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- May 27, 2019
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First and foremost I can't stop watching both of these fights, they are unbelievable back and forth wars of skill and toughness that left me incredibly impressed with all four guys. That being said, here's a few things I learned from those fights and said fighters performances that night and since.
1) Dustin Porier is about as legit a boxer as you get in mma, his ability to land full power shots on Holloway throughout the fight was super impressive.
2) Adesanya has real heart. I remember wondering if and when Jon Jones would get his truly tested in the cage and if he would pass that test. He did, and somewhat surprisingly to me so did Izzy, with flying colors to boot.
3) Gastelum is a monster at 185. He is a headache too deal with and is absolutely a legit top 5 middleweight. Possibly even as high as 2 and on the right night could become the champ. Despite facing a guy who is probably the most crisp and technical striker at mw or even mma in general, and not really getting much done on the ground despite his wrestling base, came about as close to winning as you can without getting your hand raised.
4) Holloway needs to get bigger and stronger to eventually dominate lws like he does fws. His pace, toughness, and striking skills are all very elite, but as a guy who takes shots to land shots he needs to close the power gap for his style to succeed against top 155ers. Porier has elite boxing, is very powerful for the division, and that shell defence was tailor-made for a fight against a fighter like Holloway. Despite that loss, I think Holloway smokes virtually every lw outside the top 3 or 4 guys even without the power upgrade, with it though he would be a different animal imo.
Side note-, I thought Holloway v porier was 2-2 going into the 5th. 1/2 clearly porier, 3 Holloway edged, 4 Holloway looked like he was about to take over and was putting it on him most of the round, he took that knee and got that big cut towards the end but I still thought Holloway won a very close round. 5 was another close round but I gave it to porier by about the same margin I gave 4 to Holloway. I thought it was a much closer fight than most of the opinions I saw.
I could go on but I'm curious what other people saw and learned in that event and since about these 4 guys.
1) Dustin Porier is about as legit a boxer as you get in mma, his ability to land full power shots on Holloway throughout the fight was super impressive.
2) Adesanya has real heart. I remember wondering if and when Jon Jones would get his truly tested in the cage and if he would pass that test. He did, and somewhat surprisingly to me so did Izzy, with flying colors to boot.
3) Gastelum is a monster at 185. He is a headache too deal with and is absolutely a legit top 5 middleweight. Possibly even as high as 2 and on the right night could become the champ. Despite facing a guy who is probably the most crisp and technical striker at mw or even mma in general, and not really getting much done on the ground despite his wrestling base, came about as close to winning as you can without getting your hand raised.
4) Holloway needs to get bigger and stronger to eventually dominate lws like he does fws. His pace, toughness, and striking skills are all very elite, but as a guy who takes shots to land shots he needs to close the power gap for his style to succeed against top 155ers. Porier has elite boxing, is very powerful for the division, and that shell defence was tailor-made for a fight against a fighter like Holloway. Despite that loss, I think Holloway smokes virtually every lw outside the top 3 or 4 guys even without the power upgrade, with it though he would be a different animal imo.
Side note-, I thought Holloway v porier was 2-2 going into the 5th. 1/2 clearly porier, 3 Holloway edged, 4 Holloway looked like he was about to take over and was putting it on him most of the round, he took that knee and got that big cut towards the end but I still thought Holloway won a very close round. 5 was another close round but I gave it to porier by about the same margin I gave 4 to Holloway. I thought it was a much closer fight than most of the opinions I saw.
I could go on but I'm curious what other people saw and learned in that event and since about these 4 guys.