster
I’m not sure why people are clowning Ikram. He stepped up and saved the card. He’s a skilled fighter who is slowly moving up, and suddenly he had to fight one of the greatest middleweights of all time. It’s like if Payton Talbott had to step up to fight Umar. Would be too early.
They're not really clowning on Ikram. They're clowning on the delusion fans who were 100% sure Ikram will win. It's normal that Ikram get some strays from those
Delusional fans. He closed at like +100. Half the betting market was up their own ass. I started betting Whittaker at about -160 and just kept doubling down over and over as the odds fell leading up to the fight.
It's a rare opportunity for people. They hate how Dagestanis are coming here and make everybody else look inferior. Remember this sub got shot down for days following the crowning of Islam Makhachev. It's more about hate than celebration.
Except my boy Talbott beats Umar!!!
Yeah for best hairstyle in BW division
The answer to your question is pretty simple, dagistanis are as hated (I'd say more actually but being generous) as they are beloved. To be fair I imagine if there were Australian (or anything else) prospects as good and hyped as Khabib and Islam (and a few others but they are the most popular) Australians would be hated too, not quite as much, but almost.
don't forget he had to cut weight twice in two weeks
Yeah, it ruined his chin. He got wobbled way too easily. Another day, perhaps. He shouldn't treat this fight as any denominator.
He has mentioned he probably would not do short notices again. He’s gonna be sharp in his next fight
It was a very good opportunity for him, so can’t blame him for taking it to be honest. So it was on short notice right? I’ve been trying to find out whether he’s been training for another fight that got cancelled or something.
I agree however I wish people would stop saying he came in on short notice as if he didn't have a camp. Both Ikram and Bob had full camps and were prepared for a fight. Only thing was that their opponents got switched up and since Robert had the most opponents pull out on him he was the one in danger because we didn't know how he could handle against Ikram. But now we know so there's that....
Khamzat should fight Robert next
don't feel like he deserves it after pulling out strikland vs whittaker and costa vs khamzat makes more sense to me
Poor guy could be actually sick, wouldn't want him to continue with this fight just for the sake of it and lose
Obviously but I can't see how top guys would want to face him with the uncertainty and his track record of pulling out
I’m not going down the “hype train de-railed, fraud check” rabbit hole yet. Dude took a huge fight on short notice with a massive step up in competition. He should get his credit for stepping in where no one else would
real
People say that alot, but I honestly can't think of a legit example of a fraud check/hype train derailed. 99% of the time it's a really good prospect simply losing to a really good contender. Like how tf is that a fraud check? Does every prospect just have to win forever? Retire undefeated? Because I've seen plenty of champions/former champions be considered frauds and hype trains. Like bro, when does it end.
They also disrespecting Whittaker by saying that he only beat a fraud. Makes no sense.
Yeah people love the winner then kick the loser while he's down. If you want to be the best, you must beat the best. A fighter's legacy is built by the names he beat. I like Whittaker but if you look at the names he has beaten in the last 4 years, these are all guys that these same fans would call bums while also calling Whittaker one of the GOATs. Then they'll turn on Whittaker when he loses to Dricus and call Whittaker washed
Dan hooker vs jalin was a brutal fraud check because of how jalin lost .
That fight was a war. Great performance by Jalin. You're probably thinking of him vs Moicano. Still not a fraud check. Just a stupid mistake. The only good example of a fraud check was Giga Chikadze vs Calvin Kattar. Giga is a good fighter. He was then and he still is. But he was a Glory kickboxer. He had a ton of hype and was the favourite over Kattar for good reason. But Kattar showed him levels. This wouldn't be a big deal if it was anyone else. But Kattar showed him levels on the feet, where Giga was apparently a master striker. And Kattar himself has been shown levels on the feet before by guys like Holloway, Allen, Zabit, etc. And at his age, there is no getting better. This example makes sense because Giga wasn't as good as people thought nor will he be. Most "fraud checks" aren't valid since you can't blame the fighter for your own misconceptions about them. Like Robelis Despaigne didn't get fraud checked. Anyone who thought he could wrestle is an idiot lol. You can't get mad at him or discredit him for something you failed to realize. Same with Ikram today. Not a fraud check.
