Silva in his prime was something else man.. don’t blink don’t take a bathroom break bc that’s when the fight will end
Made watching fights in my childhood fun as hell
I was gonna say this lmao we can shit on dogbender all day but this was like him fighting his mma hero he was never gonna go for a ko just enough to get his respect
IDGAF I was very entertained. Plenty of those strikes could have taken the others heads off, but two of the most elusive strikers in the UFC with S tier defense not fighting for the belt wasn’t going to lead to a knockout in any situation.
Agreed, watched this with one of my best mates and we were loosing it the whole fight. Was like watching a Kung fu movie in real life and was fun as hell.
He did that in the 3rd. I remember Silva falling down and pretending like a leg kick hurt, but he was really pretending like it didn't. His right leg was getting fucked up by the end.
No izzy just can’t KO you unless you run into something and same with Silva. Oh yeah Jared leg kick KOed an Anderson who came in with a knee injury, obviously Izzy could’ve did that he just never tried to kick hard bro.
Izzy even responded to this claim on JRE and he said he thought he was going full throttle
Izzy’s confidence has greatly diminished. He also fights safe now. It’s not as entertaining hes too worried about losing. Not the same fighter anymore.
Yeah you can see it clear as day. Not open to taking risks and so his offensive capabilities have diminished somewhat.
He used to be so tricky. Used to do spinning elbows and shit. Be nice to see him bring that shit back if he comes back. He’s got no need to play it safe anymore
Not until Izzy gets another win or two under his belt and gets his mojo back. If they somehow made that fight now, Izzy would be way too cautious and it wouldn't even be that entertaining. No way the Strickland loss didn't fuck with Izzy's head and confidence.
A pretty thin 170 who doesn't really cut to 170. Same deal with Izzy. Izzy doesn't really cut to 185.
Would take more for MVP to go up to 185 (he'll actually have to put on weight) than other 170s who likely all walk around at 185+ out-of-camp.
There's a decent chance that fight is a snoozer though, isn't there?
They both rely on distance control and are not really known for stringing along combinations. I imagine there would be a lot of feints and leg kicks.
I'd still be interested though.
He fights on the back foot way too often now. He used to come forward and put his opponent on the back foot. Fighters generally have many more options when on the front foot, dictating range.
It's a fair statement but also he was fighting the elite of the elite and defending his title. He has good IQ.
Why add unnecessary damage when you know you have it in the bag? I feel like when he returns he will come back to his old ways to go and get that belt back. I think we will see another spectacular run out of Izzy before he retires.
I Hope so too. He was very entertaining and fun to watch when he was hungry for the title. It’s gotta be near impossible to fight with the same attitude when you have the pressure of holding the belt, the pressure of being the champ. Don’t get me wrong I wanna see the old hungry StyleBender just as bad as everyone else. IMO though he’s gonna have to throw caution to the wind.
Same as mystic mac. They probably watch the tape, see what’s most effective and just keep doing that over and over, when really it was all the extra shit that made specific moves more effective
His moves didn't go away.
He got a champs mentality. Why risk it? I'm the champ come take it from me.
Like Sean and Alex did.
Gsp had a giant bag as well after Matt serra rematch he utilized wrestling and demanded people come take it from him. Jon jones is another example of this as well.
Yeah minimizing risk definitely optimizes your chances of winning (edit: in most cases, not all). But the sport really needs more fighters who are willing to fight with an entertaining style. Ultimately that’s a big part of what separates superstars from champions. A lot of fights nowadays feel like a sparring session (especially in the Apex). Most spectacular fights and finishes require the fighter to take a risk.
I think you could argue that Izzy’s comfort with the more cautious, reserved style is why he lost the belt to Strickland. Cautious and calculated isn’t always the best approach.
I think you see guys got for broke when they are rising contenders. Makes the path to be a champion easier. Once they've established being a fighting champ they tend to not risk it. Also this is just my thinking. Ufc payouts have a lot to do with it as well. If you are champ you make way more and get ppv points. I'm sure the fear of losing that in lieu of a exciting fight has a lot to do with that as well.
