Opetaia made WBA number 1 mandatory and WBC number 3.

As long as Fess doesn't fk it up again.

 

Good. He should be mandatory title challenger for all of them. He’s clearly the best in the division, clearly a favorite over everybody in the division.

 

This is just because he doesn’t have the IBF anymore so the other sanctioning bodies will rank him. If he’s sticking with Zuffa tho it’s hard to see any title fights happening for him.

 

Poor Jai can't even draw a crowd to a thread

 

This

 

In true Opetaia fashion he has drew out two or three Aussies

(Just a joke, love you Aussies really)

 

He doesn't hold the IBF anymore but he does hold the Zuffa. Confusing why they have chosen to rank him.

 

The WBA and WBC saw - like the rest of us - how the IBF stripped Opetaia. Yet they both continue to rank Opetaia, and highly. The obvious question is, why?

Ok, he is still the Ring champion and most consider him the best in the division but the politics in him being WBA #1 and WBC #3 are hard to gauge.

Ramirez, the WBA champion (and WBO champion), has never shown the least bit of interest in fighting Opetaia and is about to fight Benavidez. So even though the WBA have Opetaia ranked #1, let's forget about the WBA belt for the moment.

There has however been talk for some time of Opetaia fighting WBC champion, Mikaelian, and with Opetaia WBC #3 one would think that remains a possibility. What happens if that fight does get made? Do the WBC give Opetaia the ultimatum that he has to vacate the Zuffa title or they will just take the WBC belt off the table - like the IBF did?

 

I guess because Zuffa isn't considered one of the 'proper' belts to them, same way someone could have the IBO or even IBA belt and still be ranked by all the sanctioning bodies. Opetaia is essentially not a champion anymore in the eyes of the belt orgs.

 

Why did the IBF feel it necessary to strip him then?

 

Nobody loves Aussies, not even ourselves.

 

Because Fess & his talking heads acted like the Zuffa belt meant something prior to the fight.

I suspect that Jai is so desperate to achieve his goals in such a short time window that he thinks they are acting on his behalf. So far they have cost him the IBF while giving him a trinket.

Fk I hope I'm wrong, this bloke is the best I've seen from Australia since Kostya, and he's been blocked and hindered at every turn. It would be great if Zuffa were out to destroy these politics in the sport and make it about athletes, but they will make it about themselves like psychos always do.

 

The IBF conferred with team Opetaia pre-fight and were assured the Zuffa belt was a trinket presented by the promoter. The IBF were happy with that explanation at the time and irony is, it was the truth and still is. Reason being that until the updates to the Ali Act are signed off on all levels - and they still have not been - that's all the Zuffa belt is, a trinket.