Fighters with the highest Fight IQ

[Oscar Madison]

"I did what I had to do"
-Adesanya

 

[TheWave111]

Khabib has in my opinion the highest fight IQ.
He fights in the highest pace of all fighters and makes the best decisions in the highest pace.
He knows fighters have not his IQ to make decisions in this pace. Their brain is not fast enough to operate in this pace. I've never seen anyone fighting in this pace and still making the right decisions.
They will make wrong decisions and Khabib will capitalize on that.
99% of fighters who fight in this pace forward are getting clipped.

Fight IQ is to know your limits and strength. You will take the fight in the direction of your strenght.
A fighter with a high IQ is always dictating the pace and location of the fight.
A high understanding and awareness of distance is needed.
A fighter with a high IQ doesn't take much damage because he controls the fight. You can't control a fight with a lower IQ than your opponent.

A fighter with a high IQ always stays calm.
Fighters with a low IQ fight like zombies.
When they are hurt they still try to walk forward instead of trying to survive by circling or clinching.
Fighters with low IQ will continue with a failed approach. They try to close the distance in the same way over and over while it's not working. They got punished over and over and still fo the same hoping it will succeed 1 time.

 

[Luthien]

Jon Jones

 

[Al-Musoroah]

edit: nvm, his grappling being so good is obviously a part of fight IQ

I was about to say. Cause Yoel Romero or Gaethje are just dumb guys

 

[ayaandirtyboy]

Who are the current fighters with the highest Fight IQ and why?

How do you recognize fight IQ?
What is the definition of fight IQ?
What are the criteria of fight IQ?

Who fits into this?
Who are the talents who have this and will be successful in the future?

has to be adesanya

the amount of traps he lays in the cage is crazy. the guy is unbeatable in middleweight

 

[Gracious Warrior]

I agree with most of the names that have been mentioned so far.

Here are a few who I think deserve mention also: Frankie Edgar, DC, Machida, Benson Henderson,
Volkanovski, Adesanya, Dom Cruz, and MM

 

[Ace70 V2]

Volk maybe and Khabib

I don't know about Volk yet. Maybe it's just me, but I don't feel like I've seen him make adjustments mid round. Seems like all his adjustments are coming in between rounds from his corner.

 

[TheWave111]

has to be adesanya

the amount of traps he lays in the cage is crazy. the guy is unbeatable in middleweight

Adesanya has a high fight IQ.
But Khabib does those traps on the ground and on the cage.

the similarity between them is that they both fight in their strength. They won't take a lot of damage.
The difference is that Khabib fights in a higher pace and has far more control.
Adesanya lost many times control in the fight.

 

[Mesos]

Who are the current fighters with the highest Fight IQ and why?

How do you recognize fight IQ?
What is the definition of fight IQ?
What are the criteria of fight IQ?

Who fits into this?
Who are the talents who have this and will be successful in the future?

Dominick Cruz, all around smart but is physically out of prime so cant put it into practice

Alexander Volkanaski, is very strategic and is alot smarter than people give him credit for

Israel Adensanya, uses very clever tricks to catch people. Get them set up for brutal counters

 

[The Maniac]

Jones
Khabib
Izzy
Jan
Poirier
Petr Yan
Gane
Hollaway
GSP
Usman

 

[613]

Jones and GSP are way ahead of everyone. Prime Fedor too, but the latter half of his career he showed very low fight IQ

 

[huhwhat]

i think its similiar to chess, its about how fast you can think of a solution and execute it in any given scenario, the fewer mistakes a fighter makes the higher his IQ is, cmiw
royce gracie once was the smartest fighter alive
gsp, jones and khabib, they rarely made mistakes

 

[spooNN]

Biggest head = biggest brain = biggest fight IQ

 

[Sweater of AV]

The IQ Wrestler, also known as the GOAT.

 

[skylolow]

Jon Jones, that guy fought a lot of different style fighters and rarely got touched up until recently and the first fight with Gus. But outside of that he was almost flawless.

GSP not active but very high fight IQ.

 

[TJ Dillashank]

I don't know about Volk yet. Maybe it's just me, but I don't feel like I've seen him make adjustments mid round. Seems like all his adjustments are coming in between rounds from his corner.

Listening to your corner is something most fighters are really bad at focusing on fighting someone aand listening to what people a mile away are saying and then in between rounds most are focused on ice and things

 

[Bouboumaster]

All time, it's GSP, hands down, with no one else behind.
He was playing 3d chess in an era where everyone else was playing checkers.

Currently:
Jon Jones is dumb as fuck IRL but in the octogon, he's a maestro. It's hard to not pick him.
I'd say Usman and Nunes are runners-up, but the real answer is Jon Jones

 

[Prologue]

Biggest head = biggest brain = biggest fight IQ

Username checks out.

 

[Prologue]

Andy Wang

Hey man, when I see Andy Wang, I don't say "oh, he's a punk". I say, "there's a warrior!"

Spoiler

 

[Noraaq]

Khabib, GSP, Jones, Usman

Most elite fighters have a high fight IQ with some exceptions like Fedor and Silva. Both guys had so much talent that it bailed them out of bad decisions.