Izzy's title reign was pretty average in hindsight

[rakeleaves]

Many champs win the belt and can't defend it even 2x. Using even your description, his MW reign was well above average by definition.

 

[Big Tuppy Hole]

Past prime out of shape Melvin who fought out of his weight class was setup as the sacrifice and almost pulled it off lol, imagine that.


Melvin never secured a Rear-Naked choke his entire 54 fight career either, someone more skilled could've ended that fight.

Almost pulled it off, that's a stretch.

 

[RoyJonesJr]

Line up and give your favorite fighters


I'll do the same thing OP did to make them less "good"

 

[Gamer007]

Almost pulled it off, that's a stretch.

Maybe a little, but seriously ZERO rear-naked subs in 54 fights!

Melvin just wasn't very good in that regard and even that version was able to get his back.....

Izzy improved a lot, but he didn't face a ton of wrestlers either. If he had to fight Chael, Kennedy, Hendo, younger Romero, it'd be a different story.

 

[Big Tuppy Hole]

Maybe a little, but seriously ZERO rear-naked subs in 54 fights!

Melvin just wasn't very good in that regard and even that version was able to get his back.....

Izzy improved a lot, but he didn't face a ton of wrestlers either. If he had to fight Chael, Kennedy, Hendo, younger Romero, it'd be a different story.

I think it's was an element of surprise that caught Izzy off guard.

I do agree Izzy missed all the top tier fighters of the earlier generation and if he had to fight them I have no doubt his record would look a little differentt

 

[digitalia**]

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.

BARAO????!!?

 

[DecisionSplit]

Of course they will, but I would be like "Strickland, really!? The simpleton who Adesanya should win easily in the first place!?", I mean, at the end of the day Adesanya lost to fucking Strickland LOL.

That's why it was so hilarious when all three of the UFC's "slam dunk" easy matches for Adesanya ended with him losing. Adesanya got out struck by Jan across five rounds. Then got Pereira rushed to him only to lose but bounce back immediately. Then he gets Strickland and gets embarrassed.

If Strickland loses to Adesanya badly and gets knocked out or clowned on like Costa then Adesanya can save face. He basically rewrote his entire legacy around Pereira with the knockout win because he can say "I chased him out of the middleweight division". But if Strickland wins again against Adesanya then immediately loses the belt it would look terrible. If Strickland puts together a few defenses it would maybe soften the loss for Adesanya. Though if Pereira wins a LHW that will be yet another thing that someone has taken from him.

Adesanya's is in a weird place for his legacy now.

 

[Sincere Guy]

That's why it was so hilarious when all three of the UFC's "slam dunk" easy matches for Adesanya ended with him losing. Adesanya got out struck by Jan across five rounds. Then got Pereira rushed to him only to lose but bounce back immediately. Then he gets Strickland and gets embarrassed.

If Strickland loses to Adesanya badly and gets knocked out or clowned on like Costa then Adesanya can save face. He basically rewrote his entire legacy around Pereira with the knockout win because he can say "I chased him out of the middleweight division". But if Strickland wins again against Adesanya then immediately loses the belt it would look terrible. If Strickland puts together a few defenses it would maybe soften the loss for Adesanya. Though if Pereira wins a LHW that will be yet another thing that someone has taken from him.

Adesanya's is in a weird place for his legacy now.

Adesanya can't save face in beating Strickland at all... He just can't. He lost to a simpleton when everyone was saying he is the God striker, lost in the striking battle to... Strickland. Adesanya can do whatever and that won't be erased. At all. He should win that first fight in the first place, so in the second that's still his obligation: win. Poatan won easily, Adesanya must fulfill his fake painting and nothing more.

 

[Adamant__]

This is gold <45>

 

[Goutfather]

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

he didn’t say it wasn’t impressive. he said it was average which it was. of course it was impressive. becoming a ufc champion is impressive. defending the belt is even more impressive. but izzy was presented as being a generational talent, in spite of everything the op mentioned. all told, izzy lost 1/3 of his fights since becoming champion. 2 of his “wins” were close decisions that many thought he lost. only 3 of his wins during his first title reign could be called “clear,” and only one of those was a stoppage. the best thing you could say about izzy’s reign is that he was a distant second to anderson at mw. quality-wise, izzy’s tenure as champ isn’t even top 10 in the ufc.

 

[Mike]

Yeah you're right he's only the second best mw ever. Practically a can really.

 

[TempleoftheDog]

I think he’s extremely creepy. But I don’t think he got any gift decisions. I think he had a couple close calls. But I can’t say for sure that he lost vs Whittaker, and certainly not to Romero.

I also think he is basically a boring point fighter, with a few flashes of brilliance. Which would be fine if he wasn’t always predicting big finishes. I think that’s lame as fuck. I knew he could not beat Jan, and I said so. But he’s the rightful favourite in any other fight, imo.

But he did win the belt, and defended it several times. So I don’t think anybody can say his reign was “average”.

And remember.. I don’t like a single thing about Izzy, except for his activity. But his run was not average, imo.

 

[NationWideNinja]

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.

LOL

Imagine making this thread and then posting this list.

Usman who went 2-2 in rounds against Colby in his first defense and was 1 round removed from losing, who got dropped by Burns, who had two defenses against dinosaur Masvidal of which one fight was a nothingburger footstomp clinic, and another Colby fight where he arguably lost in rounds,

Yeah that guy is much more of a dominant champ than Izzy lmao

Max with his 3 title defenses of which one was an old Frankie.

Barao lol

You’re just an Izzy hater, and thats okay, but at least dont try to hide behind a facade of fake objectivity.

 

[swarrrm]

Everything above 170 is generally less impressive because the divisions are weaker. That being said, it's hard to deny he's the 2nd best mw we've seen in the ufc.

 

[DecisionSplit]

Everything above 170 is generally less impressive because the divisions are weaker.

Not really at LHW or HW with their power. No one can go on a dominant win streak at HW with guys like Stipe, Ngannou, Pavlovich, and so on. Where one punch is literally lights out and then you need an entire year off before your next fight. And LHW outside of Jones has had times where power punchers were exchanging the belt.

The "skill level" at HW isn't really the same as LW or FLW because the power dictates how everyone fights. You need to adjust your style and technique.

 

[daniel san]

Wow and you realised this just now? Izzy is a great MW but there is nothing legendary about him. He had a decent streak as the champ but nothing spectacular. Some spectacular wins though throughout his career, but he’s not the only one with epic KO wins. He’s one of the best MW champs ever, but since we had such a long and dominant Silva reign, it’s not like there has been room for many other champs.

 

[benebox]

The lost to Strickland really hurt his legacy, but I think he goes on a tear now and reclaims the title.

 

[JustBleed]

Look, I'm a fan of Israel Adesanya. The guy's got some serious moves and lights up the MMA scene like no other. But out of 11 big fights, he's come up short 3 times and had a few that could've gone either way. Think about beasts like GSP or Anderson Silva – they were in a league of their own. I'm not trying to knock him down or anything, but when you stack him up against those legends, it's a joke.

 

[old school 2]

Izzy is a can, confirmed!

 

[Fioretti]

Above average, but not great.

Hard to beat 11 finishes in 13 fights with 11 defenses and 3 first round finishes in the division above sprinkled in between.

Nobody else has ever done that in any division. Spider bless.