Israel is fantastic... and yet overrated

[krelianx]

I personally enjoy his style a great deal, and obviously know he is a fantastic fighter. But he also has many limitations for a champion in this age of MMA, both offensively and defensively. Offensively, he is a very polished striker, but he relies very heavily on counter punching. When his opponents are not sloppy and do not give him easily countered shots, he often gets drawn into stalemates where he wins by a sliver or not, but doesn't really take off. And his grappling offensive is, well, basically nil.

Defensively, while he clearly continues to work on his takedown defense, though it still has some holes, and while he got back to his feet against Vettori, I wonder what a more seasoned pressure wrestler would do if he grabs a hold of him (someone like Kennedy more than Romero, who relies more on his punches). His guard seemed a little sloppy and loose, though he is very sleazy and moves very well. In this regard he doesn't resemble Anderson, who while being vulnerable to the takedown, had some very legit jitz to go from his back which got him out of some important pickles (Chael I).

Izzy's best talents are obvious: he is superlatively coordinated, lanky, accurate, fast, has great conditioning, defense. But he is also has many, many limitations, and is just not that well rounded.

 

[blaseblah]

I don't see anyone right now in the division who would beat him but at the same time he has several flaws. I think he's very lucky an elite wrestler like prime Weidman or Sonnen isn't around right now.

 

[PlasticFishBowl]

Izzy is fortunate that all the elite wrestlers are at WW.

He’s a reach bully with great striking in a division full of strikers who are inferior to him. He should remain on top for another 2+ years imo.

 

[drbolony]

His boxing could use some work, most of his defensive craft comes at kicking range. He's not as comfortable in punching range. I think someone could make him pay for being off balance so much, that said off balance for me and you means something way different than Adesanya being off balance. The dude is a fucking cat.

And that's just the striking, as you pointed out he's still extremely limited in the grappling department. What's disappointing is that people will use this against Adesanya saying his competition isn't up that great when Anderson got a pass for beating dudes like Forrest, Bonnar, Cote, Leities, etc.

Everything is ammo for the haters.

 

[blaseblah]

And that's just the striking, as you pointed out he's still extremely limited in the grappling department. What's disappointing is that people will use this against Adesanya saying his competition isn't up that great when Anderson got a pass for beating dudes like Forrest, Bonnar, Cote, Leities, etc.

Everything is ammo for the haters.

Anderson beat Hendo, Sonnen 2x, Okami, Maia. He's fought way more grapplers than Izzy. He also went up in weight to dominate Forrest who had just been LHW champion. He doesn't "need a pass", that was an impressive victory.

 

[drbolony]

Anderson beat Hendo, Sonnen 2x, Okami, Maia. He's fought way more grapplers than Izzy.

Didn't say anything about the number of grapplers either has fought.

Case in point.

 

[blaseblah]

Didn't say anything about the number of grapplers either has fought.

Case and point.

You mean "case in point", and it doesn't apply here. Also lol at you bringing up the Forrest fight as a negative thing. He went up in weight to fight the previous LHW champion and dominated him.

 

[DS66]

I don't really think he's overrated. It's not like people are putting him up there with the GOATS (yet, at least). But he's 5-0 in MW title fights, against some pretty good competition. That deserves a lot of credit, he's clearly one of the best P4P fighters in the UFC today.

 

[textwarrior]

I personally enjoy his style a great deal, and obviously know he is a fantastic fighter. But he also has many limitations for a champion in this age of MMA, both offensively and defensively. Offensively, he is a very polished striker, but he relies very heavily on counter punching. When his opponents are not sloppy and do not give him easily countered shots, he often gets drawn into stalemates where he wins by a sliver or not, but doesn't really take off. And his grappling offensive is, well, basically nil.

Defensively, while he clearly continues to work on his takedown defense, though it still has some holes, and while he got back to his feet against Vettori, I wonder what a more seasoned pressure wrestler would do if he grabs a hold of him (someone like Kennedy more than Romero, who relies more on his punches). His guard seemed a little sloppy and loose, though he is very sleazy and moves very well. In this regard he doesn't resemble Anderson, who while being vulnerable to the takedown, had some very legit jitz to go from his back which got him out of some important pickles (Chael I).

