How does adesanya do against straight up wrestlers/grapplers?

[Africa5876]

I know Kelvin gastelum's a wrestler but he uses his striking more than his wrestling and adesanya was able to neutralize his grappling.

I think it depends on the quality of the wrestler, cause if you throw adesanya in there with most wrestling based mma fighters, he'll stuff the takedowns and embarass them standing, but if you have a really good wrestler who can actually take adesanya down, adesanya will be forced to rely on his ground game. He can handle himself on the ground and even caught Kelvin in a triangle for a brief moment but that's not his strongest part of adesanyas game. If he went up against someone like Jones or DC, he'll not only have to worry about takedowns, he'll have to worry about eye pokes. Adesanya does not react well to intentional fouls and usually punishes people for doing them so Idk if poking him in the eyes is a good idea.

Jones is the same size as adesanya so Jones can control him, and I think even DC could potentially give him problems cause of the weight difference. Stipe doesn't eye poke and he also has a wrestling background so he could potentially try and wrestlefuck adesanya because stipe has good game plans, but it really all comes down to Israel's takedown defense and him not getting hit. If he gets caught while fighting people at a higher weight class, he obviously has more of a chance of getting ko'd.

Some of the grapplers at welterweight and even maybe khabib could potentially give adesanya problems, but the main problem there is size. Adesanyas just too fucking big so it'll be much more difficult for him to be taken down.

 

[cyanogen]

He knocks them out Masvidal style.

 

[Africa5876]

He knocks them out Masvidal style.

 

[Conor_Is_Overrated]

Actually, Usman vs him could be interesting at least. Usman is quite big for a WW, and could offer a stylistic challenge.

 

[jojoRed]

Well he beat the shit out of Brunson, one of the best wrestlers at MW.

Anyone who says otherwise doesnt know shit, or watched Yoel/Brunson.

 

[Nightrider]

Well he beat the shit out of Brunson, one of the best wrestlers at MW.

Anyone who says otherwise doesnt know shit, or watched Yoel/Brunson.

Yep.

It was hilarious how easily D2 all american Brunson outwrestled world champion Romero with ease and stuffed all of his TDs.

 

[NicholasJBasile]

He has passed every test against strong wrestling he has been given thus far. I tend to believe his wrestling is rather good. I've noticed he actually does some things right that a lot of striking based MMA fighters don't do to prevent takedowns, such as pressure in on takedown attempts to defend instead of just backpedaling. Though perhaps counter intuitive, a good way to prevent a strong takedown attempt against a pressure fighter is to apply pressure back.

 

[faustian]

Any high-level rassler capable of taking him down and controlling him round after round is also very very likely to be a below average striker thus rendering him a sitting duck to Izzy at the beginning of every round until he can get Izzy to the ground. So it really comes down to the rassler's striking and if he's competent enough defensively on the feet to survive long enough to get the fight where he wants it

Now, if Izzy can somehow develop a Liddell-esque game of getting back to his feet after TDs then there's really nothing stopping him from clearing out MW and legitimately challenging Jonathan. Izzy and his coaches should really focus on studying Chuck footage and drilling that aspect nonstop at this point

 

[NicholasJBasile]

Yep.

It was hilarious how easily D2 all american Brunson outwrestled world champion Romero with ease and stuffed all of his TDs.

A lot of people forget that this actually happened haha His wrestling is very good for MMA.

 

[trident]

 

[faustian]

Actually, Usman vs him could be interesting at least. Usman is quite big for a WW, and could offer a stylistic challenge.

I don't think Usman has anything for him. Izzy's realistic challenges in terms of rasslin at this point are only at 205 and above. Usman's not gonna finish Izzy, so he basically has to hope to somehow TD and blanket for 25 mins without getting clipped in the process. Perhaps if it was a single round 25 min fight, but as it is Izzy is guaranteed 5 opportunities -- 1 at the beginning of each round -- to exploit the incalculably massive striking disparity between the two. I like Izzy's chances there, and that's best case scenario for Usman of being able to effectively blanket Izzy once he gets him down, which I don't think is even close to a given

Imo the gap between Izzy's striking and Usman's striking defense is exponentially larger than the gap between Usman's wrestling and Izzy's defensive wrestling

 

[KingBeef]

Well he beat the shit out of Brunson, one of the best wrestlers at MW.

Anyone who says otherwise doesnt know shit, or watched Yoel/Brunson.

Brunson is a decent wrestler who has KO power but terrible striking techniques. His style of fighting is tailor made for someone like Izzy. As much as I don't like the guys, I'd really like to see Izzy in there with someone like Weidman or Luke.

 

[Bucky O'Hare]

 

[Bucky O'Hare]

He knocks them out Masvidal style.

and then celebrates Masvidal style.

 

[mkt]

He's a bit fortunate because there are no prime Chael or prime Weidman types at MW right now. Bruson is a pretty decent wrestler but not at their level. And I don't see any up-and-coming wrestling greats at MW, so Adesanya could keep that title for a while.

 

[BoTyson]

Someone needs to watch prime Randy Couture, Romero for example.

Just dont swing at him ffs lol

 

[Pious Augustus]

Well he beat the shit out of Brunson, one of the best wrestlers at MW.

Anyone who says otherwise doesnt know shit, or watched Yoel/Brunson.

Brunson sux and you know it, at MW there's no one like GSP, Khabib or Usman skills-wise even Romero isn't that

 

[mkt]

As much as I don't like the guys, I'd really like to see Izzy in there with someone like Weidman or Luke.

Prime versions of Luke or Weidman would be very interesting. Unfortunately both of those guys have lost their chins and fight tentative and scared now, knowing they'll probably be KO'd. I'm quite sure he'd beat both now, but if it were Weidman or Rockhold from 5 years ago, that would be a lot different.

 

[Gilday]

Good enough to deserve being the favourite against any MW in the world right now

 

[mudrubble]

Yep.

It was hilarious how easily D2 all american Brunson outwrestled world champion Romero with ease and stuffed all of his TDs.

I think the issue with wrestlers is that Izzy's footwork is so advanced that they can't get a good entry and whenever they do manage to claps hands he's so fast with his reactions and he's obviously stronger than he looks. His TDD is great.

So I think wrestlers have less chance of landing that TD than he does of landing those strikes that make them abandon the TD attempt - it's a losing game for them.

In most cases I feel a great wrestler will need more to control Izzy. You'd need decent effective striking AND the wrestling. I think that's why Gastelum gave him the hardest time so far.

And he still got outclassed and embarrassed. So for the foreseeable future that might be the answer - Izzy does well against wrestlers.

Now BIG guys is a whole diff question. JJ, Cormier, Stipe - these are entirely diff questions and I don't know the answers but they sound like dangerous fights for Izzy.