Anyone Surprised by Israel's Success?

[popac]

He seems to thrive under pressure. Plus, he's easily offended by everything, but he fights even *better* when that happens (he didn't like the comments made by Brunson, Whittaker and Costa, and look what happened)

 

[SerotoninSyndrome]

Not the success, but I’ve been more surprised at the lack of resistance I’ve seen in his past three fights. It’s like nobody wants his belt.

 

[Ibm]

I am pretty surprised. I guess this kid keeps getting better. I expected him to be in trouble in this fight but he never was. That said costas gameplan was probably a big factor too.

 

[Bangkok ready d1]

That is what I was thinking back then. Just looking at his kickboxing exploits. It doesn't make sense for any MMA guys to really be on his level striking wise.

I always figured that as long as his TDD holds ups no one is going to be able to stop him.

As long as prospects go in mma its pretty clear the ones that actually go to the top, is usually the good strikers or good wrestlers who can hold their own in others disciplines, some times guys like jhonny walker come around with big explosivness and power and create great hype, but the truth is you can always know the ceiling of a guy by simply looking at his skills and what he brings to the table

 

[hiphopnazi]

He is elite but not a complete MMA elite, the next fighter with high level wrestling will dominate him. That's not a dig at him either, he just hasn't faced anyone with that attribute. Conor met a similar fate when he ran into Khabib. UFC match making are like no other in promoting stars and organising less favorable opponents against potential revenue raisers.

 

[The Bard]

A little bit. I think he's been in a fortunate time period where there aren't a lot of high-level wrestle-boxers in the division. Kelvin G gave him hell, and he's not elite.

Fun fighter to watch (most times), though. Not impressed with the man boobs and worry about USADA with him.

 

[JSN]

Two years ago I thought he was a special striker but was t sure about his ceiling. But he looked significantly more complete each fight so I’ve been a believer for a good year, year and a half now.

 

[Herwald]

We've been hurt so many times by failed hype trains, it was only rational to doubt him. Especially cause some of the earlier fights were closer decisions... till it turned out guys like Vettori were pretty good themselves.

I expected his ground game to be exposed at some point. Which may still happen, but too late. He's already cemented himself as one of the best MWs to ever do it and the short amount of time he blazed through it all is unprecedented.