Why people are so excited about Israel after yesterday??

[Hookhooks]

Izzy is good. He's different from the classic, successful mold of fighter and I'm enjoying it as a viewer. I did not expect him to beat KG, to be honest. But that 5th round was brutal. I don't know what else you can ask from him there really. KG is a beast, retrospectives on his height and size not withstanding. We have a VERY competitive division right now and I think it's great. If Whittaker could keep his body together the matchups to come are tantalizing.

 

[Cat Biscuits]

I'm with you on the fact that he didn't look amazing at all. He's not even close to how Silva was with his matrix moves. My jaw was never dropped with any flashy shit or amazing striking on display.

But according to Shertard if you aren't impressed with a hype train after they just won a fight, you're a hater...

Honestly i'm more impressed with Kelvin given that he had a huge reach and height disadvantage, but was able to take the fight to Adesanya and land shots in a standup fight.

If Adesanya is as good as everyone thinks he is, he should've easily dominated that match as it was a striking match heavily in his favor. I'm not as easily impressed like a lot of you guys are. The only thing that impressed me was his chin as Kelvin landed some bombs. It was a great fight and both fighters showed lots of heart, but lets not call Adesanya the next Anderson Silva.

 

[Thepaintbucket]

I think Kelvin is a great fighter and was a good test for Israel in terms of ranking. I am not taking anything away from Israel but sadly the reach difference was just way too much. Kelvin is a legitimately around 5'7 like Woodley, who is fighting a guy around 6'3-6'4. He's at a huge disadvantage no matter how skilled he is. There was a 8 1/2 reach distinction between the two which goes a long way in striking.

IMO Robert Whittaker will have the same issues too. It will be one of those fights where you can't let the guy stay at a distance and destroy you from the outside. Whitaker better learn to stick to Israel like glue via Ben Askren style.

 

[Kneeuinthenutz]

I can't stand him, but he showed a lot of true grit.

 

[neandertal]

I was honestly more impressed by Kelvin.. he gassed though.

 

[Dante]

I'm excited for him because I've seen him fight literally 5 times more than any other middleweight in the last year. An active champ is a champ I support. Also all this shitting on Gastelum needs to stop. Before yesterday he was a world beater that was about to derail the hype train(in a way, he did) and now he's a fat out of shape welterweight. That was an epic fight. Adesanya came out on top. Get over yourselves.

 

[BuddyGuy]

I don't understand. He is a great fighter, but he is not AMAZING, and he won't even keep his belt for long.

He almost got knocked the fuck out by a fat welterweight( I am not trashing Kelvin, just saying he is short for the division) who is much shorter than him ( Kelvin was so stupid for trying the takedown when Israel was rocked).

Do you guys remember really great fighters when they were rising to number 1 contender and becoming champion for a while ? Anderson, Jones, DC, GSP, etc.. they were wrecking the competion while getting minimal damage, and making it look easy.

Israel's face yesterday was all busted up, and he just fought the number 4 contender.

He is great, but the next Anderson ? Lol, give me a break. He won't get past Romero, Whittaker and maybe Borrachinha. It would take one shot from Borrachinha for Israel to crumble, and yesterday he shows how hittable he is.

Israel proved he has the heart of a champion and that extra gear to take over when needed aka the 5 th round were he essentially got the finish but the ref wanted to see Kelvin get brain damage.

185 is extremely skilled the skill gap between the top 5 can be overcome by anyone due to power.

It's very similar to the situation with Machida page shogun Rashad at 205 back In the day. The top are killers who can beat each other on any given day due to power.

Anyone who is saying he is the next goat is speaking in hyperbole. Any one who says he is not an extremely tough fight for anyone at 185 is a dunce.

Appreciate what we saw last night. MMA at its finest.

 

[Deleted member 551049]

It was a great fight and a great performance for his first real step up but yeah, he shouldn't have struggled that much with Kelvin on the feet. He was throwing way too many single shots, almost no combinations and then just wanting to set up the next flashy strike, instead of sticking to the basics which would have gotten him a much easier victory. He actually got tired fairly quickly too. I thought the Anderson performance was a one-off but apparently it's actually a problem for him. He should not have had to take that kind of damage with his skillset. Any time he started punching with volume, he was fucking him up. He finally committed to that in the last round though, which was good.

I don't think he beats Whittaker, Romero, Weidman or Jacare. Costa could go either way.

 

[BuddyGuy]

Almost knocked out and rocked are different things. He didn't get knocked out and hurt Gastelum way worse than Gastelum hurt him. Pretty funny thread considering all the people saying Gastelum would KO him before the fight. Adesanya was supposed to be overrated and get ko'd by Gastelum and and after he beats Gastelum, Suddenly Gastelum is a fat welterweight and getting hurt by him is embarassing...

Sherdog revisionist bs at its finest. I will nevr understand how ppl who have probably never been in a fight in their lives right off a fighter beacuse he got hurt in a fight and came back to win.

It's a fight not a video game everyone is gunna get hit

Just beacuse one guy won and one lost doesn't mean the loser automatically poses all his skills lol

 

[MuyThaiElbows]

I'm still yet to be impressed as well. He beat an old Anderson and a smaller fighter in Gastelum that can pack a punch.

Im very interested in a matchup with Whittaker. That fight will show exactly where Adesanya is at.

 

[illegalnature]

I just want to see Israel tested against a real Middleweight wrestler like Weidman, Jacare or Romero. It's amazing they managed to have him avoid these 3 opponents. Hell, even the likes of Branch, Hermannson and Rockhold would give him trouble I believe.

But him beating Whittaker for the title in like his 5th ufc fight after crossing over from kickboxing wouldn't be impressive enough for you for a young fighter?

 

[snugglecakes]

I think he’s a lot like John Jones in that he out frames/ out reaches/ out leverages his way to the win, rather than out skills his way to a win. If u put them Into the body with the same average reach as everybody else in their division they would become just another 1 of the guys

 

[Langstarr]

I don't understand. He is a great fighter, but he is not AMAZING, and he won't even keep his belt for long.

He almost got knocked the fuck out by a fat welterweight( I am not trashing Kelvin, just saying he is short for the division) who is much shorter than him ( Kelvin was so stupid for trying the takedown when Israel was rocked).

Do you guys remember really great fighters when they were rising to number 1 contender and becoming champion for a while ? Anderson, Jones, DC, GSP, etc.. they were wrecking the competion while getting minimal damage, and making it look easy.

Israel's face yesterday was all busted up, and he just fought the number 4 contender.

He is great, but the next Anderson ? Lol, give me a break. He won't get past Romero, Whittaker and maybe Borrachinha. It would take one shot from Borrachinha for Israel to crumble, and yesterday he shows how hittable he is.

Man U know it all don’t u buddy?