I feel like every time Islam Makhachev fights, I say that this should be his toughest fight yet and should finally face some resistance. He then proceeds to go out and absolutely dominate his opponent with virtually no resistance at all and this time was no different. With respect to Bobby Green, I do wish we could have seen Beneil Dariush in that spot. I think we all have a great deal of respect for Bobby Green, but, especially on 10 days notice, he wasn't on the level of Islam Saturday night. I thought he would use his unique style and natural skills to give Makhachev a different look and at least give him something to deal with, but he didn't. Islam walked him down, threw him to the ground, and pounded him out like it was nothing. This was the same Bobby Green that Nasrat Haqparast couldn't even touch just a couple weeks ago. I like to address the performances within the article now, so I'll leave the intro there.
Islam Makhachev was about as good as he could've been on Saturday. He took virtually no damage and dispatched of Bobby Green as quickly as he could have without being reckless. Every time we see him, he seems more and more comfortable striking and that is something to keep an eye on. At some point, he's going to have to stand and strike with someone for at least an extended stretch. Even 2, 3, or 4 minutes of striking is going to be interesting to see whenever that time comes for Islam. Now, incase you're new here, I am not an expert in technique. I've never trained any martial art of any kind. Everything I know is from just watching and listening to the broadcast and some fighters YouTube channels and content like that. Watching Islam Makhachev do what he does can only be compared to his mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov. It is honestly almost like Islam knows something that no one else does. If you watch the whole card, you'll see guys working and struggling to just get a single takedown. Islam almost effortlessly gets Bobby Green against the cage, drags him down, transitions to mount and just reigns down the strikes until Herb Dean has no choice but to stop the fight. At this point, I have stopped thinking "how many guys can beat Islam Makhachev?" and instead transitioned to "how many guys even have a chance to compete with Islam Makhachev?" Of course, those men exist, but there's really not many out there. The fight didn't really last long enough for me to have any more to say about Islam's performance than that. He did exactly what we expected him to do in about as little time as possible.
What comes next for Islam has become a point of debate on social media in the days since the fight. I honestly don't really know why either. I do understand that Islam Makhachev doesn't have the most bullet proof resume, but we aren't making this decision in a vacuum. For those who are saying that Islam hasn't earned the title shot, what does that exactly mean to you? There isn't necessarily a check list that someone needs to complete in order to "earn" the title shot because everything happens within the context of the division. Fights can only be booked based on what is available to the promotion at the time. If you are someone who believes that Islam hasn't done enough, that's fine, but the division has to continue to progress. Charles Oliveira will defend his title in early May against Justin Gaethje. Whoever is the champion coming out of that fight will need to continue defending their title. If you don't want Islam to get that title fight, then you must provide someone else who is more deserving. I don't think that fighter exists right now. Dariush has basically the same resume as Islam right now, so while he may be equal, it definitely isn't obviously better. The winner of Rafael Dos Anjos vs Rafael Fiziev this weekend? I mean sure, but I still don't see how either is more qualified than Islam right now. A lot of the same people who are complaining about Islam getting a title shot are the same people screaming for Khamzat Chimaev to fight Kamaru Usman. Makhachev should and likely will be fighting for the title next and I think that is the right way to go.
As for Bobby Green, I don't think he really loses anything here. No one thought he should have been competing inside the top of the division. He stepped up on short notice to save the event and he got to have his name out there and get all the love he's earned for an entire career's work. He got overwhelmed by Islam Makhachev and there's really no way around it. I did say in my preview that he needed to find a way to get off to a good start and somehow impose his will on Islam. He couldn't get backed up against the cage, but unfortunately, he was unable to do so. Like I said in the preview, Bobby Green isn't a poor wrestler. He had a takedown defense of 72% going into the fight and while that isn't outstanding, it is still pretty good. Clearly, Islam Makhachev's takedowns are just not in the same category as Green ended up on his back both quickly and easily. He had that one moment where he might have had a sliver of a chance to get up where he tried to slide out the back from underneath Islam, but after that was shut down, the fight was basically over. He was mounted and Islam was just going to keep throwing shots until the fight was over. I know Green wasn't taking a ton of damage and he had his guard up, but he wasn't going anywhere. Maybe Herb could've let it go a little longer, but nothing would have changed. Bobby Green would keep turning from his back to his stomach and getting hit on his hands for another couple minutes. He wasn't getting up and there was no reason for that fight to continue any longer. I do wish we could have gotten to see Bobby use some of his skills though, just to see how Islam would have dealt with the speed and quickness, but here we are. There's no shame in this loss and I hope to see Bobby pick back up with the level of competition that he left off at.
With that said, who do we think should be next for Bobby Green? If it was up to me, I would look to treat his next fight as if the Islam fight didn't happen. His last appearance was against Nasrat Haqparast, who is somewhere between 16-25 in the division in my estimation. I think the next opponent for Green should also be somewhere in that tier, but closer to the rankings. Due to the convenience of him appearing on this card too, I think someone like Joel Alvarez makes a lot of sense. Alvarez would have been in the rankings had he defeated Arman Tsarukyan and I think Bobby Green is probably right there with him. According to some reports, Alvarez has a rib injury coming out of that fight, so we'll see what his timeline looks like. Someone like Thiago Moises could also make some sense. Moises lost to Alvarez in his last fight, but is still a pretty solid fighter in that same tier. The final name that I will explain in full is Renato Moicano. I think that would be a great matchup for both fighters. Both him and Green are good fighters who are on good runs. They're both just outside the rankings and whoever won would be in line for a ranked opponent their next time out. Other fighters who would make varying degrees of sense for Bobby Green are Drew Dober, Alexander Hernandez, and Diego Ferreira. If it were up to me, I think the Renato Moicano matchup is really ideal for both fighters. No matchup for Bobby Green will be boring, so I'll be excited to see who he fights no matter who it is.
What did you guys think of the fight? If you don't think Islam deserves the title shot, why? If not him, then who should be next? What do you do next with Bobby Green? What did you think of the fight card as a whole? Leave any and all thoughts below. Thanks for reading and have a good one. Keep an eye out for the UFC 272 articles coming all this week.
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