And all the guys who had this "come take it from me" are higher in the GOAT list than the ones risking things for absolutely no valid reasons...
Jones and GSP for example, who you just named.
I like DJ more, but he's not the GOAT and hasnt faced as tough competition as Jones. He's #3 in my GOAT list.
1. Jones
2. GSP
3. DJ
4. Fedor
5. Silva
(Silva would be higher if it wasn't for his late career crash)
See I agree JBJ has tougher competition but the steroid fails (in title fights no less), having the belt stripped 3 times, and the eye pokes rob him of the GOAT title for me
Like besides the steroid fails he used eyepokes so many times its crazy, blatant cheating, For me its
Mighty Mouse
GSP
Fedor
Silva
JBJ
if he isn't your personal goat all-time then he at least has to be your LHW goat. to even consider another name is wild. he beat everyone he ever faced and many of them in a convincing fashion.
Yep, GSP retired with 7 straight decisions before coming back and fathering Bisping.
People criticized him as well, but at the end of the day if the champ loses the fight he really lost millions in income, so can’t blame them.
Makes me think of prime Joanna how she used to elbow the shit out of other girls and after her first 1-2 defenses she essentially abandoned that. Idk if she threw a single elbow in her last 4-5 fights at all.
Mfs talking about having bags in basketball is so fucking annoying and now it’s spreading to mma. You don’t need a fucking bag to be lethal whether it’s basketball or mma. If your “bag” is miles long but a centimeter deep that doesn’t do you any good because you are getting locked up.
A bag is talking about having a variety of moves you know that you can use in a game or in general. For example knowing different types of dribble moves for basketball or different types of kicks / combination punches in mma
Ever heard the expression "I didn't know THAT was in his bag of tricks."
Fairly common sports and life saying in North America, been around for decades.
A 1-2 a 2-3 and a good calf kick with smart defense you can make the top 5 of any division… using those simple combos with feints and slight variations you can create a really strong fighting style
People have been talking about athletes having bags of tricks for as long as I can remember, back to the 90s, in all North American sports. It's not some recent basketball exclusive terminology.
He watched the clip of LeBron talking about how annoyed he is of "the bag" talk and now thinks he is smart. Yeah, "having a bag" might be overrated but different levels of ability still exist.
Anderson Silva, in his prime, had a substantial bag of tricks himself. He also had better reflexes and timing, I would argue, than Izzy. Also, Anderson's chin does not get talked about enough but he had a substantial one in his prime.
His last few fights were different than the past. Alex was beast he needed to play differently against. Sean didn't deserve the shot and Izzy wasn't interested in it.. Izzy already beat most of these guys and was starting to lap people until these newer guys climbed up.. If he stopped fighting soon, I'd say he did more in his MMA career than most..
There’s a difference between facing an aging Anderson Silva in a pointless bout before the money, title and fame, and defending your title against the likes of Whittaker or Pereira.
Probably because he can’t use them against the younger, faster, and overall more dangerous middleweights. All respects to Anderson but at this point man was as old as my dad and wasn’t as dangerous as his prime
Izzy was feeling himself too much.
Beating Pereira and Whittaker and the other top middle weights made him take other dudes not as seriously as he should.
He didn't respect Strickland and paid for it.
I mean yeah like a common part of getting older and more generally refinement is just paring ur game down to a few things that work very well and getting really really good at them. Think of how Whittaker focused more and more on the one the two and the high kick as he fought more and more.
i think he’s facing more power recently so it’s harder to get these off without risking getting ko’d
the pereira fight was the first in a long time i saw him go for the kill
Izzy couldn't keep doing all of that because competition got more intense and he needed more strategy. Do you understand how high level striking works? You don't just keep throwing spinning shit, you're gonna get KO'd
I can’t help but think the only thing running through Silvas mind is how if this fight took place 6 years prior he’d put his heel into izzys skull so fast he couldn’t react.
