Unpopular Opinion: Israel Adesanya is CRIMINALLY UNDERRATED

Xoleth said:
Except Poatan and Rob wins, he had some of the weakest opponents for his title fights:
- old Romero, shit boring fight and actually it was pretty close
- Costa, who beat up some cans to get a TS and has lost a lot of fights since then
- Cannonier, who had his share of losses
- Gastelum, who could have been a better fighter, given his hand speed and his chin
- Vettori, who was just a decent (not good) wrestler with an amazing chin and shit boxing and shit cardio

When he fought an actual good boxer (Strickland) and DDP, you can see what happened.

And this in a MW division with no top wrestlers in that period.

They gave him old Silva as a present, Silva who hadn't won a fight in 7 years. And lost a round to Silva. Imagine what Prime Silva would have done to him.

He is not underrated.
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Come off it, Costa was younger than izzy and undefeated. went to war with Romero who is obviously not a can.
Whittaker was younger than izzy and never lost at MW and got Obliterated
Romero went to war with costa in a close fight right before that.
Cannonier is whatever, but izzy cruised past him without a single lick of trouble.
Vettori same as cannonier
Gastelum was a great fighter with many intangibles in his favour.

You could do the exact same thing to anderson silva with Cote, Chael, Irving, lutter, Leties, Bonnar ect.
 
RockyLockridge said:
Come off it, Costa was younger than izzy and undefeated. went to war with Romero who is obviously not a can.
Whittaker was younger than izzy and never lost at MW and got Obliterated
Romero went to war with costa in a close fight right before that.
Cannonier is whatever, but izzy cruised past him without a single lick of trouble.
Vettori same as cannonier
Gastelum was a great fighter with many intangibles in his favour.

You could do the exact same thing to anderson silva with Cote, Chael, Irving, lutter, Leties, Bonnar ect.
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Before Izzy, Costa fought:
- two cans that were cut from UFC very fast
- Johny Hendricks at MW, who looked two weight classes smaller than Costa
- Uriah Hall
- Yoel - very close fight, great fight, could have gone either way
What is impressive about Costa? He is a powerful striker with short reach who can't do shit against technical strikers (Izzy, Rob, Sean)
He lost to Vettori on the feet.

Whittaker was a good win, I already said that. The second fight was very close.

Gastelum COULD have been a great fighter. He wasn't. His UFC career is lose one, win one.

Silva had weak opponents as well, but he had Vitor, Hendo, Maia. Chael, unlikeable as he was, was a better wrestler than Vettori.
 
Xoleth said:
Before Izzy, Costa fought:
- two cans that were cut from UFC very fast
- Johny Hendricks at MW, who looked two weight classes smaller than Costa
- Uriah Hall
- Yoel - very close fight, great fight, could have gone either way
What is impressive about Costa? He is a powerful striker with short reach who can't do shit against technical strikers (Izzy, Rob, Sean)
He lost to Vettori on the feet.

Whittaker was a good win, I already said that. The second fight was very close.

Gastelum COULD have been a great fighter. He wasn't. His UFC career is lose one, win one.

Silva had weak opponents as well, but he had Vitor, Hendo, Maia. Chael, unlikeable as he was, was a better wrestler than Vettori.
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I think Chael would lose to vettori and pretty badly. I think cannonier would beat him easily too.
 
He is still the second best striker right now in MMA!! Could be even tied with Poatan at first since their fights are always razor close.
 
Fighting is only half the game. He's a great fighter, nobody debates that, but he's just a weird fucking dude. The less he talks the more I like him. It shouldn't matter but it does.
 
He's near universally regarded as the #2 MW of all time.

This is as dumb as saying guys like Volk or Usman are underrated.

Sometimes you're only as good as #2 all time in your division, no matter the run you had. ESPECIALLY when like those 3 you're against all time greats PERIOD. Not just #1 of your division. They're that great they're against the best of other divisions to see who's the best PERIOD.

It is what it is.
 
IDGETKTFO said:
Lost to Jan.
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I will forever say that was entirely Izzy's fault, and was a completely winnable fight for him.
  • Showed up under the weight limit despite looking like death at MW, and immediately went back down a few months later, clearly never having moved up remotely properly
  • Spent the whole fight feinting and showboating with some shadow Jan like 2 ft to the side of the real Jan instead of hitting Jan who was standing right in front of him all fight
  • Only started getting taken down in rounds 4-5 which would've still given him a solid chance for a 48-47 before that as the superior striker he should've been without the above
Genuinely one of the most disappointing title performances of all time.
 
