- Joined
- Mar 5, 2016
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By far the most promising prospect right now. His team is hyping him up, saying he's got the potential to be better than Khabib. Which isn't empty praise, because Khabib's in the same team. He's also a multiple time Combat Sambo national champion and world champion.
His grappling looks almost identical to Khabib's, down to the trips and the wrist control and how he ties up the legs. But his stand up is on another level.
His kicks look great. They're relaxed and whip-like. There's room for improvement, but his basics are good, you can see he "gets" kicking. In contrast, most UFC fighters throw stiff, slow, undamaging kicks -- Conor's roundhouse kicks are an example. Islam's use of his hips, especially in the body kicks, is excellent.
He's got good, natural footwork as well. You can see he's comfortable and relaxed on the feet. Also throws very smooth combos. Plus he packs a punch, only person to KO Tibau.
He's got all the ingredients. With his grappling, and his comfort and skill on the feet, he's got an insane ceiling. For someone like Khabib, who just doesn't have the attributes to be great in stand up, it's almost impossible to ever become more than decent, and to truly become comfortable on the feet. But Islam's already good on the feet and training at AKA, he'll only get better.
Only blemish on his record is a KO loss to Martins a few years ago, but anyone can get caught, and IMO that was a bit of an early stoppage. Islam looked ready to keep fighting 0.5 seconds after running into the punch. Importantly, though, it didn't make him timid, like the KO against Tibau shows. Also, he's got the least strikes absorbed per minute in the UFC by far (and an all time record):
All he needs is slightly more work on defense and he's going to be nearly a perfect fighter. Although it's been years since we saw any real holes in his game.
His grappling looks almost identical to Khabib's, down to the trips and the wrist control and how he ties up the legs. But his stand up is on another level.
His kicks look great. They're relaxed and whip-like. There's room for improvement, but his basics are good, you can see he "gets" kicking. In contrast, most UFC fighters throw stiff, slow, undamaging kicks -- Conor's roundhouse kicks are an example. Islam's use of his hips, especially in the body kicks, is excellent.
He's got good, natural footwork as well. You can see he's comfortable and relaxed on the feet. Also throws very smooth combos. Plus he packs a punch, only person to KO Tibau.
He's got all the ingredients. With his grappling, and his comfort and skill on the feet, he's got an insane ceiling. For someone like Khabib, who just doesn't have the attributes to be great in stand up, it's almost impossible to ever become more than decent, and to truly become comfortable on the feet. But Islam's already good on the feet and training at AKA, he'll only get better.
Only blemish on his record is a KO loss to Martins a few years ago, but anyone can get caught, and IMO that was a bit of an early stoppage. Islam looked ready to keep fighting 0.5 seconds after running into the punch. Importantly, though, it didn't make him timid, like the KO against Tibau shows. Also, he's got the least strikes absorbed per minute in the UFC by far (and an all time record):
All he needs is slightly more work on defense and he's going to be nearly a perfect fighter. Although it's been years since we saw any real holes in his game.
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