Could a prime Weidman have beaten Izzy?

[NoBiasJustMMA]

Agree. He also had great cardio (see Machida fight(.

But then you have to ask why he fell after USADA was implemented. But now that I think of it, Adesanya has gyno.

The Rockhold fight and his 20 something injuries are obvious reasons for Weidman's decline.

 

[Deleted member 110072]

It would be a tough fight although I think Izzy is actually a better counter fighter than Anderson, not so good in a pure standup war perhaps but better at picking out counters without something getting really sloppy.

 

[Mark McMichael]

...
Prime Weidman claim to fame was beating a 38 year old Silva,a

Anderson was still in his Prime when Weidman beat him.

Like Randy Couture, Anderson had a very late Prime run which, while not the norm, does happen with some athletes.

Andersons Prime run did not start when most do otherwise he was losing to Takase, Chonan and Okami in his Prime. His Prime starts around 2006 he is showing both improvement in his game and more strength right and more impressive wins right up until Weidman derails him and knocks him right off the tracks causing his decline.

Anyway to the TS, I think Prime Weidman, in his very short Prime run would have taken Izzy.

 

[G10]

To answer TS's question, I'm of two minds. On the one hand, prime Weidman was very scary, and I could picture him beating on Adesanya for a couple of rounds before nailing the sub.

On the other hand, I think it's safe to say that Adesanya has already beaten much tougher guys than Weidman did on his run. Part of what made Weidman look so great in his day was that most of his division was aging out. All of his best wins were over guys who were past their physical primes, and every time he fought someone who was still relatively young and close to him in size, Weidman got smashed. How much of that was due to injuries? Who knows. But Adesanya has definitely built the stronger career at this point.

 

[C0NCH3TO]

Absolutely. Prime Weidman, Lindland, Sonnen, Hughes, GSP and Jacare would have pwned 0 grappling Izzy. Jan has dogshit wresslin yet he looked like a D1 against Izzy.

The guy’s striking is pretty good but his luck is truly outstanding. Dodged the wresslers era big time.

 

[Yellowcrab]

Anderson was still in his Prime when Weidman beat him.

You're not in your physical prime at 38 years old (especially if you're not a HW). If that was the case, we would see 38 years old individuals breaking world records at the Olympic Games, but we don't.

Weidman only beat good fighters much older than him and yet still lost against a much older Romero.

Here's the truth

 

[mudrubble]

Prime Weidman was (T)KOed like 5x

Prime Weidman claim to fame was beating a 38 year old Silva,a 36-37 year old Machida(who was considered past his best after being strangled by Jon Jones) and a deflated 40 year old TRTless Belfort,who hadnt fought in over a year

Stylebender by KO

I just rewatched all Silva's fights with my gf and I don't believe prime Weidman could have beat a non-clowning Silva and I think Silva was on his way to a fairly easy win in the first fight but his ego and boredom with being champ got to him.

He was tired of being champ and was relieved to relinquish the title and Weidman was in the right place at the right time and he capitalized. And good on him. He wasn't winning that stand up and prior to Silva's silly antics he didn't seem like he was going to win that fight.

I'd have to put my money on Izzy, sorry. Weidman's a good guy, but I don't believe he was ever on either Silva's level or Izzy's. He got the gift and the curse from Anderson - beat him twice and then shit the bed as a career, including the freak curse of breaking his leg in the same way he broke Silva's. Right place, right time.

He made history and I'm happy for him, but he was never on Silva's level. No middleweight really ever was, to my mind, including Izzy.

 

[GOATtalks]

Absolutely. Prime Weidman, Lindland, Sonnen, Hughes, GSP and Jacare would have pwned 0 grappling Izzy. Jan has dogshit wresslin yet he looked like a D1 against Izzy.

The guy’s striking is pretty good but his luck is truly outstanding. Dodged the wresslers era big time.

What about Brunson?

 

[Migdagen]

Izzy brushed of Brunson like it was nothing. My bet is he would do the same to Chris. On the feet it’s not even close.

Jan only took Izzy down, because he mixed it up so well with his striking and because he’s a big MFer

It is closer than you think. Chris was wining his exchanged vs the Spider. The guy is quite good on his feet for 1-2 rounds, until he gases. He was also wining vs Romero until he ate that big knee.
I think odds would be in Izzy favors, but prime Chris would definitely have a decent chance

 

[mudrubble]

Anderson was still in his Prime when Weidman beat him.

Like Randy Couture, Anderson had a very late Prime run which, while not the norm, does happen with some athletes.

Andersons Prime run did not start when most do otherwise he was losing to Takase, Chonan and Okami in his Prime. His Prime starts around 2006 he is showing both improvement in his game and more strength right and more impressive wins right up until Weidman derails him and knocks him right off the tracks causing his decline.

