So Ilia is either fighting Gaethje, Fiziev or Paddy next.
I hope it's Fiziev or Gaethje.
I think Ilia brutalizes him in a rematch and that's why Gaethje is so hell-bent on refusing the rematch.
Man says "I broke him". So... why not do it again?
Man said "It was easier than expected and I made him quit."
Ignoring the success Ilia had, even almost finishing him. Ilia didn't quit on the stool, his corner (brother) threw in the towel, after Ilia said "Uno mas" which means 'One more' because there was 1 round left.
Ilia has made 0 excuses for this loss, even made a nice video dedicated to his son, while every time Gaethje lost.. it was an excuse.
I get Gaethje only ever wanted to be champion.. but please don't go the Islam route, where you pick and choose the easiest opponent after you win the title...
Ilia or Arman make the most sense at lw, since Arman is booked... we have a clear passage to Ilia.
If you're gonna talk about a fight was easy or you don't need to run it back...
Watch dc vs stipe 1. Dc after the eyepoke got the knock out. Ran from stipe, refused to rematch him, while also claiming the fight was easy and no reason to run it back..
Then in the 2nd fight, dc spent 3 rounds gouging at stipe's eyes.. who ended up knocking him out, then beating him again, showing the loss was a fluke.
Gaethje is worried that if he loses to ilia in a rematch.. people won't acknowledge his title reign, they will see it as a fluke and a lucky night, instead of an actual win, the win will have an asterisk, which is why he wants an easy opponent or one he can defend against, to legitimize it in his mind. (He is a champion.. just matters what kind of champion you'll be, will you be like islam and pick and choose? Or will you be like Goat Jones, Silva, GSP, Aldo.. People who fought any and everyone in their division during their title reign?)
Either way, lightweight is either going to be really boring.. like it was from 2016-2021. And 2022-2025. (Some good fights yes, but Conor and khabib both basically held that title hostage, then islam also came and held it hostage and refused to fight actual contenders), or really really fun, if we can get back to 2 defenses at least a year...
If you're cutting that much weight that you can only fight once a year.. move the fuck up then.