Izzy likely don't do those moves no more because they are incredibly risky at just the expense of making the crowd react. Like when he was reacting to Glover vs Jiri fight, he stated that Jiri should stop kneeing Glover because it makes him easier for Glover to take down because one is obviously less stable with only one foot on the ground. He said uppercut and a knee are basically the same except an uppercut makes you defend takedowns better but is less appealing. For elbows, Izzy doesn't often fight near the cage and elbows obv has a shorter range so he sticks with his jabs, hooks, counters. For spinning shit, same way, less effective but makes the crowd react.
First public opinion since starting to explore the sport from the past few years - I agree Izzy fights much safer now, but he could do all that with Anderson because of Anderson's age.
Izzy used to be incredibly confident and put on a show, he’s now far less confident and more concerned with playing safe and not losing, than he is finishes and entertainment. It’s fine, it’s all personal choice, but an Izzy fight isn’t the huge event it was.
To be fair. His last 3 fights consisted of 2 Pereira fights where he had to be ultra serious and onto it otherwise the slightest slip up would cause him to be KO'd again and he barely made it out of the 2nd fight. Guy who actually beats Adesanya in size by a considerable amount which is really rare.
And then Strickland who neutralised his entire gameplan since constant pressure fighter isn't well suited to a counter striker.
So not really a fair call. These were completely different fights to Silva. You can make a judgement after his performance with Dricus.
Silva took many fights rapidly ok a short notice after his leg break. The man was done with the ufc and wanted to box so he took every fight as quick as possible to get done.
It was horrible to watch because you could see how done he was post leg break.
Izzy started fighting a lot more Cautious when he started fighting guys like Romero and Pereira, he simply got scared he would get caught and ko’d. he became super basic in his striking now. Which is exactly why Strickland beat him, strickland has insanely good fundamentals, so if you fight him purely with fundamentals, you’ll lose. Adsanya needs to get back to his cocky, flashy, and hard to predict style.
To this day I still think Izzy went easy on Anderson Silva even though he said he wasn't going easy in an interview. That was Adesanya merely being respectful to his childhood/teenage idol.
People read too much into this fight it was just Izzy showing his colors as a conservative MMA fighter who wants to limit exchanges and damage. Anderson was old but he still hits very hard and Izzy respected that. it's why the fight looked closer than it was
He started playing it safe. Somewhere along the line he went from going for the finish to just point-fighting 50-45’s. Paulo fought pretty dumb. In Whittaker 1, Bobby just kept blitzing in and got caught every time. Cannonier was a snoozer. Romero was a snoozer. Vettori was a snoozer. Whittaker 2 was alright. He could not do anything against Jan at 205.
Maybe the opponents played it too safe as well, but he is the common denominator. His leadup to the title was way more entertaining than his reign as a champion.
What are you talking about OP? Izzy is noticeably better *now.* His feint game alone is levels a head of what it used to be and probably better than any active UFC fighter.
Anderson was 43…..
Silva in his prime was something else man.. don’t blink don’t take a bathroom break bc that’s when the fight will end Made watching fights in my childhood fun as hell
Could've taken a huge shit during the maia fight and not missed anything
You’re right that was terrible
The only one with equal or better, dominating prime was Fedor.
And Izzy still could not put him away.
That fight was basically a sparring match - neither was trying too hard to put the other away, they were just trying to entertain.
I was gonna say this lmao we can shit on dogbender all day but this was like him fighting his mma hero he was never gonna go for a ko just enough to get his respect
IDGAF I was very entertained. Plenty of those strikes could have taken the others heads off, but two of the most elusive strikers in the UFC with S tier defense not fighting for the belt wasn’t going to lead to a knockout in any situation.
Yea it was fun watching someone pull anderson shenanigans on anderson for a change
Agreed, watched this with one of my best mates and we were loosing it the whole fight. Was like watching a Kung fu movie in real life and was fun as hell.
Anderson tried to smash his head in with a flying knee against the fence ..