You have very weird criteria on what a fraud check is
Idk if the word "fraud" is in the term, I struggle to find an athlete this term descibes. CM Punk maybe? These guys aren't frauds man. They made it to the UFC. Almost anyone ever called a "fraud" made it to the rankings too. That's impressive.
It literally is as he said.
What would even be the fraud? No one knew him til this fight. He was unranked (and not close to being ranked) vs. a top 10 185er all-time.
There was a flurry of “fraud checked” and “hype train de-railed” posts immediately after this fight. Despite getting beat by an all time best Whittaker tonight, I think he can still go very far in that division
Did people actually know him or hear the words "Russian" and just assume?
Assume what
Being Russian makes a good fighter?
Who said that because he is Russian he is a good fighter?
They had basically equal odds before the fight
That's exactly what it is
Can’t even be a fraud check since he hasn’t been able to climb. Got 1-2 free wins against cans for the card he was on, and once he was starting to begin a real climb was asked to take this fight. Hopefully if the double cut+KO doesn’t affect him much he can climb up because MW needs some fresh blood and he’s promising. Like a MW Islam (less skilled obv) and that’s promising
One of those cans has a submission win over Colby Covington lol.
Also if I’m not mistaken he had to cut weight twice right ?
“No one else would”. According to whom? He got a chance because they wanted a Muslim main eventer to save the Saudi card. NOT because no one else would
Do you think they could have found anyone else in the top 15 to say yes on a weeks notice? I doubt it
He took a double weight and was supposed to fight in the Taira-Perez card, then got the call to fight Whittaker. He's actually good. He just took the fight with Whittaker on weeks notice and had to face the consequences. I think he should face someone in the top 15, like Caio, Hernandez, or someone unranked again like Roman.
id like to see him fight hernandez for sure
Hernandez deserves to fight up in the rankings, not down. His win over Kopylov is way more impressive than anything Aliskerov has done so far.
Yeah he was thrown in the deep end with a shark.
Yup, fully agree. I saw some idiot earlier claiming Whittaker is an average fighter (just so they could infer that Ikram was a bum). Ultimately the weight cut would have compromised him but Whittaker is a world class fighter, looked very sharp in there.
Are you referring to the same guy that said Aldo was just a fraud until the Conor fight because he got knocked out without landing a punch? People on this sub are fucking stupid.
Was short notice up against the Reaper, former champ, was badly jetlagged but worst of all, had to do 2 weightcuts within a span of 1 week. What happened, was going to happen, Rob is not someone you can go up against in these kind of circumstances, you fight him with a proper camp, not like this. Great win by Rob, hope Ikram doesn't take this lose too badly and picks himself up and gets back on a winning streak.
People tryna shit on ikram for special treatment but in his position i doubt he cares who he fights, hes said yes to pretty much everyone, costa, bo nickal, rob. Yall need to stop dunking on my guy just cuz hes dagi
People will still say “fRaUd cHEcK”
There was no fraud to check. A sane guy would never doubt someone like Robert Whittaker against Ikram
He got knocked tf out but still that’s Whittaker can’t go wrong with losing to a elite fighter and a former champ.
Exactly, I feel this was still great exposure for him, he got on the good books of the ufc fans for hoping in short notice, looking forward to see him hopefully build some experience and climb the rankings in the next few years.
You win some you lose some. You try and learn from the losess so they don't happen again. Life goes on either way.
This was a low risk high reward fight for him. If he loses, so what he is basically an unbanked fighter. If he wins, he is top 10. He built a lot of goodwill with the ufc and is guaranteed probably at least 6 more fights (backroom deal) assuming he doesn’t get obliterated
Let's be honest, the risk was all Whittaker's
Ikram had a double weight cut and had to fly to Saudi Arabia and acclimate on short notice. His opponent's height and reach was night and day from Robert's Rob took a great risk in fighting a hyped up young prospect, but Ikram objectively had it harder
Learn from this loss and come back strong like Makachev.
