Israel Adesanya in the LHW division: How well does he do?

What's wrong with that ranking ??? DC is number 2 although be moved up almost 2 years ago, Gus retired last year, Latifi moved up and the WORST, Jacare is top 15 with only one fight that he lost ??

UFC rankings through and through mate. Never be surprised
 
With 6'4"/193cm height and 80"/203cm reach hed still be amongst the rangiest guys at light heavyweight, although he'd have less of an advantage.

Then again, the guys are slower there and the division isn't stacked, as you've noted.
I'd say though that middleweight is not a shitty division, it's actually quite good, even if it naturally falls short in comparison to welter- light- and as of today featherweight, in terms of talentpool.

rest >>>>>>>> MW > HW > LHW

its shit bro

{<Mcgoat}
 
If he bulked up a bit more, he could be successful, especially given the fact that the division sucks, with the obvious exception of Jon. He's great at hurting people with combinations, but the raw single punch power isn't there at his current weight, especially given his ectomorphic build. Defending takedowns from Anderson, who's a lot bigger than Brunson and Gastelum, and standing and trading with Thiago would be problems for him rn. I don't think it would realistically be possible for him to be an active dual champ. He'd have to commit to a strength-inducing body transformation that would make getting back down to 185 difficult.
 
Izzy does get hit

Do the guys at light heavyweight have enough power to ko him

Absolutely yes

I still say someone who pressures Izzy holds him up against the fence makes him defend take downs , takes him down really grinds it out with him will beat him

Take him totally out of his comfort zone and no kickboxing match make him tired take him to deep waters

I remember when Daniel Cormier fought Anderson Silva I mean he didn't go all out but he did take him down out of his comfort zone.

I know it sounds easier said than done
but so far all I have seen is guys standing with him trying to beat him a t his own game
Remember he has been Kickbixing what over 80 fights with guys who have had 10 , 15 or 20 MMA fights and they are trying to kickbox with him .

Light heavy weights would definitely be stronger than middleweight which is very shallow division at the moment .

He would be OK against some light heavyweights but I can't see him beating Jon Jones even guys like Reyes Johnny Walker could Ko him he has no size advantage against them .I always remember how Gastelum was tagging him and able to land punches and hurt Asesanya nearly finished him .
 
He looked like raw hamburger after fighting Gastelum and he knocked out a clumsy Whittaker who took bombs from Romero two times.

Literally the only reason people are talking about him at LHW is because they think he looks like a younger Jones. That's it.
 
He walks around at ~205 now

If he bulked up and got used to the weight he'd do well at LHW and even HW given his striking. He is the greatest striker in the UFC right now.
 
He walks around at ~205 now

If he bulked up and got used to the weight he'd do well at LHW and even HW given his striking. He is the greatest striker in the UFC right now.
How can you say hes the greatest striker while CM Punk is still on the roster?

Thats why they take him down, so he doesnt toy with his opponents. It would be too brutal.
 
And not just fight without a weightcut.
He did well against Jan who was then the champion.

Which are the good and which the bad matchups for him?
Who would you have him fight to earn a title shot?
Would you like to see him move up?


I definitely would, especially if he loses to Alex again. He's a pretty big mw with big reach. I think he can be a true lhw.
 
I don't think Izzy would do that well. He'd lose some of his reach advantage and if a 39 year old Blachowicz could wrestle him, certainly many others could too. Also Izzys power is lacking at 185lbs somewhat, it doesn't translate to 205lbs very well at all. Alex Pereira would also do poorly at 205lbs.
 
He could win some fights depending how they match up stylistically with him, but the reach, weight, power and grappling would be too much for him when it comes to the top contenders.
I give him a decent shot against guys like Smith, Reyes, Oezdemir, Rountree, Jacoby, Crute, Walker, Craig or Hill. I'm not saying I would favor him in all those matchups, I just see him making those competitive with against them and could see him winning some of those possible fights.

I think he would reach the top ten and maybe crack the top five, however I don't think he could become champion there if he had to climb the latter from the bottom of the division.
 
Last edited:
I don't think Izzy would do that well. He'd lose some of his reach advantage and if a 39 year old Blachowicz could wrestle him, certainly many others could too. Also Izzys power is lacking at 185lbs somewhat, it doesn't translate to 205lbs very well at all. Alex Pereira would also do poorly at 205lbs.
Came to say the same thing. It's a much better time to be in LHW than when it was full of good wrestlers
(Jones, Cormier, Rashad, Bader, Davis, etc.). I don't think he would've sniffed a title shot when those guys were active and in or near their primes. But if an old, non-wrestler like Jan could beat him with that strategy, surely some other guys could. It's possible under the right circumstances he could win the belt, but I definitely don't see him keeping it and defending 4 or 5 times like he did at MW.
 
IZZY would beat most fighters in lhw, it’s not really a stacked division so he would do pretty well. Izzy would struggle with Jan,Jiri and maybe even Glover but I think he would still hold his own pretty well with all of those guys too.
 
I don't think Adesanya was doing well against Jan, he only won a round and even lost a 10-8 on one card.

He's a World-class champion, not getting obliterated doesn't mean he did well.

He pretty much cleared 185 and has a better chance of getting his belt back there than winning one at LHW.

Edit: besides, even if he manage to win the 205 belt, Alex will follow him there so what's the point
 
I think he might actually beat Jan in a rematch and he's better than people give him credit for. But he has to commit to LHW and bulk.
 
How do you move up to lhw "the right way"? What's a "true lhw?"

Should Izzy have packed on a bit more muscle and thereby made his tits even bigger?

No, he shouldn't. He's not a lhw. He was going for a "let's fight the weakest champ in forever at lhw", like GSP was fighting Bisping cuz he saw the opportunity.
 
How do you move up to lhw "the right way"? What's a "true lhw?"

Should Izzy have packed on a bit more muscle and thereby made his tits even bigger?

No, he shouldn't. He's not a lhw. He was going for a "let's fight the weakest champ in forever at lhw", like GSP was fighting Bisping cuz he saw the opportunity.

Yeah, GSP fighting Bisping then dipping out before having to defend vs anyone elite rubbed me the wrong way and I felt Adesanya tried to do the same thing vs Jan, he just failed. Gotta give it up to Volk though, Islam is the scariest LW.
 
Yeah, GSP fighting Bisping then dipping out before having to defend vs anyone elite rubbed me the wrong way and I felt Adesanya tried to do the same thing vs Jan, he just failed. Gotta give it up to Volk though, Islam is the scariest LW.
Scarier than Khabib?
 
Izzy is tiny for 205. He walks around at about 200 lbs, whereas most 205ers are cutting from like 230+ these days. I'm sure he could win a lot of fights with his speed and technique, but he'd be at a huge size/strength disadvantage against the top LHW's (as we saw in his fight vs Jan). There really isn't any reason for him to move up to 205.

On the other hand, if he really wanted to move divisions (which I don't think he should)... he could likely make WW and have a ton of success there. Many top WW's like Usman, Leon, Khamzat, Neal, etc, walk around at about the same weight as Izzy, so it stands to reason that he could make 170. He also looked very undersized in there vs Pereira at 185. I doubt it'll ever happen but it would be really interesting to see him at 170.
 
Back
Top