Belol lost because he was delusional

[The_Renaissance]

I was really, really shocked with the ease in which JDM dealt with Belal's wrestling. One of the most surprising things I've seen in recent memory - fair fucks to JDM, he was superb. So glad Belal is done as someone we have to see in title fights and the title picture - no way is he getting back into contention, the UFC dont like him that much.

 

[MMAFanCal]

He is too old to really work his way back in. He is already 37. By the time, even in the ideal path, he won't get another title shot until he is most likely 39.

I was really, really shocked with the ease in which JDM dealt with Belal's wrestling. One of the most surprising things I've seen in recent memory - fair fucks to JDM, he was superb. So glad Belal is done as someone we have to see in title fights and the title picture - no way is he getting back into contention, the UFC dont like him that much.

 

[MisfitsBR]

I don't care, he got my respect! WAR BELAL

I was not expecting a good fight, glad we had one, fight of the night for sure

 

[biscuitsbrah]

Someone posted it in another thread, but here's the video of JDM's preparation. They went with an old school keep rotating fresh guys in approach and it paid off in dividends.



It was the most exciting Belal fight ever by a long shot, JDM forced it out of him.
Belal earned my respect for getting in the fire, I hope he realized that he actually can get in there and strike and try to be exciting.
I found it funny that my brother who is a mid-casual fan was watching with me and multiple times saying "Belal has a sub there. He could go for a d'arce or something" so even he could notice that Belal just isn't a finisher and this was his first ever Belal fight. I still haven't had the heart to tell him that it's not his standard performance, I'll enjoy the good laugh of him getting excited for a Belal fight lmao.

Islam had a hard time holding Volk down. Will the extra weight really help him sub JDM?

 

[RandallKeithson]

4 little things:
- JDM is a bad mofo that love fightin into chaos and blood instead that shit his pants at first adversity.
- JDM is not Edwards, he doesn't have fear of pressure or punches by his opponents and he proved that he's smart before during and after the fight.
- Is hard to wrestle when your opponent keep punchin your face from any angle.
- JDM worked with Craig Jones all the camp and the results are under the lights. Craig Jones is the daghestani kryptonite so good luck with that Islam...

 

[Pechan]

I hate this implication that Begal pretty much let JDM beat him, he shot several TDs and was stuff and JDM was able to get up from the successful ones.

Betal is not Khabib or Merab, he also stood with Leon, Burns, Brady etc, Leon just couldn't defend the TDs so there was more control but he pretty much fought like he always does.

 

[contrail]

JDM had faster, more accurate hands and fought long - Belal hit air a lot during that fight until JDM started getting tired and his defense & footwork began to sag. Belal hit a few beautiful TD's which made me smile. It was a great fight between arguably the two best in that division aside from Brady & Shavkat, both of whom I think Belal would have beaten.

 

[CatchtheseHands]

I think Belal MIGHT have been able to pull off a win with better game planning. He maybe should have trained with khabib for this camp again. I think Belal underestimated JDM by deciding to have camp at home and trying win a striking battle with him..

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

Islam had a hard time holding Volk down. Will the extra weight really help him sub JDM?

I doubt it. There is a reason that this is the first time ever a Team Eagle fighter will move up in weight. They kill themselves to make 155 for good reason, unfortunately weight cutting is probably 20% of the sport.
I feel like they, just like Belal, are severely underestimating JDM and think "It's an australian, we'll hold him down they have no wrestling."

My best guess is that the plan is beat jack and retire, but I hope Jack throws a wrench in the spanner just to shake things up at the very least.

However, there were several times where JDM in the scramble to get up against Belal would have been open to a d'arce, which Islam has shown a fancy to especially recently.

The last time Islam fought someone with a full camp, it was a shopworn Dustin who took Islam to the limits. JDM is larger, 5 years younger than Makachev, hungrier.

The first thing he heard as a champion was the lightweight below him saying "Keep my belt warm."

That, if I was Jack, would be ringing in my mind for the next 6 months or however long and I would think about hurting Islam every single time it crossed my mind.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

It's not that he didn't wrestle, he attempted takedowns. He started doing them way too late by which time JDM's confidence went through the roof.

If he mixed everything up in the first like he did against Leon, he could have planted a seed of doubt in JDM's mind but he really believed in his striking and tried to prove a point.

except he tried to take him down in rds 1 AND 2. i don't know how fights JUST HAPPENED and mofos be bullshitting about what happened.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

I doubt it. There is a reason that this is the first time ever a Team Eagle fighter will move up in weight. They kill themselves to make 155 for good reason, unfortunately weight cutting is probably 20% of the sport.
I feel like they, just like Belal, are severely underestimating JDM and think "It's an australian, we'll hold him down they have no wrestling."

My best guess is that the plan is beat jack and retire, but I hope Jack throws a wrench in the spanner just to shake things up at the very least.

However, there were several times where JDM in the scramble to get up against Belal would have been open to a d'arce, which Islam has shown a fancy to especially recently.

The last time Islam fought someone with a full camp, it was a shopworn Dustin who took Islam to the limits. JDM is larger, 5 years younger than Makachev, hungrier.

The first thing he heard as a champion was the lightweight below him saying "Keep my belt warm."

