How does Israel Adesanya match up against the Top 15 at Light Heavyweight?

[Safton]

What it says on the tin. Assuming Israel made another go at 205, how does he look against these guys? Who does he beat and how? I'll leave it up to you whether he decides to come in super light again or actually bulk up and put on muscle to compete at the weight class for this hypothetical scenario.

Bonus: Are there any Heavyweights on the roster (not necessarily in the Top 15) that he could beat?

 

[Typrune Goatley]

Loses to Glover
Loses to Jan
Loses to Jiri
Loses to Rakic
Probably beats Smith
Loses to Santos
Loses to Ankalaev
Beats Reyes
Loses to Oezdemir
Beats Krylov
Might beat Walker
Might beat Craig
Might beat Hill
Beats Spann
Beats Crute
Beats Cutelaba

 

[ShtickandMove]

Top 3 beat him and Magomed. I think he's got a pretty good chance with the rest.

 

[Simple Southerner]

He murks most of em

 

[SeattleFightFan]

Loses to Glover
Loses to Jan
Loses to Jiri
Loses to Rakic
Probably beats Smith
Loses to Santos
Loses to Ankalaev
Beats Reyes
Loses to Oezdemir
Beats Krylov
Might beat Walker
Might beat Craig
Might beat Hill
Beats Spann
Beats Crute
Beats Cutelaba

Ditto except Craig and Hill.

 

[laleggenda27]

I would favor him over everyone except Glover, Jan, and possibly Ankalaev. I think Jiri and Rakic could give him problems, but I'd still slightly favor Izzy.

Ultimately, I think the loss to Jan was actually good for Izzy. He accepted bottom position too easily and it cost him the fight. You could see his mindset was completely different against Whittaker; he absolutely refused to accept bottom position. And going forward, I expect his grappling to keep improving, making it more difficult to simply wrestle him to a decision.

 

[Deleted member 504083]

I would favor him over everyone except Glover, Jan, and possibly Ankalaev.