I still don't think rob can defeat izzy and here is why

[Bangkok ready d1]

His style just doesn't match up good against izzy, he's probably the second best if not the best fighter at mw, but styles make fights and outside of paulo costa, who was easy pray for izzy considering his lack of movement or defence. Rob is always gonna be at a disadvantage if he fights like this.

His hands low, karate/boxe style its the easiest to counter if you're izzy, its a style that makes you overextend a lot but gives you mobility, most fighters are not counter punchers so thats usually not a problem but against izzy its deadly.

I know it will sound like im saying this only cause he won, but the only way to really beat izzy in a striking match is to fight like jan. High guard, never extend fully your punches, defend against leg kick and don't be over Agressive, Unfortunately thats the opposite of rob style.

I really like rob and want him to be champion, but unless he completely changes his style and aproach for this fight i can't see going his way. I hope im wrong though.

 

[axe wound]

thank you for sharing

 

[Dan Torrance]

 

[SerbBerserk]

Solid observation, I think in the Israel fight he tried to fight awkwardly on purpose because of how good of a striker Izzy is, but that failed terribly. Maybe if he maintained a high guard, and fought in a more conservative fashion gradually showing all his weapons it would have worked better. He is very fast but Israel is really good at finding people's chin in quick openings, so it's dangerous to rush in on him.

 

[svmr_db]

Whittaker needs to just shell up like Romero and not move for the first few rounds, then implement the grappling in round 3

 

[Pillar of Society]

Height and reach disadvantage is too much. Robert can jab and use his combo that ends with high kick, much more effectively against fighters of same or similar height.

But when he goes against someone who has 5 inches of height on him, and 6-7 inches of reach on him, by the time he enters the range in which he can jab Izzy, he already gets hit with Izzy's jab or some other strike.
Also, good luck countering such a lanky guy the same way he did to Gastelum - Izzy doesn't even need to be in Rob's counter range to inflict damage.

Not to mention it is always more difficult to throw a jab/kick at someone whose head (your target) is 5-6 inches taller, you leave yourself more open to counters.

 

[DjHnd]

He just gotta add more wrestling this time and he’s champ

 

[ninjaDre]

His key to victories are a higher guard to avoid the high kick, Calf kicks to take mobility, and use his striking to initiate the take downs.

 

[PrevailKB]

I agree with you even though I don't want to. Bobby Knuckles is one of my favourite but the problem is he needs to fight a perfect fight against a sniper like Izzy. He has all of the tools an elite martial artist needs but I still don't see that happening.

Although I will say, of all the improvements we have seen him make, his striking defence will be the biggest factor in the rematch. He tends to leave his hands low after punching which is why he was getting caught last time, he seems to have somewhat corrected that.

 

[Iroh]

Nah, if Bobby would implement a more GSP-like style, he'd have a really good chance of beating Izzy.

 

[Bangkok ready d1]

Whittaker needs to just shell up like Romero and not move for the first few rounds, then implement the grappling in round 3

He cant just stay there cause his leg will be choped, but yeah manteining a high guard and try to fight more at a boxing range is better against izzy, he needs openings to do his best work, jan was so sucesfull cause he actually fought like a more agressive romero. The thing is i don't know if rob can fight like this, its the complete oposite of his style

 

[Iroh]

way to really beat izzy in a striking match is to fight like jan.
.

Why would he have to make it a striking match?

 

[Bangkok ready d1]

I agree with you even though I don't want to. Bobby Knuckles is one of my favourite but the problem is he needs to fight a perfect fight against a sniper like Izzy. He has all of the tools an elite martial artist needs but I still don't see that happening.

Although I will say, of all the improvements we have seen him make, his striking defence will be the biggest factor in the rematch. He tends to leave his hands low after punching which is why he was getting caught last time, he seems to have somewhat corrected that.

He did look to not overextend against gastelum, still took some shots because of the hands down, but it defenetly improved

 

[Bangkok ready d1]

Why would he have to make it a striking match?

Cause he's not a wrestler

 

[FKAri]

Whittaker needs to just shell up like Romero and not move for the first few rounds, then implement the grappling in round 3

Was this the worst title fight of all time? Or even the worst headliner? Izzy must really wants to be the MW GOAT cuz he's following in the foot steps of Anderson Silva to a T.

