This is my "I thought Whittaker won" thread

[Tapioca Cold]

I dodnt fi d it close at all. Rob got schooled. Was surprised to hear 48-47 twice. Izzy never let him create an opening. Takedowns get too much credit in this sport. If you take someone down and do zero damage then it shouldn't score a point. Izzy was never in danger, landed more significant strikes in every round, walked forward and controlled the fight.

 

[jeff7b9]

We were saying that with Costa too xD XD

It could be a stinker.
That is always possible.

Guys tend to realize that they can't do much to Izzy and that he can pop them for trying and they shut down.

Credit to Rob for staying in the fight and continuing to intelligently seek opportunities.

As far as Cannonier... I just don't see him shutting down or accepting defeat, like Costa did. I see it as more of a Vettori type fight where the challenger continues to press the action, with Jared hopefully doing so in more aggressive and more violent fashion to try to take the belt and take Izzy's consciousness from him.


I could be wrong. Wouldn't be the first time.
According to my wife it has happened on previous occasions

 

[Brettco]

I had it 49-46 or 48-47 for Rob. Goddammit.
It was close I guess.

Thought Round 1 was a blow out for Adesanya, Round 2 & 3 razor thin but leaned Rob, 4 & 5 clearly for Rob.

I didn't watch the fight because anything oover $50 is bullshit but I definitely like Rob better so imo Rob pretty much won.

 

[sfer1]

I don't like Adesanya and I wanted Whittaker to win. That being said, he didn't fight to win, but not to get finished again.

Yes, some of the rounds were close, but you can't win the belt doing what Rob did.

 

[SG123]

Could have gone 3-2 either way, if you ignore the commentary

 

[electricfuneral]

I had 2 abs 5 for rob. Izzy is getting too tentative these days. Rob can hang with him on the feet.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Honestly didn't even cross my mind that Rob might have won when they went to the scorecards. 49-46 Izzy.

 

[Franklin U.]

I had it 49-46 or 48-47 for Rob. Goddammit.
It was close I guess.

Thought Round 1 was a blow out for Adesanya, Round 2 & 3 razor thin but leaned Rob, 4 & 5 clearly for Rob.

Your take isnt unreasonable.... and I was rooting for knuckles. I just found myself saying that Rob likely needs a finish after 3 rounds. I mean - did Israel profoundly win 2nd & 3rd round ? No -but rounds were so close that I gave champ rounds and more importantly, figured judges did just that. Props to Whitaker however anyone scored and it certainly was close.

 

[Minnja]

im biased because i wanted whittaker to win,but watching the fight and at the end of it I wasnt expecting him to win. I was hoping for draw,but the result was correct. I thought to win rob had had to connect more and those takedowns had little to no impact. Idk why rob didnt use his right hand much neither

I think he chose not to throw the right hand too much because he didn't want to get countered. When he was coming in with the jabs and left hook his right hand was pretty much always very high guarding his chin. He probably felt that he could touch Izzy with teh jab during the blitzes but opted to not get too carried and countered so he didn't follow up with the right. And tbf he was landing a pretty good amount of jabs but definitely if he landed some more right hands he could have swayed certain rounds in his favor. Or he could have gotten countered into Bolivian again- it's hard to say. If he had a bit more control on the ground and engaged more aggresively and connected on breaks I think he could have taken more rounds but again- he could have also gotten heavily countered so I understand why he opted not to be too aggressive.

It was not an action-packed fight but I enjoyed it. There was a lot of tension in the engagements and felt like at any second one of them could land a big shot.

 

[Small Town Andrew]

It was a close fight. Rob landed a lot of jabs and did score takedowns. Izzy never really seemed in trouble but was not very aggressive and the only real damage he caused was from leg kicks.

Wouldnt have been mad with either result

 

[azhiker]

Rob was running the whole time except when he was holding onto Izzy. Izzy had complete octagon control in all rounds.

With all that said, 3 to 2 Izzy.

 

[FrappeDuRocma]

I’d say it’s a mind set thing. Didn’t believe the hype so didn’t have any hesitation. Plus has a better chin than most. I highly doubt if they fought again it’d be like that.

Nah, Gastelum used to be super fast, not the case anymore.

 

[takuma]

50-45 Adesanya. Ultimately he did all the damage and the takedowns were nothing. I saw no threat from Whittaker. He fought his best and he had nothing.

 

[Made of Steel]

2, 4, 5 Rob all day long