Reasons to like DDP's chances against izzy.

[fortheo]

TS, I don't know if ever told you, but you have always been one of my favorite posters.

With that said, I see Dricus as a physically imposing force. And yes his grappling may be a threat. But the fighters who have beaten Adesanya have been capable of being brilliant in the striking department.

DDP hasn't exactly shown that to me. His defense for example, is just a high guard. Other than that, he's there to be hit.

His style is awkward but I think Adesanya is a bit more disciplined defensively than Rob.
I'm sure the fight will be fun. I just hope the build up doesn't get too messy.

Dricus is landing twice the amount of strikes that he is eating -- his defence is holding up better than the rest of the division's. I understand that aesthetically it isn't pleasing and that he does some things that conventional striking coaches wouldn't teach, but there comes a point where efficacy trumps all, and we might be at that point. Time will tell.

 

[Flower2dPeople]

Always bet on black. The african will win.

 

[aogiri]

His takedown entries are meh. Idk how Whittaker got taken down by that throw and looking back at the ones he shot against Darren Till they are very telegraphed. Sure Whittaker got Izzy down but he mixes his takedowns much better. Vettori also got him down though and he seemed to just outmuscle him on the fence so there is a chance Dricus can do that. If he gets Izzy down its def gonna be more dangerous than Vettori/Whittaker. His ground n pound is brutal.

As for the striking... He was catching Whittaker Blitzing in well with those Jabs like Jared did. I don't see him doing that against Izzy who isnt going to be blitzing in like that and is much better defensively sound with a better chin, He'll have to be the one going forward and he is very open when he does that with his chin up. Whittaker also didnt go to the body at all when Dricus had his guard up super high and tight the whole fight and you know Izzy is going to be blasting kicks there.

He has a chance if he mixes in the grappling but i'd favour Izzy.

 

[fortheo]

What I saw last night was an overconfident Whittaker who say DDP's last fight with Till and was like I got this.

What I saw was a Whittaker who wasn't expecting a guy mostly in southpaw and wasn't expecting a guy that was a better grappler than him. He was caught off guard in both cases

 

[HolmeZy55]

What I saw last night was an overconfident Whittaker who say DDP's last fight with Till and was like I got this.

Maybe, to me Whittaker just looked off, he gassed early which is something he never does and he looked very predictable. Very curious how he looks in his next fight.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

Grappling, power, athleticism, pace, size are big reasons.

Dricus and Izzy have both said he won grappling when they trained. Dricus says he manhandled him. But it was in 2013 when they were 3-0 and 2-0 in MMA.

MW division in Izzy era has had horrendous grappling talent an absolute chasm dropoff from when Chris, Jacare, Luke, Kennedy, Saucy etc were in prime.

Hes been able to strike at will w/ size, length advantage against really poor offensive grapplers for most part. Alex is a horrible grappler one of the worst to ever be top 10.

Marvin, Cannoneer, Costa are not good grapplers either. Rob gets TDs here and there but usually to mix in something to score points. Hes not a strong grappler offensively he could barely control Darren Till lmfaooo whos a horrific grappler (Dalby and TWood did anything they wanted on mat, Brunson too). His TDD is incredible but not his grappling offense no. Like Rob isnt a threat to get a sub, do damage on top, pass guard. 43yo Yoel was basically a boxer he never grappled much late in his career. Blonde Brunson grappled but version Izzy fought was the berserker striker version.

Kelvin and Jan are probably the 2 most capable offensive grapplers Izzy fought and he went to war with Kelvin tied 2-2 to the 5th. Jan beat him. And grappling isnt even a strength for Jan @ LHW he usually gets his ass beat in grappling like Glover did right after Izzy fight or Ankalaev last 2 rounds.

Izzy is in trouble.

I guess your haven't really followed Jan's career. Jan was absolutely a grappler first dominating the European circuit in BJJ and early in his career he submitted his opponents. He has 9 subs and 9 KOs. The difference is all his subs came before he got into the UFC. Once he got into the UFC he changed to a more exciting strike first approach (which is another reason he lost his first 4 of 6 UFC fights).

Don't let his striking fool you. Jan is absolutely a grappler first and one of the best European grapplers in the UFC.

 

[Conan the K-9]

I like the match up and I think that DDP ankward style could cause Izzy some problems and he is a strong fighter, with real grappling tools.

But I already have a full load of second-hand embarrassment, when I think of that build up. Izzy is going to be out of control and unbearable on the mic.

