Has Israel already surpassed Anderson Silva?
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talk to me when he wins 16 straight and defends his title 10 times
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How has he surpassed arguably the Greatest of All Time? Lol.
Adesanya’s approaching Top 10 All Time territory.
Adesanya’s approaching Top 10 All Time territory.
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Remember, Anderson Silva had a reign of terror going on. Consecutive Title Defenses, Years of being on top and just absolutely smashed his competition. Really, the only thing that stopped Andy was father time, showboating, and the Chris. But he was on the decline already.
That being said, Israel is well on his way. He keeps winning and defending the belt he has a chance too be.
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He will be at 6 and to act like it's not debatable at that point would just be silly. He'd also be at 13 straight.
Quality just needs to be there and it is.
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Only someone new to the sport would think Yoel relies on his wrestling. He can knock people out with his left hand, flying knees, or finish them on the ground. As a KO artist he has more weapons than Hendo.
Whittaker's defense is above average, much harder to hit than Hendo or Vitor or Franklin. Excellent defensive footwork and doesn't usually overextend (Izzy fight being an exception).
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Costa is also a BJJ black belt, so calling him one dimensional is not very accurate.
Yoel doesn’t age and for sure isn’t a one dimensional wrestler as he chooses to strike most of the time.
Whittaker is a very well rounded champion with title defences. Top10 all time MW without a doubt, possibly even top5.
Gastelum has 7 fights as a WW and he missed weight in 2 of them. He has beat Hall, Kennedy, Bisping, Belfort and Jacare at MW, so calling him a WW is ridiculous.
Izzy also beat Brunson who is a tough fight for anyone at MW and he did it with ease.
And he also beat Anderson at his own game, which is by no means an easy task.
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he either has to:
and then we can have a debate
- break Anderson's streak at MW
- go up to LHW and smesh the top 5
- beat Jones
and then we can have a debate
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Those fighters were thought of as great when Silva beat them.
5 years ago we thought Rockhold, Weidman, Jacare, Romero and Mousasi was the best division. I bet that opinion is different now.
The same way the current fighters are when Israel beats them. If you compare Izzy’s list 5 years later to a future fighter’s resume then some of these guys will not be rated as highly as they are today, it won’t be perceived as an impressive list as it is today.
5 years ago we thought Rockhold, Weidman, Jacare, Romero and Mousasi was the best division. I bet that opinion is different now.
The same way the current fighters are when Israel beats them. If you compare Izzy’s list 5 years later to a future fighter’s resume then some of these guys will not be rated as highly as they are today, it won’t be perceived as an impressive list as it is today.
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Yes Yoel is very athletic and relies heavily on his athleticism for those ko...
He was also 40 when he faced Israel and on a 2 fight losing streak and threw like 40 strikes in entire fight.
Whittaker’s was getting beat up by ww, moved up to mw beat couple of grapplers and all of a sudden ppl are acting like he’s this great striker?!? He’s good but was definitely overrated.
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He's a better fighter and I believe he's proven that point but his career isn't ther YET. Honestly 3 or 4 more defenses and the conversation will be nearing a close
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Anderson has a legit black belt in BJJ.
Adesanya doesn’t even have a ground game....
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well it’s about what you do in actual fight, not what you have on paper.
costa doesn’t use his bjj much
yoel is 40 and lost 2 in a row before Israel’s fight
Whittaker was getting peiced up in ww division
Gastelum is just a fat ww fighting at mw
And Anderson was 45 when they fought...
Again it’s a solid list, but let’s not act it’s much better than Anderson’s
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I thought Silva had a 16 fight win streak who is missing? Silva came into the UFC with some quality mma wins. Could go on a long rant but I’m not feeling the comparison. Different types of fighters.
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Fighters get better over time. Why does this fact elude so many people? The Izzy that arguably lost to Vettori is nothing compared to Izzy today, same for Whittaker who cut too much weight to make WW and compromised himself. Hooker lost to fucking Jason Knight at FW, now look at him.
If you actually trained any striking then you'd have much more respect for Whittaker's skillset. All things considered he is one of the most skilled fighters I've ever seen; 2nd best TDD I've ever seen behind only Aldo, excellent defensive footwork (good luck getting him against the cage), one of the better jabs in MMA, also uses straight kicks well both for gauging distance and setups, deadly right hand, deadly left hook, deadly headkick and he sets it all up well and has excellent feints. Can mix in wrestling too as he showed against Till.
I forgot to mention Gastelum. While he is undersized at MW, his wins at MW speak for themselves (Tim Kennedy, Vitor, Jacare, Bisping if you forget). He's one of the best boxers in MMA.
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Yeah I think so to be honest.
you can sit here and pick apart andersons wins, was Forrest on sleeping pills?, was Bonnar sent to do a ‘job’
Was Irvin really a threat? Was Leben anything more that a tough guy at a BBQ.
Did he beat Brunson?
Why did he fuck around with Maia?
Was Sonnen actually good off the sauce?
with Izzy.. I don’t think we will ever look back on Rob Whittaker/Yoel/Paulo/KG and question their legitimacy or the way he handled them.
you can sit here and pick apart andersons wins, was Forrest on sleeping pills?, was Bonnar sent to do a ‘job’
Was Irvin really a threat? Was Leben anything more that a tough guy at a BBQ.
Did he beat Brunson?
Why did he fuck around with Maia?
Was Sonnen actually good off the sauce?
with Izzy.. I don’t think we will ever look back on Rob Whittaker/Yoel/Paulo/KG and question their legitimacy or the way he handled them.
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No, but I think three or four more good wins against the elite of the elite and he'll surpass him. Especially if he goes up to LHW and gets the title. And becomes double champ. Than he definitely surpass him, and Israel would be considered one of the GOATs.
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Fighters also get worse over time too... why does this fact elude so many ppl?
Again Whittaker has a solid tdd and ability to get back up if taken down, however he got overrated in last 5 years cause he was mostly facing grapplers.
How many good strikers did he face?
also it’s comically you mentioned all those wins for Gastelum. Most of those guys were near retirement or were old and battle worn.
