Man Whittaker is so good but yet still a heavy underdog..

I think he can win, Izzy is definitely his toughest matchup though.

His best bet is to mix it up and play it safe/smart. Rob KO'ing Izzy is very hard to see, but him outsmarting Izzy for 25 minutes in a chess match is possible.
 
Weird how everyone is looking at Israel as some unbeatable monster now. Why does everyone forget he got completely dominated just one fight ago?
I think they're just looking at this fight stylistically for Rob. Izzy is beatable, but a lot of Rob's usual techniques play right into Izzy's strengths.
Rob probably beats most MW's not named Izzy, it's his worst matchup in the division.
 
On a scale of 0-10 with 0 being “no chance” and 10 being “absolutely will win”, I would give him a 4, he’s gotten better since their last meeting especially in his striking defense because he eats way less shots than before and has cemented it even further that he is very well rounded and can fight in multiple ways.

However, he is just at a massive disadvantage in terms of reach, he would literally need to leapfrog to get close to Izzy and then it’s not even a guarantee that he can land anything too significant to hurt Izzy because Izzy has incredible head movement.

IMO, to beat a guy like Asesanya you need to match or exceed the following poits: his reach, his size, striking and toughness. Whittaker definitely meets the toughness criteria but fails to meet the other points. Jan Blachowicz was able to beat him because he is bigger, has nearly identical reach and has striking credentials to match Izzys (Muay Thai champion at one point)
 
Izzy is unfortunately good. Like he’s soo good, but can’t/won’t provide we fans the finishes we deserve.
 
love whittaker and hes levels above the rest of the division except izzy, the first fight did happen so.. that would be why.


hopefully whittaker fights to his full abilities and not like a psycho again.
 
i don't know why still people think Whittaker needs to take Izzy down in order for him to win. he doesn't even have to take Izzy down at all and i think he can even win the striking game if he plays his cards right.

all he needs to do is make Izzy think he's going to take him down. when that happens, he comes back and hits him Kevin Randleman vs Cro Cop style. it's not something out of Rob's skill set either. he has a sneaky left hook, and he knows how to feint.

he just has to act like he wants to mix it up, and catch Izzy when he bites on the takedown feints. Izzy will get hit if that happens. Vettori already showed that.
 
Straight punches instead of the drunken haymakers from the first fight. He’s already at a reach disadvantage. No need to exacerbate that by throwing looping shots.

Body shots. When Izzy does his matrix head movement, pound that rib cage of his.

Check low kicks. Which will deter Adesanya from just doing the low kick point fighting that has become the majority of his game lately unless his opponent charges at him.

He fought far too emotionally the first time also.
 
I really wanna see the rematch because Rob fought kinda crazy the first time, constantly moving forward throwing that big 1 2 combo which clearly wasnt gonna land, looked very impatient (nervous?) maybe this time he’ll fight more like his last 3.
Agreed. Whittaker was coming off a very long layoff, a major health scare, and two back-to-back absolute wars with Yoel. I think his poor performance against Izzy the first time can be at least partially attributed to those circumstances.
 
I think Izzy wins but your criminally underestimating Rob , who's a dynamic striker with a well rounded ground game and overall high fight IQ . Saying he just " has a punchers chance" is almost offensive .

I thought the same thing until he leaped right into about six of Izzy's counters. That was a really disappointing performance and made me think he left part of himself in the Romero fights, and that Izzy is just in a whole different league.
 
Whitaker is a former welterweight and Izzy is Jon Jones size.
Worst style matchup for Whitaker, too.
 
Obviously a tough fight for Whittaker.
He needs to make it a "technical brawl" keeping pressure on, while mixing things up enough to not let Izzy find an offensive groove or hit predictable counters. Be as physical, close,, and busy as possible when he gets his hands on him or down.
But wtf do I know. I hope he figures it out, regardless.
 
It's MMA so he has a puncher's chance slim but a chance,
 
He was winging stupid haymakers, never went to the body. He needs to make major adjustments to his approach in a rematch to have a chance, he looked terrible and overly emotional in their first fight.
 
50/50 fight IMO. He’s definitely gonna come in with a new game plan, and there’s now more tape on Israel since the first fight. Whittaker is a hella smart fighter. I do wonder what’ll be his plan if he loses again… Change weight classes maybe? Or keep cleaning out the division.
 
Whittaker’s biggest issue in their first fight was the pull counter. He was also wayyyy in or wayyy out, and he doesn’t have the reach to play the distance game with Adesanya. I don’t think Whittaker mixing in his wrestling is a good idea either considering Vettori is a much stronger guy and better wrestler and he struggled with Adesanya in that department.

One thing Vettori did really well was he knew when the pull counter was coming. Instead of exchanging with Izzy he would just crash forward and nullify it completely.

I don't know that Vettori is the better wrestler. Whittaker has actually competed in wrestling. He just doesn't use it often.
 
Robert needs to be able to take Izzy down to win this. He doesn't need to keep him down and he doesn't even need to take him down more than once or twice but he needs at least one.

With that, it sets up the entire gameplan he needs to implement if he wants to be successful. His usual striking strengths aren't going to be enough so he needs to feint hard and often on the takedowns and immediately capitalize when Izzy bites by coming in over the top, sliding in some hooks and body shot combinations and sometimes catching Izzy with a leg kick as he tries to slide away. If he can take him down, get him to respect the fake takedowns and mix it up with his follow up strikes when Izzy bites... for a perfect 25 minutes(or at least 15 minutes)... He can beat Izzy. He's literally going to have to fight the perfect fight and checking some leg kicks would also go a long way to doing this.

This is all a tall order though and even if he manages to implement all of this it doesn't mean he can do enough for a decision.

Also, if he's gonna try and shoot takedowns he's going to know when to abandon the takedown before Izzy knows he's safe. As soon as he feels like he might not be able to secure it, he needs to free his hands and throw fast hooks to the body and head, then circle out.
 
Do you think he could beat Isreal?
Its possible imo. In the first Bobby knew he had to close the distance but got caught. From memory one of his strikes just missed hurting adesanya badly. I love Whittaker but Izzy should be favourite. I personally want whittaker back at ww vs usman but he likely calls it quits before doing this.
 
Do you think he could beat Isreal?

I wouldn't count him out. He can come in with a different game plan and find the antidote, but it's not something I personally see happening. He always has a puncher's chance though, and Izzy is not unhittable. Gastelum had him rocked a few times IIRC
 
I would still favour Izzy, but I expect Bobby to do better this time.

He was a little too confident in his striking last time. I don't think he'll make that mistake again. He'll look to do what Jan did.
 
I really wanna see the rematch because Rob fought kinda crazy the first time, constantly moving forward throwing that big 1 2 combo which clearly wasnt gonna land, looked very impatient (nervous?) maybe this time he’ll fight more like his last 3.
exactly this.
I also believe that the rematch will look nothing like their first fight, however still think of Adesanya as the favorit.
 
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