 

[fortheo]

Maybe, to me Whittaker just looked off, he gassed early which is something he never does and he looked very predictable. Very curious how he looks in his next fight.

Dricus was targeting the body consistently, and whittaker put in a lot of effort trying to avoid damage from his back, a position he's not usually in. It isn't that surprising that he may have slowed.

 

[ExitLUPin]

His takedown entries are meh. Idk how Whittaker got taken down by that throw and looking back at the ones he shot against Darren Till they are very telegraphed. Sure Whittaker got Izzy down but he mixes his takedowns much better. Vettori also got him down though and he seemed to just outmuscle him on the fence so there is a chance Dricus can do that. If he gets Izzy down its def gonna be more dangerous than Vettori/Whittaker. His ground n pound is brutal.

As for the striking... He was catching Whittaker Blitzing in well with those Jabs like Jared did. I don't see him doing that against Izzy who isnt going to be blitzing in like that and is much better defensively sound with a better chin, He'll have to be the one going forward and he is very open when he does that with his chin up. Whittaker also didnt go to the body at all when Dricus had his guard up super high and tight the whole fight and you know Izzy is going to be blasting kicks there.

He has a chance if he mixes in the grappling but i'd favour Izzy.

Rob and Marvin got Izzy down multiple times and Dricus has better TDs than either considering his size, strength and athleticism. Higher TD rate at higher % than either too. Alex has gotten Izzy down lol.

The difference is Dricus is one of only 2-3 fighters who can actually grappler offensively. He can find submissions, land big GNP, and dominate from top. Izzys opponents for his career outside of Jan and Kelvin had miniscule to no grappling offense unlike Dricus so the times Izzy was taken down he didnt have to worry about being finished or hurt. He does now.

 

[Bend NvR Break]

Maybe, to me Whittaker just looked off, he gassed early which is something he never does and he looked very predictable. Very curious how he looks in his next fight.

That's what I mean. I think Whittaker thought he could just come in, take buddy down and sub him. Rob wrestles in the international scene and has good BJJ. When DDP got up that was a huge dump of energy from Robbie for nothing. But let's be honest: we've never seen Robbie come out and use a strategy like that before.

 

[Yellowcrab]

• He has a significant grappling advantage. I don't think there is much debate here. If he gets on top of izzy, he'll be a big problem.

His only advantage and way to win, Izzy is better at everything else.

 

[ExitLUPin]

I guess your haven't really followed Jan's career. Jan was absolutely a grappler first dominating the European circuit in BJJ and early in his career he submitted his opponents. He has 9 subs and 9 KOs. The difference is all his subs came before he got into the UFC. Once he got into the UFC he changed to a more exciting strike first approach (which is another reason he lost his first 4 of 6 UFC fights).

Don't let his striking fool you. Jan is absolutely a grappler first and one of the best European grapplers in the UFC.

No hes not. Jan is a striker. His background early in his career doesn't mean anything compared to his prime form. And hes represented Poland in world muay Thai comp before he ever fought in MMA and thats been by far his strength in MMA not grappling. Jan has an okay top game but is one of the worst ever off his back and not a dangerous grappler against top competition.

Corey, Cummins, Gus, ghost of Jacare, Santos, Rakic, Glover, Ankalaev have all outgrappled Jan some to sickening degrees that made him look like a novice. His UFC success has been by far due to striking more than grappling. He is a capable grappler but hardly been a strength in UFC. He averages less than 1 TD a fight and 0.2 sub attempts a fight. Its not his strength in any way like his striking has been. He will probably grapple successfully against Alex but Alex is a horrible grappler so that won't say anything. Bruno, Izzy and Michaeilidis had success grappling him LMAO.

 

[Dirty Frank]

plus he's African which is a huge deal nowadays

Damn you Paulie

 

[Bend NvR Break]

No hes not. Jan is a striker. His background early in his career doesn't mean anything compared to his prime form. And hes represented Poland in world muay Thai comp before he ever fought in MMA and thats been by far his strength in MMA not grappling. Jan has an okay top game but is one of the worst ever off his back and not a dangerous grappler against top competition.

Corey, Cummins, Gus, ghost of Jacare, Santos, Rakic, Glover, Ankalaev have all outgrappled Jan some to sickening degrees that made him look like a novice. His UFC success has been by far due to striking more than grappling. He is a capable grappler but hardly been a strength in UFC. He averages less than 1 TD a fight and 0.2 sub attempts a fight. Its not his strength in any way like his striking has been. He will probably grapple successfully against Alex but Alex is a horrible grappler so that won't say anything. Bruno, Izzy and Michaeilidis had success grappling him LMAO.

