Izzy's title reign was pretty average in hindsight

[Koro_11]

-Goes life and death with Kelvin Gastelum to win the interim belt

-Has an impressive knockout of Whittaker to unify the title

-Has an absolute stinker against Romero that shouldn't even be counted as a win

-Runs through some weird timid version of Costa

-Gets beat by Jan Blahowich at 205

-Gets a forgettable decision over Marvin Vettori

-Wins a close decision over Whittaker

-Has another stinker for a decision against Cannonier

-Gets TKO'd by Poatan

-Pulls off a knockout over Poatan in a fight he was soundly losing

-Gets practically shut out by Sean Strickland


So in 11 fights, 3 are losses.

Of the 8 wins one is basically a draw, and 2 others are very close competitive decisions where he took no risk. 2 more are lame decisions where he also took virtually no risk.

He's got a few finishes in there that give the impression that he's more of a killer than he really is, but realistically and statistically most of his fights against the top guys are either close competitive fights, boring decisions, or him on the losing end.

People were already comparing him to Anderson after like 2 title defenses, but he's nowhere close to him or Jones, or GSP, or even Marty.

Looking back Izzy's title reign is most comparable to that of say Tyron Woodley, which is a very respectable accomplishment so no shame in that. Dude was still a very good fighter, just not that elite level type that could stand the test of time and many different types of opponents.

GSP, Anderson, Bones, Fedor.... those dudes were really special man.

 

[Baal]

I'm with you

I never bought into the Izzy hype

He's lucky that the era he was in had no good grapplers; he'd get destroyed by prime versions of Weidman, Luke, Jacare, Kennedy, Chael.

Heck, a 43 year old Yoel had a 50-50 fight against prime Izzy

 

[Wonderfight]

Lmao people are wild. Considering what you just said, there are about 5 people in history who have impressive title reigns.

 

[Flower2dPeople]

Izzy did ok-ish in the ufc.

 

[Koro_11]

Lmao people are wild. Considering what you just said, there are about 5 people in history who have impressive title reigns.

I’d say more than that.

Jones
Anderson
GSP
Aldo
Fedor
Mighty Mouse
BJ
Khabib
Usman
Hughes
Stipe
Max
Volk
Barao
Wanderlei
Chuck
Etc


Also if you wanna count the women:

Nunes
Cyborg
Shevchenko
Joanna


These were all what I would consider “dominant” champs, meaning for a long period of time no one looked like they could beat them.

Izzy was getting dropped by Gastelum and eking out decisions in his prime, all the above mentioned were dominating for years.

 

[WallNStallToeStomper]

Not gonna lie I honestly agree with you but I have another reason why to add into your argument.

Izzy is not a mixed martial artist in my humble opinion. He's a kickboxer who learned how to stuff takedowns. When he was having a lot of success with this approach he got too comfortable and lazy and began to drink his own koolaid. For a period of time this wasnt an issue but once he began to get into various difficult match ups and go to deep waters his ego would be his undoing.

Look at any of the various GOAT candidates for this sport who were able to defend their belt against a shark tank of killers. Jon Jones, GSP, DJ, and Fedor were well rounded multi faceted martial artists who were good anywhere the fight went and even in different positions in the ring/cage. They all had the fight IQ to make adjustments and strategize for each specific opponent by studying their tape and learning their tendencies.

Izzy is not on this level and allowed his lack of humility to be his downfall simply using the same limited toolset over and over until he inevitably got figured out and dethroned.

 

[Senzo Tanaka]

People bought into the UFC hype machine. They got fully behind him. Izzy is good - great in fact but he was pushed as the 2nd coming, better than Anderson Silva and potentially GOAT. I never saw it. Anderson moved up in weight and dominated and the only time he had bad performances is when he was being a prick.

Izzy is one of the better fighters of the era but time will tell if he's an all time great. Right now, I'd say he just had a good run.

 

[BlackGirlLover]

Yeah man he always sucked

 

[BigOlJeet]

He loses "He sucks!" He wins "MW GOAT"

Never change Shertards.

 

[WallNStallToeStomper]

Yeah man he always sucked

In my opinion he definitely doesn't suck. He just was having so much success that he stopped evolving and in this sport if you stop learning someday someones gonna expose you.

 

[rocketrasslin18]

I appreciate how active he was.

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

-Goes life and death with Kelvin Gastelum to win the interim belt

-Has an impressive knockout of Whittaker to unify the title

-Has an absolute stinker against Romero that shouldn't even be counted as a win

-Runs through some weird timid version of Costa

-Gets beat by Jan Blahowich at 205

-Gets a forgettable decision over Marvin Vettori

-Wins a close decision over Whittaker

-Has another stinker for a decision against Cannonier

-Gets TKO'd by Poatan

-Pulls off a knockout over Poatan in a fight he was soundly losing

-Gets practically shut out by Sean Strickland


So in 11 fights, 3 are losses.

Of the 8 wins one is basically a draw, and 2 others are very close competitive decisions where he took no risk. 2 more are lame decisions where he also took virtually no risk.

He's got a few finishes in there that give the impression that he's more of a killer than he really is, but realistically and statistically most of his fights against the top guys are either close competitive fights, boring decisions, or him on the losing end.

People were already comparing him to Anderson after like 2 title defenses, but he's nowhere close to him or Jones, or GSP, or even Marty.

Looking back Izzy's title reign is most comparable to that of say Tyron Woodley, which is a very respectable accomplishment so no shame in that. Dude was still a very good fighter, just not that elite level type that could stand the test of time and many different types of opponents.

GSP, Anderson, Bones, Fedor.... those dudes were really special man.

Keeping the title that long is impressive. But this is why we should always wait until a run is over to evaluate it.

 

[Yellowcrab]

He did very well but his loss against Strickland really hurt his legacy though.

He can still make a great comeback, so let's see.

 

[Yellowcrab]

I'm with you

I never bought into the Izzy hype

He's lucky that the era he was in had no good grapplers; he'd get destroyed by prime versions of Weidman, Luke, Jacare, Kennedy, Chael.

Heck, a 43 year old Yoel had a 50-50 fight against prime Izzy

Weidman, the guy with the most possible awful record under USADA ?

People will never learn, Izzy is in a different game, like any current UFC fighter.

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

Izzy was only able to KO fighters that literally ran into his punches. That's why the fights against Yoel and co were such stinkers, he doesn't have the ability to pressure someone aggressively.
I think the comparison to Tyron is apt, and I still think his reign was more impressive than say Usman's, even though I'm an Izzy hater.

Weidman, the guy with the most possible awful record under USADA ?

People will never learn, Izzy is in a different game, like any current UFC fighter.

Pre-Rockhold Weidman 50-45's Izzy decisively.

 

[franquito]

 

[sdpdude9]

How many other guys you think beat Gastelum, Whittaker, Romero, Costa, Whittaker again, Cannonier, and Pereira at the times he beat them? Not many, I’d wager.

 

[Yellowcrab]

Pre-Rockhold Weidman 50-45's Izzy decisively.

Keep hating, Izzy's career is far above anyone else in the division. There's only a prime Silva (when he wasn't too old) above in terms of achievements and that's it.

Nobody cares about Weidman and nobody considers him as a dominant champion unlike Izzy.

 

[Sweater of AV]

 

[trenton123]

Yeah most champs defend the belt five times, what a scrub