Everyone likes to criticize, but what do you think Izzy's should improve if he wants to become champ again?

[justmark]

How about offering solutions to the problem instead of continuing to mindlessly criticizing him? What should he improve? What does he do wrong that he should change or improve?

 

[Corrado Soprano]

He needs to become a BJJ Brown belt like Alex Pereira.

 

[marvinparsons]

I don't think his skills are a problem, it's his mentality. He needs to fix that.

I also think he got too comfortable out pointing people and could see success being more aggressive and trying to get a finish. He has power and a good gas tank, I think he'd be better served to use it in pursuit of a finish/hurting guys. He rarely even attempts a kill shot.

 

[humperdoo]

He turns his back when taken down. That I think he should not do.

 

[HoiceNJuicy]

All he needs to do is find the Fountain of Youth. Turn back time to be 28 years old again. Barring that, he's an aging and fading fighter, like the great Anderson Silva became.

FATHER TIME REMAINS UNDEFEATED!!!

 

[loisestrad]

He was litterally on his way to beating DDP.

Got caught. Shit happens. Sometimes shit happens.

There's nothing in particular he can do - well, except for getting better in every aspect of the game and getting ready for shit to happen.

 

[justmark]

He was litterally on his way to beating DDP.

Got caught. Shit happens. Sometimes shit happens.

There's nothing in particular he can do - well, except for getting better in every aspect of the game and getting ready for shit to happen.

DDP was 2-1 ahead on the score cards and he just found a second wind in the second half of the fourth round. He was starting to tag izzy pretty hard before the finish. He would have won anyway.

 

[Darkavius]

He's 35 in the Middleweight Division. I don't think there's anything he can do fix his problems. He fights based a lot on counters and pace. If he can't counter you and the pace is consistently too high Izzy usually loses. Both of the things he needs to be effective don't get better as you get older.

 

[HHJ]

How about offering solutions to the problem instead of continuing to mindlessly criticizing him? What should he improve? What does he do wrong that he should change or improve?

No U.

 

[ArtardFiesta]

last fight ddp just broke him. the choke wasn't really unde the chin and izzy still tapped. usually a sign the guy tol tired to fight it off or teh combo of fatigue and panic made them tap.

he fought great but that was the only slip he made. could also be a sign he is starting to check out of this and is ready for the next chapter of his life.

 

[The Siege]

He's 35 so I dont know what he can improve at this stage, but its worth a shot to strengthen his TD defense and sub defense. That would give him the most bang for his buck.

 

[TITS]

He was litterally on his way to beating DDP.

Got caught. Shit happens. Sometimes shit happens.

There's nothing in particular he can do - well, except for getting better in every aspect of the game and getting ready for shit to happen.

You remind me of one of those casual drunk women at the sports bar screaming the whole time the fights are on while having no idea what they're looking at.

 

[Poirierfan]

You want Sherdog to put a plan together for Izzy's comeback?

Y'all can handle this, huddle up.

 

[nostradumbass]

He's not going to become champ again. When a 35 year old striker who relies a lot on reflexes and confidence loses to 3 different guys in 4 fights, that's about it for him. Good career, but nothing lasts forever.

 

[Shay Brennan]

At 35 he's not gonna make any big changes. Even though he's slightly improving in all areas from fight camp to fight camp that's not enough to be as good or better than fighters who have spent decades improving one martial art.

Also, his style relies on athleticism and speed which disappear as a fighter ages.

In my opinion he should either retire now or take a legacy fight such as Whittaker 3 or Chimaev.

I was expecting him to at least catch DDP with his hook counter but for some reason that didn't happen, now if that's from Adesnya declining or maybe DDP is just that good with his blitzes. Probably both.

As for your question, depending on the fight, I would have Adesnaya mostly drilling TDD, Get ups, Choke defenses and most importantly he should be doing lots of exercises for his gas tank as that may decide the winner. He's already miles ahead of Borz in the striking so no need to do too much striking exercises and drills.

Now for Whittaker it's much easier, just keep doing more of the same. He's already had 2 fights with him so they both know each other quite well. This fight would be a fight of adjustments.
I would have him train 65% striking and 35% defensive wreslting.
He probably already has striking setups which he didn't get to use in the second fight so that's good.

So yeah either fight Borz in Saudi Arabia in January or Whittaker in Sydney in February and call it a career.

Crazy to think he's been in 12 consecutive title fights.

 

[loisestrad]

You remind me of one of those casual drunk women at the sports bar screaming the whole time the fights are on while having no idea what they're looking at

Screaming the whole time while having no idea at the sports bar is definitely gender specific...

 

[Ballsaque]

He fought an incredible fight. I dont think he really needs to change much and could easily become champion again.

 

[orca]

He was litterally on his way to beating DDP.

Got caught. Shit happens. Sometimes shit happens.

There's nothing in particular he can do - well, except for getting better in every aspect of the game and getting ready for shit to happen.

round 1 ddp almost strangled him

your also wrong about literally on his way beating DDP
seems like you watched the wrong fight
the striking war was very competitive

ddp won because he punched adesanyas face = outstriked him
then strangled him =out grappled

basically he won in the striking match and the grappling match

 

[DS66]

It's a little odd asking what a 35 year old with 28 professional MMA fights (12 title fights) and 80 kickboxing fights needs to improve. He can't be making any wholesale changes at this point. Having said that, he still probably has 1-2 good years of competition left in him and if he can fully re-focus and get his confidence back he can still compete with or beat any MW in the world. It's all about confidence and being able to maintain that focus for a 5-round fight for him.

 

[marvinparsons]

If I'm Adesanya I want a tune up fight against someone not super dangerous like Hermannson or Brendan Allen.

I think he should focus on being more aggressive and getting guys out of there ASAP. Too many 5 round fights against killers with high stakes has led to him being way too tentative pot shooting and countering. When he was forced to throw a bomb against Perreira it was a KO. He didn't throw hardly any bombs against DDP, Strickland or Whittaker 2.

He needs an Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin type fight to realize he can knock dudes out.

In 5 round fights with capable strikers it's just bad strategy to constantly play patty cake in low volume striking exchanges. There's too much risk of barely getting outpointed due to nothing much happening, or getting tagged yourself by someone with serious power.

Yeah you risk getting KOd, but you already are risking that by sitting in front of high level dudes for 25 minutes.