Israel Adesanya VS Thiago Santos

[Boxingroutines]

Remember these 2 had a possibility of fighting?

Lets say this is at LHW, who wins in your opinion?

 

[chinarice]

Izzy destroys him.

 

[JustBleed69]

It would be more competitive than Glover / Santos, considering there would be little to no grappling.
I'd maybe slightly favor Santos, just because of the sheer power and strength he would have over Adesanya.
Idk how he ever made MW.

 

[IloveTHIS]

Izzy ices him after a 2 minute staring match

 

[alex21cms]

santos was 2 times faster than glover and izzy crumbles under true power

 

[tehMoose]

Santos by KO

 

[MMABr]

Would be a standup war, and I’m pretty confident in saying Santos has a lot more power.

Gynosanya gets slept IMO.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

I slightly favor Santos actually. Santos has seemingly 2 weakness: TDD and pressure.

Izzy uses neither in his fights and that alone would make Santos dangerous for Izzy.

Fighting is about match ups.

 

[TFK20]

Adesanya by whatever he wants

 

[treestump]

Santos obliterates the skinny coward

 

[youllneverwalkalone]

Adesanya should be the clear favorite imho. For as fast as Santos is at LHW, Izzy is probably gonna have the speed advantage on top of a clear height and reach advantage.

Besides, I noticed Santos didn't kick almost at all yesterday. It could ofc have been because of the TD threat, but there is a chance his leg isn't what it used to after the surgery and if that's the case Izzy picks him apart easily.

 

[bubbleboyjones]

Who wins in your opinion?

USADA

 

[SpiderCrawl]

Silva vs Forrest esque

 

[KingBeef]

I'd rather see Izzy vs Jiri.

 

[Benoitthegr8]

I’m not sold on Izzy’s ability to endure LHW power, regardless of if it’s punching power or grappling with the bigger guys I’m thinking there is a reason he cuts to 185... beating a tentative Costa, 40 years old Romero and WW Bobby and Gastelum hasn’t convinced me he’s the destroyer he and his fans think he is.

 

[hohner]

Izzy by tko in the second or third after ripping up Santos' legs.

 

[Iron Nick]

What happened the last times Izzy faced orthodox strikers with no grappling offense whatsoever?

Hmm....

Edit: Santos is dangerous of course, but Izzy would be the rightful favourite.

 

[Iron Nick]

I’m not sold on Izzy’s ability to endure LHW power, regardless of if it’s punching power or grappling with the bigger guys I’m thinking there is a reason he cuts to 185... beating a tentative Costa, 40 years old Romero and WW Bobby and Gastelum hasn’t convinced me he’s the destroyer he and his fans think he is.

Izzy has fought more difficult striking match ups in his last fights than any other elite striker in the UFC and still came out on top every time.

Also, saying Whittaker is a 170er is just disingenuous, or do you also say Rumble is a 185er?
The guy is a perfectly sized 185er and was an undefeated champion there.

This Romero is also a guy that all of a sudden magically physically improved between two fights, just ask Whittaker how different Romero felt when he fought him the second time, not to mention Izzy had staph going into that fight.

Costa was tentative because he was overwhelmed by Izzy and was legit perplexed once he saw how good "skinny claw" actually is.

Edit:
Gastelum also is one of the best boxers ever at 185

 

[youllneverwalkalone]

I’m not sold on Izzy’s ability to endure LHW power, regardless of if it’s punching power or grappling with the bigger guys I’m thinking there is a reason he cuts to 185... beating a tentative Costa, 40 years old Romero and WW Bobby and Gastelum hasn’t convinced me he’s the destroyer he and his fans think he is.

"Tentative", "40 years old", "WW"...come on dude you can shit on all the UFC roster for all I care but the fact is this was the best 185 had to offer and Izzy has beaten them all, usually in spectactular fashion.

Whether he can do the same at a higher weight class is ofc debatable but recall that Santos and Smith were journeymen at MW and ran through LHW. Why would a dominant champion do worse than those two?

 

[Benoitthegr8]

Haha....

Most of what you replied with is true, I cannot deny it... I’m an Izzy hater and can say without a doubt my opinion is jaded and impartial, but yes he’s an absolutely incredible fighter, however, the point I made still stands.

His performances at 185 haven’t convinced me that he will be a force at LHW, he may win the 205 strap similar to how McGregor did the LW strap if he gets the insta-TS... but, IMO and actually similar to Canner the size/reach advantage he enjoyed at the lower weight won’t translate well moving up. He won’t be as dominant as he is now and he will lose fights if he continues to fight at LHW.

Izzy has fought more difficult striking match ups in his last fights than any other elite striker in the UFC and still came out on top every time.

Also, saying Whittaker is a 170er is just disingenuous, or do you also say Rumble is a 185er?
The guy is a perfectly sized 185er and was an undefeated champion there.

This Romero is also a guy that all of a sudden magically physically improved between two fights, just ask Whittaker how different Romero felt when he fought him the second time, not to mention Izzy had staph going into that fight.

Costa was tentative because he was overwhelmed by Izzy and was legit perplexed once he saw how good "skinny claw" actually is.