Israel is getting the Conor treatment

[Paynebringer]

It's certainly true that Israel has had a favorable path to the title. But it's also true that he fought a legit wrestler (Brunson) before receiving a title shot, whereas Conor didn't fight a single wrestler before getting a title shot.

He did fight Mini Mendes...

 

[kibz]

I wish Tony had gotten the shot already but I don’t mind Israel or Conor or anyone else (e.g., Ngannou) getting that treatment within reason.
Conor was so polarizing that the hype (haters and dick riders) exaggerated his come up. But his path was legit. Same with Adesanya.

Ppl complain (myself included, I’ve done it) but I rather see a champion with some interesting NEW upcoming matchups than someone who basically cleaned out the division in the path to get the belt and now there’s no interesting matchups on the horizon....only rematches and prospects who aren’t there yet.

Like currently.... if Yoel finally beat Whitaker....who else is left at 185...besides Israel? He’s for the most part cleaned out the division and isn’t the champion.

 

[GoatArtemLobov]

There is definitely a thing I don't get about striking in mma. How come that an elite kickboxer like Adesanya, who has proven himself in some of the best kickboxing organisations in the world, got tagged like this in what was actually a pure kickboxing match against a stocky wrestler like Gastelum ?

 

[in the liver]

He was ranked 10

sounds like bullshit to me

he'd just come back from a suspension and had one fight

the only possible reason he would be ranked is to build conors name

prior to fighting conor, in 6 fights he had 2 losses, and an NC from a failed drug test

dude may have been ranked but only to pump conor up

conor is in the p4p list right now and has never defended a belt, lost his last fight and lost to nate diaz

 

[Buri]

Conor had horrible style matchups though
Brando-Pretty high level BJJ black belt with power in his hands(all Conor losses by submission)
Holloway-Solid pressure fighter and striker, fresh off beating Bermudez(imo)
Poirer-Black belt, has wrestling, really good striker and heart of a diamond
Mendes- Best Wrestler in the division,on steroids, ko power in both hands
Aldo- Divisional GOAT and BJJ black belt, aswell as legendary striker
What part of those were easy style matchups? Mcgregor getting a easy style matchup his whole career is a false narrative.
If you want to go further
Nate-Zombie with great cardio with a Black belt second degree
Eddie, KO power, wrestling and tremendous heart and resilience aswell as cardio
Khabib, Big strong wrestler with solid cardio and solid grappling

What part of those we’re easy matchups? Most were stylistic nightmares

So a fighter who has BJJ, or is a solid pressure fighter, or is a good striker, or has a heart of a diamond, or can wrestle, or has cardio, or is strong or is a zombie is a stylistic nightmare? Are there any other skills that an MMA fighter could posses because you basically listed every skillset?

 

[Koro_11]

Never understood why people complain when the UFC gets behind a fighter with serious potential. We want the most hyped up and exciting fights possible, and the fact that they got behind Israel made that fight 100x more anticipated

Before the fight he was going to have his hype train derailed by Kelvin, and now it's "he hasn't fought ___"

He kinda did get the hype train derailed by Kelvin if we’re being honest. Not saying it was all negative of course, he showed heart and toughness and did manage to win the fight, but it took years off his life and I don’t see him beating Rob or Yoel.

 

[LockardTheGOAT]

Well, who else is there more deserving of a title shot than him then? I agree they're pushing Adesanya pretty fast but it's not like there's a fresh row of challengers that are unfairly being held back in favor of him either. Jacare is on a one fight win streak, Romero already lost twice to Whittaker, and Costas' has less wins both in MMA and the UFC, and Gastelum is an arguably better win than ANYONE on Costas' resume.

 

[Phisher]

...and like Conor (used to), he's actually performing.

I know that people don't like the UFC playing favorites, but the guys who get pushed have to perform and always get exposed if they're not up to snuff.

Conor stepped up at FW when he had to.

Even if Adesanya loses to Whittaker, he's got three top ten wins (including a top five) under his belt in his first year in the UFC.

 

[Oooxente]

Did he got that DFW push?
Yep.

Its what he is going to do now that he have a belt that it really matters.

If he gets to fight with Bob,wins and then defend his tittle against the next top 5 i have no fucking problem with it.

 

[Oooxente]

Can't really disagree with all that ^^^ although I do think Israel looks to be a more versatile fighter than Conor and looks far more willing to defend a belt I feel more secure into backing Israel than I ever did McGregor who also got a red carpet ride to a belt and never officially backed up his belt with a title defense, one can consider the Khabib fight was his 1st unofficial title defense and we can see why now no title defense.

That's the one thing about fighting out front with a belt, you can no longer hide flaws & holes it's a "who's next position". no more hop scotching & leap frogging. Adesanya looks more willing to go about it than tweet about it like Conor...

This.

 

[cheesus]

Yeah as much as i love Izzy, he did kinda shoot up the rankings way too quick for my liking.
At least he actually got the interim belt in the end though, if he lost the fight that would have complicated things. I am curious though how a jacare, weidman, romero, costa fight would go.

He was active, he had four fights in 2018. If he more fighters took this route they could get fast tracked as well, pending on if they can win.

 

[brainz]

I say match him up with Romero. The winner of that fight is more than deserving of a title shot.

Just say Romero wins, that'll be his 3rd fight with Whittaker we have seen how that goes. Style's make fights even tho Romero could win wouldn't it be good to have something new like Izzy v whittaker. I do agree tho if Izzy were to win Romero should get him as his first defence.

 

[MMA reborn]

They are building a new star. A star who actually wants to fight and eager to face anybody

 

[Scorpz]

Izzy vs Yoel
Izzy vs Costa

 

[Africa5876]

He was active, he had four fights in 2018. If he more fighters took this route they could get fast tracked as well, pending on if they can win.

You're right, it's not like a Brock Lesnar situation or anything

 

[TankvsNelmark]

I think Israel stiffs weidman but loses to jacare or romero

 

[SherdogFan23]

You are correct. But when you look at his jump up the rankings it is not much different than what happened to Jon Jones. Jones fought for real belt rather than interim by this point. Jones only fought #6 Bader before he was gifted title fight versus Shogun.

 

[Bubba32]

the difference is Conor was detsroying his opponents even when he moved up to fight eddie and take that belt.

stylebender gets his shit pushed in by a fat ww wrestler in a kickbxing match. barely won a fight against the first top 5 guy he's faced.

 

[Andreh]

I think Israel stiffs weidman but loses to jacare or romero

I think Weidman would do the job of derailing the hype train, and EASILY.

 

[punky brewster]

There is definitely a thing I don't get about striking in mma. How come that an elite kickboxer like Adesanya, who has proven himself in some of the best kickboxing organisations in the world, got tagged like this in what was actually a pure kickboxing match against a stocky wrestler like Gastelum ?

Style, technique and performance change a lot when the threat of a takedown is there.....