Anyway to the TS, I think Prime Weidman, in his very short Prime run would have taken Izzy.

Anderson was tired of the belt and its duties, and was relieved when he lost. He initially had nothing to say other than his time was up and it was now Weidman's time. Initially, he didn't even want a rematch.

That's not in his prime. That's sunsetting his championship career. Weidman was in the right place at the right time. Looking at Silva's antics and listening to his post fight speech, it was clear he was done with being a champion. And he was.

 

[MeatWagon06]

Prime Weidman is much better fighter than Israel in my book.

Good thing your book is that of which a preschooler would construct.

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

I just rewatched all Silva's fights with my gf and I don't believe prime Weidman could have beat a non-clowning Silva and I think Silva was on his way to a fairly easy win in the first fight but his ego and boredom with being champ got to him.

He was tired of being champ and was relieved to relinquish the title and Weidman was in the right place at the right time and he capitalized. And good on him. He wasn't winning that stand up and prior to Silva's silly antics he didn't seem like he was going to win that fight.

I'd have to put my money on Izzy, sorry. Weidman's a good guy, but I don't believe he was ever on either Silva's level or Izzy's. He got the gift and the curse from Anderson - beat him twice and then shit the bed as a career, including the freak curse of breaking his leg in the same way he broke Silva's. Right place, right time.

He made history and I'm happy for him, but he was never on Silva's level. No middleweight really ever was, to my mind, including Izzy.

Lmao, Anderson only started clowning cause Weidman was beating him. The delusion in
this post is incredible.

 

[Migdagen]

It would depend on Weidman's gas tank really... I think he would be in trouble later in the fight as he usually had trouble with his cardio.

If he could keep the fight as his pace, id take prime Weidman.

First smart answer. Everyone else think one guy play with the other one.

 

[GOATtalks]

It is closer than you think. Chris was wining his exchanged vs the Spider. The guy is quite good on his feet for 1-2 rounds, until he gases. He was also wining vs Romero until he ate that big knee.
I think odds would be in Izzy favors, but prime Chris would definitely have a decent chance

Chryi isn’t bad on the feet, but Izzy is on another level.

 

[mudrubble]

Chris was wining his exchanged vs the Spider.

That wasn't an exchange. It was Silva clowning Chris and trying to create a highlight reel instead of winning a fight. And he was still leading Chris in those exchanges even given this handicap.

Weidman's team was smart to study Silva's head movement and realize he predicts punches and goes left to right. So Weidman swing a wild overhand right that missed but came back with a right backhand that touched Silva but he rolled with it. Silva rolled back to his right, Weidman's left, anticipating a shot coming from Weidman's right side but Weidman followed up with a left - two punches coming from the same side in a row when Silva was predicting alternating sides and clowning on his tippy toes with his head back trying to do matrix stuff instead of fighting.

Right place, right time. Even right sequence of shots. But he was not winning that stand up until then. He played it smart and he was rewarded but he wasn't winning the stand up and Silva was throwing off his TD attempts in the 2nd round. Had he not been clowning and mentally over being champ, it would have been an easy highlight reel win for him. Right place, right time for Weidman.

 

[mudrubble]

Lmao, Anderson only started clowning cause Weidman was beating him. The delusion in
this post is incredible.

Anderson was clowning because he was bored in life and not motivated to fight seriously. I just watched it days ago and I fully disagree. If that was the hungry Anderson that came out to fight Rich Franklin Weidman would have had little chance.

And Weidman was winning the fight due to having taken Anderson down in Rd 1, sure. He was not winning the stand up in Rd 2.

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

Anderson was clowning because he was bored in life and not motivated to fight seriously. I just watched it days ago and I fully disagree. If that was the hungry Anderson that came out to fight Rich Franklin Weidman would have had little chance.

And Weidman was winning the fight due to having taken Anderson down in Rd 1, sure. He was not winning the stand up in Rd 2.

You are incredibly delusional. Weidman was very clearly besting Anderson before any taunting happened and the taunting was a desperate attempt to goad Weidman into keeping it on the feet cause Anderson was losing. In round 1 Weidman bounced Anderson's head off the mat with GnP and had 2 sub attempts.

If Anderson tried to fight Weidman as if he were Rich Franklin he would have gone for the clinch and then been on his back eating punches. Styles matter in MMA you should know that by now and Weidman was winning round 2 as well, only thing Anderson had going was a few low kicks he was still getting hit more and more to the head in round 2.

 

[13Seconds]

Prime Weidman was pre USADA era.

 

[GordonMMARamsey]

I think the Weidman we saw against Anderson, Belfort, and Machida could have.

 

[chinarice]

First smart answer. Everyone else think one guy play with the other one.

It helps that I am a fan of both of them so I can be impartial. Some may not agree but I think I am pretty impartial when it comes to matching up guys, even if I don't like the person fighting someone I like.