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Did Izzy do absolutely no homework at all?

Vergilius said:
...but if you miss with that first jab, you are open to being countered over it. Nothing in fighitng (in this case boxing) comes without risk or tradeoffs, I can absolutely see why Izzy thought he could win with kicks and punches from the outside, without having to move into territory where he was open to getting countered or taken down - his defensive footwork is usually some of the best we've seen in mma. Didn't work for him this time, though.
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Maybe you can explain it to me, but I absolutely can't understand how Izzy thought he was going to win this fight. Sean fought exactly as he always has, straight up, straight forward, straight head punches, there was absolutely nothing different that should have surprised Izzy.

Fame and riches are antithetical to success in MMA. It takes a unique motivation for people to have that extreme drive to hurt other people in a cage fight and gets harder and harder to maintain as the success makes you forget the feelings that drove you to do it. That is why it is so rare for anyone to ever retake a title after losing it. Izzy did it due to the intense need to defeat Alex Periera and it looks pretty clear that was the end for him.
 
He couldn't hit somebody cuz they were shoulder rolling? This is something you get taught like the second day you take a box in class. Kind of rethinking the level of fighters the UFC has at this point
Elporko said:
The man literally in there saying to his corner "He just leans away from my punches, I can't hit him" between rounds.

Mate, this is literally exactly what Pereira said about Strickland before absolutely starching him.

If you have a fight against Strickland and you haven't trained specifically to deal with his shoulder roll and leaning, then what did you do in preparation for this fight?

Double up on your jab and and close distance on the second strike. Cut the angles and get inside the guard of his shoulder. Things that literally every analyst has been saying about fighting Strickland and that haven't changed at all.

SMH
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Cartiac said:
Maybe you can explain it to me, but I absolutely can't understand how Izzy thought he was going to win this fight. Sean fought exactly as he always has, straight up, straight forward, straight head punches, there was absolutely nothing different that should have surprised Izzy.

Fame and riches are antithetical to success in MMA. It takes a unique motivation for people to have that extreme drive to hurt other people in a cage fight and gets harder and harder to maintain as the success makes you forget the feelings that drove you to do it. That is why it is so rare for anyone to ever retake a title after losing it. Izzy did it due to the intense need to defeat Alex Periera and it looks pretty clear that was the end for him.
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Izzy probably thought that most of the fight would look like round 2: him using footwork to stay outside while landing kicks and jabs with Strickland following him around unable to really get to him. He probably also thought that Sean would eventually have to get reckless trying to catch up to him and he could then snipe him for a potential KO.

I mean, that's probably how most people (myself included) saw the fight going. We were all wrong, though, because Strickland was actually really good at cutting off the octagon and staying in his face despite the leg kicks. Izzy couldn't land anything to keep him on the outside and when Strickland got close, he boxed really well. Respect.
 
Zero tape, zero prep. CBK just wanted to keep Izzy warmed up for Driscus, and neglected to camp for anything else. Bareman could not even give stricks his credit, apparently Strickland doing EXACTLY what he does in every single fight for his entire career can just be attributed to the very best night of his entire life and the worst for Izzy (worse than getting finished lol?)
 
linvillegorge said:
I think Izzy completely looked past Strickland. Never gave any thought to him being an actual threat.
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Agreed
I'm just completely floored by this level of looking past someone.
I've never rated Izzy as highly as some others, but where I would rate him highly usually is in his tactical preparation for fights. For example it was very obvious that his knockout of Poatan was well rehearsed and based on specific patterns of how Poatan engages against the fence.
To do the level of homework required to capitalise on a pretty minor striking habit, baiting it in perfectly, and then in your next fight fail to use ANY of the basic techniques to counter a philly shell, from a guy who is known to just have "tall guy defense" of leaning back/getting behind the shoulder is absolutely staggering.
 
I think we would've seen a different fight if Izzy didn't get blasted in the 1st round and almost finished. Even after hesitating, he was able to take the 2nd round with activity. Izzy wasn't in a position to land effective strikes because of being damaged.
 
Push kick to the gut.
Strickland been doing it forever.

I don't think of it as a teep. To me, it's a well-timed shot with the sole landing, not the toes.

Izzy caught a lot of them, and by R3, he did not like them at all.

IMO, every time Izzy gathered himself and tried to turn the tide, Strickland would land one of these kicks and a jab and Izzy lost all his steam.

IMO, Strickland has amazing timing.
 
Elporko said:
The man literally in there saying to his corner "He just leans away from my punches, I can't hit him" between rounds.

Mate, this is literally exactly what Pereira said about Strickland before absolutely starching him.

If you have a fight against Strickland and you haven't trained specifically to deal with his shoulder roll and leaning, then what did you do in preparation for this fight?

Double up on your jab and and close distance on the second strike. Cut the angles and get inside the guard of his shoulder. Things that literally every analyst has been saying about fighting Strickland and that haven't changed at all.

SMH
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I didn't expect Strickland's defense/head movement to be as good as it was - its light years improved from the Pereira fight.
 
Izzy was never some amazing high level striker, the Vettori fights should have made that clear when he struggled to land anything clean against an easy target over 10 rounds. His occasional high lights knock outs created a false impression. He is a good but limited striker with his hands.
 
DapperDave said:
Push kick to the gut.
Strickland been doing it forever.

I don't think of it as a teep. To me, it's a well-timed shot with the sole landing, not the toes.

Izzy caught a lot of them, and by R3, he did not like them at all.

IMO, every time Izzy gathered himself and tried to turn the tide, Strickland would land one of these kicks and a jab and Izzy lost all his steam.

IMO, Strickland has amazing timing.
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Yeah, people talk about the job and the straight, but the push kick to the gut was super effective as well. Izzy was visibly wincing in the fifth round when he was hit by it.
 
Izzy beat himself, and this happened way before the fight started.

Izzy cares immensely more about his image than he did with concrete strategy to beat Strickland. He is more self conscious of things like fashion, pre fight trash talking, painting his nails, portray himself that he doesn't need to breathe through his mouth to try to look like he's beating his opponents effortlessly. All this vanity shit I think played a serious role in him not being able to focus on actually beaten Strickland vs being self absorbed in non-fight related activities.
 
kahymo said:
he played Possum before geting punched in the chin

he was taunting Sean to land the left hook, the same that Pereira landed on Sean
but his timing and distance was off, he found himself too close to Sean when he launched a telegraphed Left Hook

Sean read it perfectly and land a perfect right hand that was close to finish the fight, he gave some more hard shots
Izzy was concused and never recovered from there

Izzy came to have a great KO finish, and paid the price for not resepcting his opponent
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He threw that counter hooker while having his back to the fence and head up against the padding of the cage, he had no room to pull back and evade the shot. Izzy thought he was setting the trap when it was Sean moving him into a perfect punching position with him pinned along the cage.

Izzy got outsmarted and outworked
 
I honestly think Israel is either done, or just took Sean lightly. Never in a million years would I have expected Sean to win, and so I'm here like the other people thinking that shit was insanely unexpected.
 
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