@Fuzz1994tps

3 weeks ago

What it seems like to me or something: Essentially, Ilia does not want the "stock" of his reputation to drop, because if that were to happen then in his mind it would be as if he is worthless (If he loses to Max but the BMF belt is not on the line, he has no reason to think that he is worth something as if the BMF belt is on the line it is like "I lost but I am not worthless because at least I am recognized as a BMF which means that my reputation did not drop even though I lost. In the case of Volk, in his mind if he loses then his stock will drop and if he wins he does not get anywhere because in his mind he is the better fighter because he beat him already. Ilia has not accepted the idea that you can have your stock dropped but still see yourself being seen by others with a high reputation, like how Max's "stock dropped" when he lost to Volk several times but later on was "On top of the world" after winning the BMF belt in the manner that he did. Max knows "he has something" even if he loses. Ilia does not think that way so he relies on reputation/what other people think/whatever to fill that void. It could it could be the possibility that Ilia stays inactive long enough where his belt is vacated by the decision of the UFC, only for him to still think that he is of a high reputation after losing the belt (like Henry Cejudo?) then one day get back in the octagon after a long layoff only for him to be surprised that he is being dominated by his opponent (because he has been inactive for so long and the sport/landscape/whatever "passed him up").

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