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Islam is the best wrestler not BelalJDM had no problem with "best wrestler" BeLOL, yet will be easy work for Islam?
This really all depends on how taxing the weight cuts have been on Islam, I think it really wore on him in the Volk and Poirier fights and he faded in both fights. A much stronger and more durable islam might be able to hold JDM down and keep the energy for a full 5 rounds. The other advantage Islam has is the sub threat, when JDM got up from one of Belal’s takedowns his neck was wide open. Getting up against Islam will be much trickier, and I’m not convinced JDM’s grappling is sophisticated enough to deal with it. If it is, then it’ll be a very hard night for Islam. Which he may be able to endure with the better durability that comes with an easier weight cut. There are many unknowns here.Islam's got some things working against him here
- He is the smaller fighter, and if you want to argue he's the same size, fine(I'd disagree), but you can't argue that he is used to fighting guys as big as Jack. He just isn't
- He is the older fighter
- He's a grappling based fighter, and weight differences affect grapplers more than anything else in my opinion.
- His biggest advantage on the feet might be his kicking game, but it's largely dependent on open stance match ups with him being southpaw and his opponents being orthodox. Against guys who fight southpaw, which Jack very often does, Islam's kicking game is almost non existent.
- His best takedowns are against the cage, but does he present a big enough threat striking to be able to reliably push jack back to the cage?
All of that said, Islam and his team are very, very clever and tend to find the right gameplan to minimize risks and optimize their success. He is one of the best for a reason and I won't at all be surprised if he can find a way to win, but personally I favor jack at the moment. I think Jack is still improving, and cross training with Volk's crew again will only help him improve even more.
He’ll be called a no good bum, it will prove that he was a weight bully all along lol.If Islam loses a valiant close fight, will he retain the #1P4P ranking or is that privilege just for Volk only?
very possible. its going to be interesting to see how islam looks at 170. and how his physicality matches up with JDM
JDM literally just 'got up' when belal took him down.
I'd imagine JDM and his team didn't even bother training sub defense a lot since Belal presents zero threats. His next camp will be a lot different. Which might affect his getups and what his options are...This really all depends on how taxing the weight cuts have been on Islam, I think it really wore on him in the Volk and Poirier fights and he faded in both fights. A much stronger and more durable islam might be able to hold JDM down and keep the energy for a full 5 rounds. The other advantage Islam has is the sub threat, when JDM got up from one of Belal’s takedowns his neck was wide open. Getting up against Islam will be much trickier, and I’m not convinced JDM’s grappling is sophisticated enough to deal with it. If it is, then it’ll be a very hard night for Islam. Which he may be able to endure with the better durability that comes with an easier weight cut. There are many unknowns here.
Merab, Evloev, Islam, Khamzat, Ankalaev, all are much better MMA Wrestlers then Belal. Easy work is an injustice to a fighter, but Islam definitely is the legitimate favorite for multiple reasons.JDM had no problem with "best wrestler" BeLOL, yet will be easy work for Islam?
+1This really all depends on how taxing the weight cuts have been on Islam, I think it really wore on him in the Volk and Poirier fights and he faded in both fights. A much stronger and more durable islam might be able to hold JDM down and keep the energy for a full 5 rounds. The other advantage Islam has is the sub threat, when JDM got up from one of Belal’s takedowns his neck was wide open. Getting up against Islam will be much trickier, and I’m not convinced JDM’s grappling is sophisticated enough to deal with it. If it is, then it’ll be a very hard night for Islam. Which he may be able to endure with the better durability that comes with an easier weight cut. There are many unknowns here.
Ankalaev
Islam's got some things working against him here
- He is the smaller fighter, and if you want to argue he's the same size, fine(I'd disagree), but you can't argue that he is used to fighting guys as big as Jack. He just isn't
- He is the older fighter
- He's a grappling based fighter, and weight differences affect grapplers more than anything else in my opinion.
- His biggest advantage on the feet might be his kicking game, but it's largely dependent on open stance match ups with him being southpaw and his opponents being orthodox. Against guys who fight southpaw, which Jack very often does, Islam's kicking game is almost non existent.
- His best takedowns are against the cage, but does he present a big enough threat striking to be able to reliably push jack back to the cage?
All of that said, Islam and his team are very, very clever and tend to find the right gameplan to minimize risks and optimize their success. He is one of the best for a reason and I won't at all be surprised if he can find a way to win, but personally I favor jack at the moment. I think Jack is still improving, and cross training with Volk's crew again will only help him improve even more.
Why is Belal a tougher much up? Islam has superior grappling and is a huge submission threat. He clearly presents more weapons that JDM will have to prepare for. He’ll also have the aura and mystique of fighting someone with Islam’s reputation with Khabib in his corner, which will be mentally more challenging I think. He’ll be a lot more cautious in his striking than he was against Belal’s imo.Belal was a tougher matchup for Jack than Islam is, and Jack really didn’t have much of a problem with Belal.