Editorial: When short notice fights lead to unreasonable expectations

New UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov took apart Al Iaquinta, who’s been lauded for accepting a title fight on the eve of the event. So why is Khabib getting so much flak for such a dominant win?

If you look at the scorecards and the official FightMetric statistics, the UFC 223 main event between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Al Iaquinta was one of the most lopsided championship fights in recent memory. Two judges had it 50-43, while one had it 50-44, all in favor of the Russian powerhouse. Khabib took Iaquinta down six times — no easy feat against someone with historically very good takedown defense — outstruck the New Yorker by more than a 3-to-1 margin, and busted up Iaquinta’s face with just a jab.

And yet, if you listened to Joe Rogan’s nauseating, unacceptably bad commentary, or perhaps perused through Twitter or your favorite website’s comments section, this was somehow disappointing and underwhelming.

Nurmagomedov was preparing for Tony Ferguson one week ago. Then his attention switched to Max Holloway. Wednesday rolled in and Conor McGregor tried to bash the bus he was inside of. Friday came along and suddenly Khabib was due to fight Anthony Pettis... no make that Paul Felder (or maybe not)... no, actually it’s Al Iaquinta. Actually it’s probably Justin McCully, but no it’s really Iaquinta.

You would think that fans (and Rogan) would have cut Khabib some slack given the unbelievably bizarre circumstances leading up to Saturday. Somehow, Dana White, a man who has an encyclopedia-sized history of burying his own fighters in public, had one of his most sensible takes... possibly ever?

I won’t sit here and tell you Khabib turned in a flawless performance or is a flawless, unbeatable fighter. There are holes in his striking defense, he isn’t overly dangerous with his striking offense, and his wrestling is far more efficient when his opponents are against the fence. I’m fairly certain these aren’t particularly new developments that Iaquinta supposedly “exposed,” and in fact much of this fight looked largely like many other Khabib fights. This was however Khabib’s first five-rounder, his first main event, and probably the first time many had ever seen him compete.

Nurmagomedov did what he had to do to get the win and become the undisputed lightweight champion. Mind you, there’s every reason to dispute the “undisputed” bit, but he’s got the shiny belt around his waist, and he did it comfortably against an opponent he had virtually no time to prepare for. Iaquinta has admittedly been more active selling houses on Long Island than actually fighting, but he’s not some scrub. He’s a more-than-capable, top-15 lightweight from a reputable camp who had a minuscule but legitimate path to victory. And even in that scenario, he lost the overwhelming majority of the striking exchanges, despite Rogan’s hysterics any time Iaquinta did as much as throw a punch.

The problem I have with Saturday night’s overreaction is the total disregard for context of the situation, and it’s yet another cautionary tale of what happens when you accept extremely late notice fights against huge underdogs. If you don’t steamroll the other guy from the get-go, then questions arise as if there wasn’t a change of opponent (and usually a wholly different stylistic matchup) just days or a couple of weeks before fight night.

My #1 example is Conor “Hello, Dolly” McGregor. If you haven There is no reason to downplay his win over Chad Mendes (“Chad was winning until he gassed! Didn’t have a real camp or Conor would be doomed!”), a then-elite featherweight who accepted the fight on two weeks’ notice, but then laugh up his loss to Nate Diaz (“Hahaha Diaz came off a yacht in Cabo and beat Conor! McGregor overrated! “), who substituted for an injured Rafael dos Anjos in a similar timeframe. Sometimes you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t, and sometimes you get verbally undressed by Dana White for not saving an absolutely wretched looking PPV.

Oh how soon we forget that Tony Ferguson was perilously close to getting knocked out by Lando Vannata, an unranked prospect signed by the UFC just two weeks out from fight night. Or Mark Hunt swooping in on three weeks’ notice, cleanly knocking down Fabricio Werdum and taking round one in an interim championship fight before getting knocked out in the next round. Or T.J. Dillashaw needing until round five to dispose of Joe Soto at UFC 177 in an actual title defense that was far more competitive (but nevertheless an obvious Dillashaw win) than Khabib-Iaquinta was. Or Daniel Cormier getting booed for fighting a safe decision against an out-of-shape Anderson Silva, when he should’ve been rematching Jon Jones at UFC 200. Speaking of Jones, remember his one-sided, lackluster decision win over Ovince Saint Preux, who replaced Daniel Cormier just three weeks away from UFC 197? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

In the case of Khabib, I believe there’s been an aura of invincibility built up that I’m not sure he’s actually earned. So when he doesn’t hulk smash Iaquinta out of there within two rounds, something as simple as acknowledging that Khabib isn’t a particularly good finisher against high-level competition goes out the window, and you get Rogan acting as if Khabib has the striking of Edward Rackley. If you have the memory of a goldfish, then you’ve somehow forgotten how badly he wrecked Edson Barboza just a few months ago.

For better or worse (and I lean towards better), the UFC has created a culture where “next man up” is the standard even at the 11th hour. It’s what keeps some events alive and forms some of the more memorable moments in the sport. And yet it seems as if many fans think the fights themselves should yield “as you were” results like you’re just scrolling through options in EA UFC 3.

If you want to reassess Nurmagomedov’s chances of victory against Ferguson, or Holloway, or McGregor, then you’re well within your right to do so. None of those fights is a formality and that’s why they’re all compelling. You also have to acknowledge that we’ve had countless instances of makeshift matchups in which the A-side isn’t setting the world on fire or looking phenomenal. I believe it’s long overdue to rethink what we should expect out of short notice fights, and the puzzling reaction to UFC 223’s main event is just the tipping point.