Media GIFs - Islam's takedowns against Dober

[Marko Polo]

Not sure who is going to beat this guy at 155

Do Bronx.

 

[Volador]

If Oliveira ragdolled this version of Tony, imagine what Islam does... he would toy with him at will and possibly submit him. I'm almost not even interested in seeing it. Would rather see Dariush.

 

[moosaev]

His defense is terrible and nowhere near Khabibs. Ramos rocked him, Martins obviously KOd him stiff. Makhachev is extremely skilled but he lacks the athleticism, chin, explosiveness and raw physical talent of Khabib

I think his lack of defense is due to his lack of confidence honestly. You can tell he has good instincts but he has dear in the headlights moments. If you watch his feet he has great in and out movement.

 

[true_fan]

I like Islam’s personality much more than Khabib’s

 

[Bilzerian]

I understand why top 5 fighters constantly duck Makhachev as if they see a plague. They are gonna be smashed, smothered and tapped

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

His defense is terrible and nowhere near Khabibs. Ramos rocked him, Martins obviously KOd him stiff. Makhachev is extremely skilled but he lacks the athleticism, chin, explosiveness and raw physical talent of Khabib

Kind of harsh, though somewhat true.

Khabib perfected that type of defensive style because it's based on relentless pressure/aggression, something which Islam doesn't have nearly as much of.

He certainly isn't the athlete Khabib is so not as explosive and Khabib also has God-tier chin on level with Jones, but almost no fighters will have that level of athleticism or chin. His athleticism is still pretty damn good though not elite, and he seems to have insane technique that works well at this division since most guys can't handle elite clinch grapplers (there aren't a lot of them).

But to bring up the Martins KO just kind of underlies the point that you aren't giving him any credit on his progress - he got slept in like a minute by a clean counter off a lazy jab or something. Now he's hanging multiple rounds with Drew Dober. He's definitely far better but still has a lot of room to improve.

You can't endlessly compare him to Khabib, he's not Khabib. He's like Khabib as a worse athlete but with better technique. Capable of being champion but unlikely of remaining there if he ever did get there because of that.

 

[Herwald]

Oliveira is the only Mak fight I'm interested in. The rest will look the same as I don't think anyone else can stop this. Maybe Dariush, Ferreira, Lee and Chandler could put up a good fight, but I don't know.

 

[Peli]

Look like a high schooler vs pro