Media JDM on what he felt fighting Belal + what differs in his next fight with Islam

[Unheralded Truth]

"I definitely learned in there that I can stay in a tough fight, just keep pushing for 5 rounds. I had a good camp and felt that I would be able to, but I guess you don't know until you acually get there.
Obviously I could do it in training, but how are you going to go when the lights are on a big fight? But I got through, so I definitely learned that I can push the pace for 5 rounds, no problem."

"I feel like it was my type of fight, like I was the one dictating the pace. So I reckon I had another 5 rounds in me on that night."

"It didn't really surprise me that Belal wanted to stand. I felt like we had a good gameplan and different tricks to try and avoid, or at least make him second guess, the grappling. But he was
talking a lot about his Canelo hands, so I thought he was going to test the feet a bit. And he did, so props to him. But yeah, I showed him who the real boxing king of the WWs are."

"He definitely landed some good shots, but like, he was definitely not the hardest hitter I ever fought. But he has a tough style to face, very awkward. Hard to get a guage on him, but he didn't
hit me very hard to be honest. It's just that he got through a few times to hit me, but yeah, I've been in there with more powerful punches."

"I feel like we have another good gameplan now, I've got some good tricks. Obviously, Islam is very good on the floor. A good finisher, probably better at finding a finish then Belal. No doubt.
But I feel like I can, again, shock the world in the grappling department. Keep it on the feet and get the win."

"If Islam can get on top of you, and you give him time to sort of get to better positions, then I think he'll just keep get into those better positions until he can get the finish. So keeping moving,
never letting a first position to really settle is going to be my key to the victory."

 

[MMACro]

Islam by sub within 3 minutes

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

I hope Jack wins, but I'm not optimistic.

 

[wrb]

It's weird that people focus on the weight class so much; the same thing happened with Crawford vs. Canelo. Islam looks huge, and I imagine he feels the best he's ever felt before a fight. Plus, he has an actual challenge for the first time in a while. JDM is good, but it's really hard for me to imagine Islam losing this one. And if JDM loses, I don't think it really affects his legacy like it would if Islam loses. Does anyone else feel like this fight should of happened last month, how are we still a week a way from this shit??

 

[SalvadorAllende]

Jack defensive grappling is very good and training with Craig Jones will only make it better. I was super impressed in how he handled Burns on the ground.

Islam has underrated striking. This fight might be close everywhere.

 

[World eater]

Islam is a very risk-averse fighter. You can bet your ass on him taking everything about JDM into consideration to minimize the risk. The only thing they can’t figure out is the mental fortifude and I think Jack is strongest here. But everything else, Islam will overcome if he sticks to his gameplan. Just my 2 cents.

 

[mkess101]

Jack defensive grappling is very good and training with Craig Jones will only make it better. I was super impressed in how he handled Burns on the ground.

Islam has underrated striking. This fight might be close everywhere.

Burns has elite bjj but just doesn't combine it with the top heavy wrestling that Islam does. And Islam is so good at transitioning to chokes when his opponent tries to post and get up.

Jack has massive challenge here. He needs to keep it upright, he can't rely on just "getting back up" if he's taken down. Islam is a different sort of grappler.

 

[Rubios]

Islam is a very risk-averse fighter. You can bet your ass on him taking everything about JDM into consideration to minimize the risk. The only thing they can’t figure out is the mental fortifude and I think Jack is strongest here. But everything else, Islam will overcome if he sticks to his gameplan. Just my 2 cents.

I don't think this is true. He could've been way more Khabib-ish in his approach.

 

[AL-Tappo McSnappo]

Losing on the biggest card all year or winning is big stakes.

 

[Mr.Maelstrom]

It's weird that people focus on the weight class so much; the same thing happened with Crawford vs. Canelo. Islam looks huge, and I imagine he feels the best he's ever felt before a fight. Plus, he has an actual challenge for the first time in a while. JDM is good, but it's really hard for me to imagine Islam losing this one. And if JDM loses, I don't think it really affects his legacy like it would if Islam loses. Does anyone else feel like this fight should of happened last month, how are we still a week a way from this shit??

So, I think the reason for that is the 15lb jump from 55 to 70 for a title shot has only been pulled off successfully one time: BJ Penn. There's a reason Khabib had several botched, or "near death's door" weight cuts.
The 15lbs is significant enough to be worth the suffering making 55 caused him.

Every title defense Islam has was against a FW, or opponents who campaigned at FW at some point. I don't think he'll get manhandled or anything, but he's lost steam before, both late in his first fight against Volk, and slowed down a bit vs Dustin.
JDM might be able to exploit that kinda disparity.