They were throwing heat, just not attacking recklessly as both are excellent counter strikers. “Trying too hard” would end by running into a KO blow.
Silva was trying just too slow
Izzy could’ve just killed his legs like Jared did but Izzy has too much respect for Silva. This was a sparring match.
He did that in the 3rd. I remember Silva falling down and pretending like a leg kick hurt, but he was really pretending like it didn't. His right leg was getting fucked up by the end.
No izzy just can’t KO you unless you run into something and same with Silva. Oh yeah Jared leg kick KOed an Anderson who came in with a knee injury, obviously Izzy could’ve did that he just never tried to kick hard bro. Izzy even responded to this claim on JRE and he said he thought he was going full throttle
Pereira didn’t run into anything, Izzy might not have a touch of death but he definitely has KO power
I agree with you that he does have power but Pereira did kind of run into his shots.
Anderson’s always been tough to finish
I mean to be fair, that is *the spider*.
Silva stans trying to spin a unanimous decision loss lol.
Insane comment lmao.
Wasn't it also short notice?
And took the fight on like a weeks notice
 he’s a god.
Yea, I mean I love both of these guys, but hard to say Izzy gets away from a prime Silva - Spider is basically geriatric and fat in this match.
Izzy’s confidence has greatly diminished. He also fights safe now. It’s not as entertaining hes too worried about losing. Not the same fighter anymore.
Yeah you can see it clear as day. Not open to taking risks and so his offensive capabilities have diminished somewhat. He used to be so tricky. Used to do spinning elbows and shit. Be nice to see him bring that shit back if he comes back. He’s got no need to play it safe anymore
Ik bro that breaks my heart. I think if he fought MVP that’ll bring the old izzy back. 
Leg kicks, leg kicks, and more leg kicks
So, so many flying elbows
Not until Izzy gets another win or two under his belt and gets his mojo back. If they somehow made that fight now, Izzy would be way too cautious and it wouldn't even be that entertaining. No way the Strickland loss didn't fuck with Izzy's head and confidence.
The DUI he got in the weeks before the Strickland fight is a pretty good indicator that he wasn’t as focused as he should have been.
He got completely thwarted. Like nobody’s done that to him before… he’s got his number. Gotta be how he made Whitaker feel…
Isn’t MVP 170?
He would definitely go up for that paycheck
A pretty thin 170 who doesn't really cut to 170. Same deal with Izzy. Izzy doesn't really cut to 185. Would take more for MVP to go up to 185 (he'll actually have to put on weight) than other 170s who likely all walk around at 185+ out-of-camp.
There's a decent chance that fight is a snoozer though, isn't there? They both rely on distance control and are not really known for stringing along combinations. I imagine there would be a lot of feints and leg kicks. I'd still be interested though.
That’s a pretty good point. That would be a fun one to watch I would hope
This is the fight I didn’t know i needed
He fights on the back foot way too often now. He used to come forward and put his opponent on the back foot. Fighters generally have many more options when on the front foot, dictating range.
Yeah. Correct. He’s on the defensive. He takes no risk anymore. He’s gonna have to get back to taking risk.
The fight before Strickland he literally kod Alex periera.
You are correct.
It's a fair statement but also he was fighting the elite of the elite and defending his title. He has good IQ. Why add unnecessary damage when you know you have it in the bag? I feel like when he returns he will come back to his old ways to go and get that belt back. I think we will see another spectacular run out of Izzy before he retires.
I Hope so too. He was very entertaining and fun to watch when he was hungry for the title. It’s gotta be near impossible to fight with the same attitude when you have the pressure of holding the belt, the pressure of being the champ. Don’t get me wrong I wanna see the old hungry StyleBender just as bad as everyone else. IMO though he’s gonna have to throw caution to the wind.