Um...

The Jan that won the title wasn't his prime form. Jan's prime form was the early 2010s. The problem was that the LHW division was much much better than and Jan want as good as his contemporaries. Jan (or Glover) had no business winning titles when they did because when they were actually peaking they couldn't win. They only won because the talent in the LHW division got horribly worse. LHW has been the worst division in the UFC for awhile now. That's why Jan won.

So don't tell me about this prime nonsense. Prime and peaking rarely lines up with winning a title. Winning a title more so lines up with timing and luck. Bisping won a title during a time down when physically he was the worst version of himself. The TUF Bisping could've beat the Bisping that won the MW. Faster, more explosive, less shopworn, more volume of strikes.

And Jan was winning BJJ tournaments in Europe about 2 years before he started winning any other type of combat sports including MT. And everyone you named that out grapplerd Jan besides Gus, who was in the middle of him training with Phil Davis specifically for his wrestling, are top of the pile grapplers. And Santos didn't out grapple Jan. He knocked him out in a stand up fight.

 

[MDoza]

On the feet, Izzy just KO’d a bigger, taller, more powerful, more technical fighter with a longer reach than DDP.

I just don’t see Dricus winning on the feet.

If he’s got a chance, it’s grinding out the fight on the cage and on the ground.

 

[cooks1]

TS, I don't know if ever told you, but you have always been one of my favorite posters.

With that said, I see Dricus as a physically imposing force. And yes his grappling may be a threat. But the fighters who have beaten Adesanya have been capable of being brilliant in the striking department.

DDP hasn't exactly shown that to me. His defense for example, is just a high guard. Other than that, he's there to be hit.

His style is awkward but I think Adesanya is a bit more disciplined defensively than Rob.
I'm sure the fight will be fun. I just hope the build up doesn't get too messy.

Good points. DDP is awkward and can get hit. But if you go back and look at DDP's fights, particularly in the stand-up, you will notice the fighters who do best against him on the feet are the ones that truly initiate. Izzy does not do that.

DDP likes to follow his punches with TD attempts or to get folks up on the cage. Aggressive fighters make that harder. Passive ones make it easier. At the very least, DPP should have his fair share of opportunities in the fight.

 

[Cowboy Kurt Angle]

His key to beating Izzy is not to use his stand up he needs to use his aggressive wrestling

 

[RockyLockridge]

TS, I don't know if ever told you, but you have always been one of my favorite posters.

With that said, I see Dricus as a physically imposing force. And yes his grappling may be a threat. But the fighters who have beaten Adesanya have been capable of being brilliant in the striking department.

DDP hasn't exactly shown that to me. His defense for example, is just a high guard. Other than that, he's there to be hit.

His style is awkward but I think Adesanya is a bit more disciplined defensively than Rob.
I'm sure the fight will be fun. I just hope the build up doesn't get too messy.

he just out struck and pieced the shit out of whittaker how have you not been show that? His defense is good and his chin is too strong for izzy to TKO him with a one punch.

if dricus can make it ugly he KO's izzy too.

Anyone who engages Izzy will put on a good fight. Look at how Gastelum did. You have to have it in you to pressure Izzy and get inside with confidence. Whittaker/Vettori/Cannonier were content to play the outside point battle and gave us terrible fights.

You have to just bring your A game when you close distance on Izzy to get inside and keep at it. If he is unable to take you out with a counter, it becomes more of a war of attrition.

One of the reasons i wanted whittaker to lose so badly is because I know that dricus will not just stand there and lose a decision like robert would have been happy to if he were the one to take on izzy. Cannonier, vettori, Whittaker all think they can win a decision. In all of those decision fights not one of them went into the final round gunning for a finish knowning they had to finish. there were content with going the distance as a moral victory.

Dricus will kill, or he will be killed.

 

[The_Renaissance]

He has a few things going for him for sure, but personally I think he's getting picked apart for fun. Like Izzy does to everyone not called Poatan, with ease, not a dig at DDP - he was awesome last night, bullied Whittaker.

 

[jeff7b9]

Izzy is just too fast man. He's also the best counter puncher in the game.

DDP suprised me last night but I still don't like his chances vs Izzy at all.

The first round last night my first thought was "damn dricus looks slow as hell."

Respect for his monumental win, but he has a tall order to get that belt