Personally, if Islam can win gold at 70 he will surpass BJ as my vote for best 55er OAT.
And I know that's kinda counter intuitive, basing his all time standing at 55 on winning gold at 70. But until a 55er can snatch the WW title, it's still BJ for me (again, personally. If you have Khabib or Islam as the best 55er OAT that's more than reasonable)

But it's the one thing he can accomplish that would set his legacy apart from all of his teammates and contemporaries.

 

[DiazSlap]

 

[cws80us]

So, I think the reason for that is the 15lb jump from 55 to 70 for a title shot has only been pulled off successfully one time: BJ Penn. There's a reason Khabib had several botched, or "near death's door" weight cuts.
The 15lbs is significant enough to be worth the suffering making 55 caused him.

Every title defense Islam has was against a FW, or opponents who campaigned at FW at some point. I don't think he'll get manhandled or anything, but he's lost steam before, both late in his first fight against Volk, and slowed down a bit vs Dustin.
JDM might be able to exploit that kinda disparity.

Personally, if Islam can win gold at 70 he will surpass BJ as my vote for best 55er OAT.
And I know that's kinda counter intuitive, basing his all time standing at 55 on winning gold at 70. But until a 55er can snatch the WW title, it's still BJ for me (again, personally. If you have Khabib or Islam as the best 55er OAT that's more than reasonable)

But it's the one thing he can accomplish that would set his legacy apart from all of his teammates and contemporaries.

2 short notice championship fights as well. The 2 where the opponents had a full camp were his toughest fights.

 

[KO Shotz]

What makes the JDM/Islam matchup so intruging is that Islam has nothing for Jack while standing. Islam won't be mixing it up to keep Jack guessing. So therefore his shoots will be obvious & Jack can do what he did to Belal in the fight with Islam & focus on defending the TD's while keeping his distance to out strike him.

With that being said, many thought Islam had no chance standing with Volk, but ended up KO'ing Volk. On paper Islam had absolutely nothing for Volk while on the feet. That's why this matchup is so intriguing.

 

[MMASpeculator]

It's weird that people focus on the weight class so much; the same thing happened with Crawford vs. Canelo. Islam looks huge, and I imagine he feels the best he's ever felt before a fight. Plus, he has an actual challenge for the first time in a while. JDM is good, but it's really hard for me to imagine Islam losing this one. And if JDM loses, I don't think it really affects his legacy like it would if Islam loses. Does anyone else feel like this fight should of happened last month, how are we still a week a way from this shit??

The crawford/canelo weight thing was a farce and I dunno why people couldn't use their eyes to see they were basically the same size. Same height, maybe canelo is a bit thicker but it was negligible.

JDM is about 6' and Islam is about 5'9 so it'll be a bigger size difference but Islam can hold Rockhold down so it'll also be negligible

 

[RichardHarrow]

What makes the JDM/Islam matchup so intruging is that Islam has nothing for Jack while standing. Islam won't be mixing it up to keep Jack guessing. So therefore his shoots will be obvious & Jack can do what he did to Belal in the fight with Islam & focus on defending the TD's while keeping his distance to out strike him.

With that being said, many thought Islam had no chance standing with Volk, but ended up KO'ing Volk. On paper Islam had absolutely nothing for Volk while on the feet. That's why this matchup is so intriguing.

JDM gained nothing from Belal to transition into his fight with Islam.

 

[richardjohnson]

What makes the JDM/Islam matchup so intruging is that Islam has nothing for Jack while standing. Islam won't be mixing it up to keep Jack guessing. So therefore his shoots will be obvious & Jack can do what he did to Belal in the fight with Islam & focus on defending the TD's while keeping his distance to out strike him.

With that being said, many thought Islam had no chance standing with Volk, but ended up KO'ing Volk. On paper Islam had absolutely nothing for Volk while on the feet. That's why this matchup is so intriguing.

At kicking range I don’t think Islam is at much of a disadvantage but JDM is the better boxer by far. Islam’s boxing is not very good at all, at least when it comes to putting multiple punches together.

 

[Vagabound]

The crawford/canelo weight thing was a farce and I dunno why people couldn't use their eyes to see they were basically the same size. Same height, maybe canelo is a bit thicker but it was negligible.

JDM is about 6' and Islam is about 5'9 so it'll be a bigger size difference but Islam can hold Rockhold down so it'll also be negligible

Both are closer to 5'10-5'11 from what I can see, and Islam might be the slightly taller man. Islam definitely isn't 5'9; he's comfortably taller than Khabib, Poirier & DC

 

[World eater]

I don't think this is true. He could've been way more Khabib-ish in his approach.

Yes, but he doesn’t have the “0” to protect, so he has to go one up on Khabib. His reign over the LW division does not look so great in retrospect (though not his fault), he fights so rarely, he has to take chances now.

 

[KO Shotz]

JDM gained nothing from Belal to transition into his fight with Islam.

He gained the belt

 

[RichardHarrow]

He gained the belt

This isn’t the WWE . He’s not hitting him with that belt.