 

[Brettco]

Whittaker needs to just shell up like Romero and not move for the first few rounds, then implement the grappling in round 3

Like fighting a turtle on steroids

 

[textwarrior]

His style just doesn't match up good against izzy, he's probably the second best if not the best fighter at mw, but styles make fights and outside of paulo costa, who was easy pray for izzy considering his lack of movement or defence. Rob is always gonna be at a disadvantage if he fights like this.

His hands low, karate/boxe style its the easiest to counter if you're izzy, its a style that makes you overextend a lot but gives you mobility, most fighters are not counter punchers so thats usually not a problem but against izzy its deadly.

I know it will sound like im saying this only cause he won, but the only way to really beat izzy in a striking match is to fight like jan. High guard, never extend fully your punches, defend against leg kick and don't be over Agressive, Unfortunately thats the opposite of rob style.

I really like rob and want him to be champion, but unless he completely changes his style and aproach for this fight i can't see going his way. I hope im wrong though.

For the loser, the first fight should show elements of dominance during the fight. Or something you know if they fixed that it would be a simple fix that could win the fight.

I never seen a fighter fix genetics such as striking. Or all of the sudden be a master at some new art. I seen people learn 1 or 2 moves that help but not in the sense of mastering something new.

I seen cardio get better and hands more accurate but not faster. Also, better take downs and TDD and defensive skills. So I seen improvements in what they already had but just made it sharper.

I just think you are seeing the best each fighter can be for the most part when they step inside the UFC. They can only make it sharper at this level. Each just has different skill sets and abilities. Some seem to work more often than other.

 

[Iroh]

Cause he's not a wrestler

He is.

Whittaker began competing in amateur freestyle wrestling tournaments in 2015, when he unexpectedly turned up to compete in the Australia Cup in Canberra. He won each of his three bouts.[86] It was also at the 2015 Australia Cup that Whittaker flagged the possibility of potentially representing Australia in Olympic or Commonwealth wrestling competitions.[87] He returned to the wrestling mat in May 2017 and claimed the Australian National Wrestling Championships gold medal in the 97 kg (213 lbs) division.[88] After winning the national championship, Whittaker entered Australia's 2018 Commonwealth Games 97 kg qualifying tournament in November 2017. He would once again claim first place in his division and in doing so qualified to represent Australia in the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast,[89][90] the city in which he made his UFC debut. Following his qualification, Whittaker made it clear he would only compete in the Commonwealth Games if the event did not interfere with his UFC commitments.[91] It was confirmed in March 2018 that Whittaker would be one of eight Australians to compete in the Commonwealth Games wrestling competition in April 2018.[92] However, Whittaker was forced to withdraw from the Games less than three weeks from the event in order not to risk being stripped of his UFC championship title, as the UFC was concerned that an injury incurred during the Commonwealth Games would render him unable to compete for the middleweight championship at UFC 225 against Yoel Romero on 9 June 2018.[93]

 

[baba2008]

Solid observation, I think in the Israel fight he tried to fight awkwardly on purpose because of how good of a striker Izzy is, but that failed terribly. Maybe if he maintained a high guard, and fought in a more conservative fashion gradually showing all his weapons it would have worked better. He is very fast but Israel is really good at finding people's chin in quick openings, so it's dangerous to rush in on him.

I love Robert, but you are right - he had a weird gameplan. He was loading up and seemed to be swinging for the fences way too much in that fight and paid the price when he was overextended and out of position to properly defend against Izzy's shots. I think the Robert that fought Gastelum stands a much better chance against Izzy (not saying he'd win though). Fight patient, don't swing for the fences and add more takedowns and he has a decent chance.

 

[The Half Blood Prince]

Yeah and people are reaching far too much with the wrestling because too many fans have a recency bias

Rob isnt an elite offensive wrestler. Size was a factor in why Jan was able to take Izzy down and this fight happened at LHW, Rob is not a LHW he is smaller than Jan. Izzy has very good wrestling defense and is hard to keep down