Izzy's best talents are obvious: he is superlatively coordinated, lanky, accurate, fast, has great conditioning, defense. But he is also has many, many limitations, and is just not that well rounded.

You can not be fantastic if you are overrated.

 

[drbolony]

You mean "case in point", and it doesn't apply here. Also lol at you bringing up the Forrest fight as a negative thing. He went up in weight to fight the previous LHW champion and dominated him.

You got me, I've never used that expression. Why doesn't it apply here? You're bringing up irrelevant information to discredit my point.

That's fine you can get stuck in the hype all you want. Forrest was a sloppy fighter and he wouldn't make it in today's UFC. His striking so bad, Ankalaev, Jiri, and Rakic all knock his head off. Adesanya dances on his corpse.

Nice edit BTW.

Edit: Forrest Griffin is the greatest over achiever in MMA, moreso even than Bisping. It's amazing he was able to become champion with his limited skill set.

 

[krelianx]

You can not be fantastic if you are overrated.

Yes you can. Fedor was fantastic, but people talk about him as if he was utterly unbeatable at one point. That is overrating a fantastic fighter. Many examples can be given.

 

[Ramon Antonio]

His boxing could use some work, most of his defensive craft comes at kicking range. He's not as comfortable in punching range. I think someone could make him pay for being off balance so much, that said off balance for me and you means something way different than Adesanya being off balance. The dude is a fucking cat.

And that's just the striking, as you pointed out he's still extremely limited in the grappling department. What's disappointing is that people will use this against Adesanya saying his competition isn't up that great when Anderson got a pass for beating dudes like Forrest, Bonnar, Cote, Leities, etc.

Everything is ammo for the haters.

But Anderson has the better highlights by far.

 

[drbolony]

But Anderson has the better highlights by far.

Absolutely, Its easier to have those highlights against lesser competition.

 

[Octupus Samurai]

I personally enjoy his style a great deal, and obviously know he is a fantastic fighter. But he also has many limitations for a champion in this age of MMA, both offensively and defensively. Offensively, he is a very polished striker, but he relies very heavily on counter punching. When his opponents are not sloppy and do not give him easily countered shots, he often gets drawn into stalemates where he wins by a sliver or not, but doesn't really take off. And his grappling offensive is, well, basically nil.

Defensively, while he clearly continues to work on his takedown defense, though it still has some holes, and while he got back to his feet against Vettori, I wonder what a more seasoned pressure wrestler would do if he grabs a hold of him (someone like Kennedy more than Romero, who relies more on his punches). His guard seemed a little sloppy and loose, though he is very sleazy and moves very well. In this regard he doesn't resemble Anderson, who while being vulnerable to the takedown, had some very legit jitz to go from his back which got him out of some important pickles (Chael I).

Izzy's best talents are obvious: he is superlatively coordinated, lanky, accurate, fast, has great conditioning, defense. But he is also has many, many limitations, and is just not that well rounded.

If vettori had a good Bjj he would tap
instantly there

 

[Martialbeef]

Izzy is fortunate that all the elite wrestlers are at WW.

He’s a reach bully with great striking in a division full of strikers who are inferior to him. He should remain on top for another 2+ years imo.

Yeah if him and Usman weren’t chummy, Usman moves up and UD’s the lad fairly comfortably.

 

[Poirierfan]

Palestinians think Israel is overated as well.

 

[genecop]

though he is very sleazy and moves very well. In this regard he doesn't resemble Anderson, who while being vulnerable to the takedown, had some very legit jitz to go from his back which got him out of some important pickles (Chael I).

.

Sleazy?

 

[textwarrior]

Yes you can. Fedor was fantastic, but people talk about him as if he was utterly unbeatable at one point. That is overrating a fantastic fighter. Many examples can be given.

Ok, so you are saying viewed as a fantastic fighter

 

[IDGETKTFO]

Its crazy that he, and his fans thought he could move up to LHW and beat Jan. Very Overrated indeed.

 

[Phisher]

Rockhold would rape him on the ground raw dog 8=====D-,

If Rockhold could get a dominant position, it'd be a bad night for Israel. However, he's not guaranteed to get him to the ground, and there's no way in hell that he'd work his way to a title shot without getting KO'd again, so it's a moot point.