I thought he was widely considered the second best MW of all time, behind Silva. Who else is in contention for that #2 spot?
 
Arm Barbarian said:
Agreed. I was one of many shitting on him due to his weirdness, but he had a super solid run at MW, and took on all comers.

He's one of best ever at MW.
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Yes and he sexually abuses dogs. His persona is detestable to the point it actually harmed his legacy.
 
Most people thought he lost the Romero fight as well as the second Whitaker fight.
Most of his wins were close boring decisions.
 
Mammothman said:
Izzy will be known as the guy in the bar saying he beat Alex once. That's his legacy.
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I think this is one of the dumbest takes I've seen on Sherdog.
Izzy is the only person to finish Alex in the UFC and only person to KO him in MMA.
He has a pro boxing career of 6-1, a kickboxing record of 80-5 and a MMA record of 29-5.
He defender the belt 5 times, not including the unification bout.
I thought he was a bit of a wanker, but to simplify his legacy down to simply being a guy who sits in a bar saying he beat Alex once is straight up retarded.
 
ArtardFiesta said:
A lot of people downplay Izzy run as champion for 4 years.

He is criticized for his recent loses and his run is downplayed for fighting "cans" - Gasetelum, Vetori, Costa, Romero, Cannonier or an overrated Whittaker.

A lot of this is downplayed due to izzy being cringe - he makes anime porn, he jerks off his dog, thinks he is asian, cries in public, overuses the N Word etc. and constantly attacks the maga cult within mma (pro LGBTQ +and BLM, mocks charlie kirks death, wants the epstein files released).

I get it the guy is not likeable, but his legacy is so underrated now.

He was a few minutes away from beating Poatan the first matchup. He proceeded to KO him in the rematch. He went toe to toe with alex and was very much his equal in both of those fights. He has had more success against Alex then anyone else in MMA. I think it shows how good Izzy really is, but people even downplay these performances using alex weight cutting as an excuse.

He is probably the most disrespected HOF/GOAT level fighter since Mighty Mouse.
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Never was MW GOAT reigned in a relatively weak era, weak showings vs anyone who seemed like a threat (except Costa).

Perfectly rated
 
peak Izzy was top-5 MW ever
 
ArtardFiesta said:
A lot of people downplay Izzy run as champion for 4 years.

He is criticized for his recent loses and his run is downplayed for fighting "cans" - Gasetelum, Vetori, Costa, Romero, Cannonier or an overrated Whittaker.

A lot of this is downplayed due to izzy being cringe - he makes anime porn, he jerks off his dog, thinks he is asian, cries in public, overuses the N Word etc. and constantly attacks the maga cult within mma (pro LGBTQ +and BLM, mocks charlie kirks death, wants the epstein files released).

I get it the guy is not likeable, but his legacy is so underrated now.

He was a few minutes away from beating Poatan the first matchup. He proceeded to KO him in the rematch. He went toe to toe with alex and was very much his equal in both of those fights. He has had more success against Alex then anyone else in MMA. I think it shows how good Izzy really is, but people even downplay these performances using alex weight cutting as an excuse.

He is probably the most disrespected HOF/GOAT level fighter since Mighty Mouse.
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overrated? He is one only 3 fighters to win fighter of the year twice in a row. The others are Ubereem and conor.

Demetrius tossed away to another org like trash. Taking Ben in return was an excuse to “justify” it. The most disrespected champ in combat sport history.

I think you may be confusing recency bias with actual opinions. There are people still shitting on Fedor, Anderson, and GSP’s accomplishments. And even saying they are all bums.

Same happens with any generation after one loss. Like some calling conor, Rockhold, and Cejudo bums.
 
Arm Barbarian said:
Agreed. I was one of many shitting on him due to his weirdness, but he had a super solid run at MW, and took on all comers.

He's one of best ever at MW.
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I mean he's rated by nearly everyone as one of the best MW ever

So he's rated exactly where he should be. He isn't even underrated, nevermind criminally.










Khabib is definitely above him all time though ;)
 
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