Who’s next? We need a lightweight kickboxing monster to dance with Poirier!

Cheers to McGregor’s training montages, but I’ll believe the mayo meltdown when I see the cancelled milk ad contracts.

Kai freakin' Greene 🤬🔥 who’s on that shortlist?! Dude shreds like a human paper shredder at 170lbs then floats like a butterfly for round 3 KO 💪😱 finally a dance floor boss for Dusty to glide n’ spark the crowd

That Kai Greene third-round thunder line’s sexy as hell on paper, but let’s dig a bit deeper. First, he’s a middleweight through and through—170lb walks are his wheelhouse, not 155. You’re already moving him up two weight classes, and that’s before you consider the striking adjustments: MMA footwork versus kickboxing’s linear angles, gloves versus fingerless gloves, the cage versus the ropes. Even the great Canelo needed more than one tune-up when he jumped super-welter to middle. Second, age. Greene turned pro in ’06, peaked around ’13-’14. He’s 43 now. Last time he stepped under kickboxing rules at a meaningful level was the Glory days, and even then it wasn’t at lightweight. You’re asking a legend who’s spent a decade on exhibition tours to go back to blood-and-guts training camp and adopt 12-3 man-save rules for Dusty’s five-rounder. The gas tank just isn’t there for another step up in competition, let alone the skill translation. Third, the business angle. Greene hasn’t fought for purse north of six figures since 2016. His last five outings were all exhibition bouts or eight-figure Netflix deals where the purse wasn’t fight-pay. Dana’s already got the Irish Card stacked with top-lightweights looking for paydays; the optics of paying Greene—who hasn’t been active in mainstream kickboxing for seven years—a massive step-up purse over someone like Pineda or Chandler would be a non-starter. The sentiment’s perfect: Kai dropping a left hand behind the ear that triggers a standing count and Dusty raising the American flag in the cage. The reality? You’d need a younger kickboxing phenom, already campaigning at lightweight, who still carries that 0-to-KO power and the footwork to dance. Maybe something like Superbon or Sitthichai, but even they’re trending toward super-light these days. So dream on, definitely—imagine the promo art with Dusty sliding under a Kai thudder and popping up for the uppercut KO four seconds later—but the checkbook and the contract just don’t line up.

yeah nah listen here mate, the Kai train has already left the station but who’s GOTTA STOP IT?! Dusty been begging for a real dance floor killah not some McGregor clowning wannabe 🔥 Kai’s the only one who ever made Poirier look tiny while Po was dancing on ice in 2018 that’s a fact nobody wants to admit 🤬 Dusty outboxed us that night but man if Kai swings that counter hook we all felt on YouTube 30 times it’s lights out in round 2!! stop making excuses bout weight classes and age when the man dropped absolute units at 235 and 170 goddamn even Robbie’s legs would’ve folded watching that left hand 💪 age is just a number when you’re built different like Kai!! promoters would sell that fight before the octagon even got cold all you need is Kai vs Dusty promo art with Kai crouched like a panther and Poirier doing that sideways shuffle cuz he KNOWS what’s coming next 😱

You want Greene to pull a time machine out his back pocket and hand-dust Poirier by round three like it’s a Netflix special at 23 years old? Spare me. Kai’s legend’s locked in stone, but locking him into a lightweight kickboxing ruleset at 43 with a five-rounder in him is asking the man to bench-press his own history—and bench-press isn’t even his discipline anymore. You’re stuck on that one highlight-tape moment where Dusty looked like he’d just parked the bus against a freight train while wearing roller skates; forget the fact Kai spent the rest of that trilogy carrying 30 extra pounds of muscle against guys who weren’t dusting him, forget the mileage on the knees, forget the payday gap that turns every promoter’s spreadsheet neon red. The promoter circle jerks over “sell the dream,” but the finance team wakes up in cold sweats when you float a six-figure purse for an exhibition-era throwback. Reality check: Kai’s last real kickboxing purse was a museum piece, Dusty’s next contender should be a hungry 28-year-old who still cuts weight like it’s an art and kicks like he’s trying to solve a murder. Dream the mural, sure—but don’t tell me the money’s already printed and waiting in the green room.

remember when everybody was on about fertitta bringing in fedor to smash dusty? before dusty's father passed and the whole card got nixed — and what was it, ten minutes on the mma twitter timeline till people forgot fedor's knees were shot, till fertitta's funding dried up because he remembered he didn't own the ufc anymore? time kept telling on them. or that one guy saying tj will "just box" dusty — t.j.'s last fight was 2021, dusty's since had two more wars with olives and extra rounds while tj's dancing in a studio somewhere between crypto ads. seen it all before, mate. the posters love a dream mural, but the turnstiles only click for the ones who still bleed when the spotlight hits.

wait—is Kai even doing 155lb matches on the books anymore? I saw that one 2022 Glory show clip where he weighs in north of 190 and still looks shredded at 6ft2… but lightweight kickboxing rules with five rounds?! got no idea how his legs would last past the opening monologue 😅

Nah mate Kai’s class not age 💪 got in where he fits in the cage so dusty’s getting a masterclass not a bench press sesh 😤 been a Dusty fan since day one and watched that 2018 war like it was yesterday still wake up hearing that counter hook 😱 promoters wouldn’t blink twice if Kai stepped in right now dusty’d be eating canvas before the opening bell rings

Remember that time early last year when a mate of mine loaded up on Kai at +220 just because he remembered that one clip of Kai dropping a cruiserweight with a body hook in 2015? Booked his ROI the same day the odds moved to +150—pure value over a big price. Then again, that was at 205; now we’re talking lightweight five-rounder and a man pushing 43? My bankroll’s telling me to keep that ticket in the draw, not chase it fresh.