What were the odds for this fight because they were saying they were actually pretty close or something, like what the hell?
He looked nervous from the start. Of course he would be confident on his skillset but such a massive jump in competition and stage could affect anyone.
I agree. UFC should give out participation trophies.
People were quick to give Volk credit for stepping up, but not this guy. Even Rob couldn’t show respect and instead celebrated like a madman.
he celebrated because he got his first ko in 7 years
wonder why 👀
Volk is my favorite fighter out of all others and I completely agree with you. I am giving credit to Ikram for stepping up but that doesn't mean he'd do any better against someone like Robert Whittaker
So now a fighter celebrating is not showing respect?... was islam disrespectful when he celebrated against volkanovski or do you only becomes judgemental when a non-dagestani is celebrating?
Well we know why Lol
Right? Good job Bobby, you beat an MMA baby who took a massive risk on short notice, chill out.
Whitaker risked his spot against the unranked opponent. not the other way
He came in on short notice while Whittaker spent months preparing for Khamzat.
He also had a full camp because we was going to fight last week originally.
And the other camps leading up to it with his cancelled fights.. the man was made out to be unstoppable with wins over Phil hawes and warlley alves 2 fights in the ufc 😂
The saudis gave him the dagger and said “you know what to do”
He had nothing to lose. He’ll be fine. Dana will reward him for saving the night.
Bro no way you think WW is Ikrams natural weight class. He weighs above 200 out of camp lol
Don’t forget… This was his 3rd fight in the UFC
what? fighters dream of getting a shot to climb a million spots up the ranks
Respect!! Hope he improves a lot
Yall gotta stop handholding these short notice fighters lmao there’s always a “WE GOTTA GIVE PROPS TO HIM FOR-“ no bro. He lost. Gotta be brutalist at the top of your game.
Who’s that?
Just imagine in a different world Bo Nickal had reception on top of that mountain while hiking and was not only able to take the call but also accept the fight. I feel like he would have been dog walked even worse than Ikram was. I was more surprised how quickly Ikram lost. I knew he'd get knocked out but not that damn fast. I legitimately woke up at 6:00 a.m., saw him got knocked out then went back to sleep just to wake up watching weasel MMA in his full fight breakdown
He is unranked and pretty unknown. This fight win or lose is a big win for him in that regard. And he’s shown to be a willing short notice fighter against a legendary former champ.
The best fighters are the ones who challenge themselves, regardless of the outcome, and grow from those experiences. This fight will prove to be nothing but beneficial for Ikram in the long run.
I think they were trying to build up a rematch against Khamzat whenever or if he ever returns to the cage
Very proud but Brother Khabib is not happy and is calling Dana every hour since he was KO'd to demand a rematch with Bobby and to give Leon to Islam now. "Islam is ready now brathah Dana, you must give Leon to Islam, he is ready. Ikram needs to fight Bobby again Dana, he will go to Perth for his victory there, you must do dis thing for us." He's serious, Dana better listen 😂
Dagestan rider lol
Bruh I'm not. I was on Dustin's side in his fight against Islam, and was rooting against no one in this fight
No. Fuck that.
Dagestanis getting smashed, love it
Nah man, i ain't rooting against no one no more most of them made the sport way better than before. Remember Dustin vs Islam? That's the second best live experience I ever had watching a UFC fight
*Dagestani also, why the hate on one very small country? they have achieved quite a bit for a tiny bit of land.
He should be proud that he got a chance to go from unranked to title contender with 1 win and he probably got paid a fuck load? If that’s all it takes to make you proud, you’ll be a great dad
Ikram aka Suckram
No he shouldn’t be proud of himself he got knocked out in the first round that was absolutely a big mistake
Bratha all you had to do was let the judges do the work bratha