That, if I was Jack, would be ringing in my mind for the next 6 months or however long and I would think about hurting Islam every single time it crossed my mind.

same, i don't know why Islam and them are so confident in beating JDM. the way Islam was throwing strikes vs Moicano looked BAD. sure, people will say "short notice" but short notice doesn't give you shittier striking technique. he looked scared of what was coming back from "i can only jab" Moicano. if he's so hesitant that it makes his technique shittier vs striking against Moicano, he better hope he doesn't get scared vs JDM, because JDM will completely destroy him if he gets sloppy and wild.

 

[AmbassadorFright]

Belal is very lucky no one cares enough about him to drag his name through the mud with humbled posts/when trash talk goes wrong videos

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

same, i don't know why Islam and them are so confident in beating JDM. the way Islam was throwing strikes vs Moicano looked BAD. sure, people will say "short notice" but short notice doesn't give you shittier striking technique. he looked scared of what was coming back from "i can only jab" Moicano. if he's so hesitant that it makes his technique shittier vs striking against Moicano, he better hope he doesn't get scared vs JDM, because JDM will completely destroy him if he gets sloppy and wild.

JDM is going to do the same thing he did here with Belal, make it a chaotic brawl in spurts. However, I trust Balal's chin a bit more than Islam. Islam hasn't been hit hard and clean in a long time outside of what, Volk 1?

Now he's up again a larger, stronger, younger opponent. I feel like an absolute outlier, as I really do not see JDM as an easy fight for Islam especially after having just watched this fight.

 

[Tito Tapped]

"the ref is going to tell me 'we need action here' "

Maybe got that part right.

 

[Dorkman]

He tried to wrestle, Jack was just well prepared for it. Especially in the early round when Jack was able to command the center the cage. Giving Belal very little options for untelegraphed shots. And even once belal started getting center cage, jack was using a lot of lateral movement to not get pinned behind the black line that guys usually use as a measure for being close enough to shoot and drive the opponent back into the cage.

 

[HP_Nut]

The guy shot a lot of takedowns. This "belal didn't mix it up" narrative is overstated. 9 takedown attempts is decent amount of takedwn attempts for most fighters. He shot a similar amount against Luque in that 5 round fight and everyone complained about all the wrestling in that one.

He started trying to turn it into a grappling match too late. First 3 rds he barely tried wrestling. He really did buy into his own hype. His striking isnt bad, but its not on JDM level but Belal really thought he was gonna win a mostly standup fight. He turned it up in rd 4. 2 of the judges gave Belal 2 rds (im not saying he deserved 2 rds). If he tried to spam TD in rd 2 & 3, maybe the judges give him 1 of those rds. This was a very winnable fight for Belal, hes got himself to blame

 

[fortheo]

He started trying to turn it into a grappling match too late. First 3 rds he barely tried wrestling. He really did buy into his own hype. His striking isnt bad, but its not on JDM level but Belal really thought he was gonna win a mostly standup fight. He turned it up in rd 4. 2 of the judges gave Belal 2 rds (im not saying he deserved 2 rds). If he tried to spam TD in rd 2 & 3, maybe the judges give him 1 of those rds. This was a very winnable fight for Belal, hes got himself to blame

He shot 4 takedowns within the first two rounds. He shot the same amount of takedowns in round 2 as he did in round 4. He is not and never was Merab -- he's not going to spam 30 takedowns, especially when he was going through hell after each failed one and fatiguing himself. He fought pretty much as he typically does, it's just jack's feints, footwork, power, and defense made belal look worse.

 

[HP_Nut]

He shot 4 takedowns within the first two rounds. He is not and never was Merab -- he's not going to spam 30 takedowns, especially when he was going through hell after each failed one and fatiguing himself.

He attempted 4 td in the first 3 rds. I will have to rewatch rd 2 where he supposedly had 3 TD attempt, i only remember 1 real TD attempt in rd 2. Really seemed like he drank his own koolaid eg Canelo hands (to be fair, I don’t think his striking is bad, but its clearly not on jdm level)

Edit: I don’t even think Belal deserved rd 1 (not a blowout rd but JDM won rd 1). So the judges were a bit lenient towards Belal surprisingly. I do believe if he went for more TD it is very possible he could have got rd 2 or rd 3. 2 judges gave him 2 rds (i do think he won rd 4 but thats it)

 

[rjmbrd]

same, i don't know why Islam and them are so confident in beating JDM. the way Islam was throwing strikes vs Moicano looked BAD. sure, people will say "short notice" but short notice doesn't give you shittier striking technique. he looked scared of what was coming back from "i can only jab" Moicano.

He tapped Moicano in the first round in a 4 minute fight. Setting aside the fact that he immediately tapped a world class MMA submission grappler (10 of Moicano's 20 career wins are subs) he did it with complete impunity.

This feels like a bizarre thing to pick highlighting Islam's striking. He head kicked KO'd P4P great Volk and his brilliant counter striking dropped Do Bronx on his historic 12 fight win streak, setting up his finish.

Islam has had some objectively spectacular striking exchanges against the literal best fighters in the world.

if he's so hesitant that it makes his technique shittier vs striking against Moicano, he better hope he doesn't get scared vs JDM, because JDM will completely destroy him if he gets sloppy and wild.

This is fair enough - JDM has punching power that simply is not experienced at lightweight and the durability to match. He will be outsized and out gunned, he has to win with sophistication and technique not power.

 

[IDGETKTFO]

Belal was one round away from retaining

Belol was one round away from being stopped due to damage.