Izzy is declining like Anderson

[7 others]

He really shouldn't have rushed from the eye poke foul, he immediately waived off the rest from the foul. Bro thought he's Poatan

 

[Stagliano]

Too rich now. He's got civilized.

Izzy has always been rich lol.

 

[Koro_11]

Izzy started falling off at 33.

When Anderson was 33 he had just beat Rich Franklin for the second time and only starting to hit his UFC Championship stride.

 

[Pilo]

We’ve seen him rise through his prime, it was amazing. Now he’s past that point, and we’re seeing him fight guys in their prime. It’s kinda painful to watch in a sense, but Izzy’s not the first to introduce us to that storyline.

Hopefully he doesn’t allow that chapter to last for too long, and retires soon.

Huge amounts of respect for Izzy.

 

[Luthien]

Anderson after the Israel fight

 

[volcom5]

Izzy started falling off at 33.

When Anderson was 33 he had just beat Rich Franklin for the second time and only starting to hit his UFC Championship stride.

Exactly.

Randy Couture
Daniel Cormier
Jon Jones
Alex Pereira

Went on to fight till late 30’s and still was competitive.

Even Jose Aldo today isn’t getting wrecked like Israel Adesanya and he’s in a weight class where older age is considered a detriment in itself.

Israel Adesanya just isn’t improvising, adapting or working on his tendencies that he’s been getting caught with in his past 2 fights, but thats on his coach, I believe. Pereira showed the blueprint on how to attack with pressure, Strickland showed the blueprint on how to attack with boxing, Dricus showed what to do when Adesanya skirts like a pansy, Imavov just followed Stricklands on this.

This is in his coaches imo.

Hell even Jiri tried and improved his tendencies of not keeping his hands up.

Adesanya has got a solid 2-4yrs left, but now it’s the time for his coaches to put in work study the losses, improve and adapt.

 

[KhabibPink]

The size advantage he had over his opponents during his run at middleweight drastically emphasised his skill. I’ve been saying this since before his fight with Strickland, i even called Imavov beating him before aswell.

You think its a coincidence how conveniently in his “Prime” he beat a bunch of midgets he had a massive reach advantage over, all those wins have aged terribly since aswell. Now he’s losing to guys similar in size to him back to back and all of sudden he’s “past his prime”

 

[markantony20]

Farther time is so damn cruel

 

[animepro]

He has lost a step but honestly that isn't why he lost tonight. He just got clipped and Imavov went to finish it perfectly

you’re right being past his prime had nothing to do with him losing. very insightful

 

[Siver!]

It's over guys

First comparison I made. I know it's easy because they're generally evasive, flashy and cocky strikers, but I think they both hit the point where more than anything else their reaction times have slowed.

Then they start getting finished regularly.

It's not like some of these tough nuts whose chins get cracked - I think this is more a slight physical decline that counts for so much at the top level.

Still, what a career Izzy had.

 

[Thepaintbucket]

Izzy is mentally cooked. The dude lost his edge and all these losses have been baggages he's been carrying along

But more importantly i suspect overtime he kind of backed himself into this corner with the way he fought. You know how he would sit on the outside and coast in a lot of his fights? It was a lazy way to fight. Yes you do win but Izzy started to become super reliant on cheesing out low effort wins

 

[Dana's Conscience]

Lucky punch. Izzy hapes him in the hematch like he did against Peheiha

The issue with guys in decline is that there's always an "until"

"He was winning/looking great until he got caught"

-Wouldn't have gotten caught in his prime

"He could've gotten the decision until the judges gave it to the other guy"

-Would've gotten an unquestionable decision in his prime

"He could've recovered until the ref stopped it too early"

-Wouldn't have even been in that position in the first place in his prime

There's too much tape on Izzy and his reflexes and ability to take a big shot are compromised. That one big shot Romero landed on him in their fight in 2020? I think it ends things nowadays.