Are we living in a pretend world where Johny Hendricks didn't have the sharpest physical and performance decline in the history of the sport? He was 16-3 coming into the Wonderboy fight. Two of those three losses controversial split decisions.
He then goes on a 1-5 streak, getting knocked out repeatedly since USADA. You are being intellectually dishonest here.
Kevin Lee looks like one of the best MMA adapted grapplers in the sport right now. He absolutely dominated Ferguson on the ground until he gassed, and had an obvious staph infection. What are we debating here?
Who has out wrestled or grappled Kevin Lee?
Raging Al beat him in a decision a comical 12 fights ago and it wasn't a wrestling match, not that Al is a particularly good wrestler.
JG doesn't seem to have any fight IQ and he's already been cleaned up twice by lesser men since arriving. A career freefall-skid Michael Johnson nearly put him away FFS.
I'm not the one who picked Hendricks to beat wonderboy man. Seems like you were the one in the pretend world and now you're using hindsight. So maybe, and more likely, we just look at fighters and their skillset and their accomplishments differently.
You've picked plenty of fights wrong, and so have I. So neither of us should be acting like our opinions are infallible or inherently better than the other's.
In regards to Justin's fight IQ, he's doing fine. He has the same amount of top ten wins as Lee, and the fights he lost were very competitive against guys who are at or above Lee's level.
Also, despite how short his fight against Vick was, he showed a lot of patience with how he pressured and closed the distance.
He and his coach have been stressing patience and keeping dominant foot position, and I think we saw some of that against Vick.
Regardless, I just don't think Lee is ready for what Justin brings to the table. I think Gaethje is more prepared to deal with Lee's grappling than Lee is prepared for Justin's pressure and striking.
I do know that Lee's best chance is holding Justin down and submitting him, and I do know that I've seen some of Justin's wrestling career and I strongly doubt Lee can hold Justin down. Lee failed on 7/8 takedowns against AI--it wasn't a wrestling match because AI shut down Lee's wrestling. I expect Justin can do the same, at least enough to get the win.
It's just my opinion. Lee looks better each fight, though, so who knows.
No need to put down Maia over it lol.