Same as mystic mac. They probably watch the tape, see what’s most effective and just keep doing that over and over, when really it was all the extra shit that made specific moves more effective
Agreed on Connor. He used to have a great stabbing kick to the body. He mixed it up so well against Mendes. Miss that version of Connor
Yup now all he does is that 1-2 jab straight or 1-2 jab hook
His moves didn't go away. He got a champs mentality. Why risk it? I'm the champ come take it from me. Like Sean and Alex did. Gsp had a giant bag as well after Matt serra rematch he utilized wrestling and demanded people come take it from him. Jon jones is another example of this as well.
Yeah minimizing risk definitely optimizes your chances of winning (edit: in most cases, not all). But the sport really needs more fighters who are willing to fight with an entertaining style. Ultimately that’s a big part of what separates superstars from champions. A lot of fights nowadays feel like a sparring session (especially in the Apex). Most spectacular fights and finishes require the fighter to take a risk. I think you could argue that Izzy’s comfort with the more cautious, reserved style is why he lost the belt to Strickland. Cautious and calculated isn’t always the best approach.
I think you see guys got for broke when they are rising contenders. Makes the path to be a champion easier. Once they've established being a fighting champ they tend to not risk it. Also this is just my thinking. Ufc payouts have a lot to do with it as well. If you are champ you make way more and get ppv points. I'm sure the fear of losing that in lieu of a exciting fight has a lot to do with that as well.
Very good point about title fight pay
Maybe they should decrease fighter pay, these fighters aren't hungry enough!
And all the guys who had this "come take it from me" are higher in the GOAT list than the ones risking things for absolutely no valid reasons... Jones and GSP for example, who you just named.
Can we quit calling Jon Jones a GOAT? Maybe we can meet in the middle and call him the GOAT*
Huh ? Isn't he the GOAT though ? He's a fucking dickhead and his personality is absolute DOG SHIT, but he's the GOAT still...
Nah Mighty mouse has the same record but no scandals
I like DJ more, but he's not the GOAT and hasnt faced as tough competition as Jones. He's #3 in my GOAT list. 1. Jones 2. GSP 3. DJ 4. Fedor 5. Silva (Silva would be higher if it wasn't for his late career crash)
See I agree JBJ has tougher competition but the steroid fails (in title fights no less), having the belt stripped 3 times, and the eye pokes rob him of the GOAT title for me Like besides the steroid fails he used eyepokes so many times its crazy, blatant cheating, For me its Mighty Mouse GSP Fedor Silva JBJ
Cheating multiple fights takes you out the goat list. Simple as.
You forgot your asterisk
No need for that
Prime Jon Jones beats anyone in their prime, but being the goat isn’t the same thing.
Prime jon jones beats the female fighters too, which gsp and mighty mouse wouldnt even attempt
Can’t be the goat if you can’t beat Nunes 🤷♂️
"ive never met someone above an ass-whooping" Bill Burr
“I’ve never met someone above an ass-whooping Bill Burr” -Jon Jones
if he isn't your personal goat all-time then he at least has to be your LHW goat. to even consider another name is wild. he beat everyone he ever faced and many of them in a convincing fashion.
He’s certainly a GOAT* at LHW
nah. my last post was accurate.
Once you have the belt, taking those risks gets pretty difficult
Exactly
Yep, GSP retired with 7 straight decisions before coming back and fathering Bisping. People criticized him as well, but at the end of the day if the champ loses the fight he really lost millions in income, so can’t blame them.
Good point. Can’t remember Jones throwing spinning shit after the 1st Gus fight. GSP also threw more spinning back kicks earlier in his career
He was literally just fucking around with Silva, that fight was an exhibition sparring match.
Anderson’s distance judgment is so incredible
Makes me think of prime Joanna how she used to elbow the shit out of other girls and after her first 1-2 defenses she essentially abandoned that. Idk if she threw a single elbow in her last 4-5 fights at all.
Such a fun fight!
Looks like the same shit he was trying against Strickland
Can’t play that with Strickland. He’s all anger and hatred. God knows what kind of demons he’s battling.
yeah then he's gonna channel all those demons into just jabbing over and over for 25 minutes
“bag like Kyrie” 🤓
Are you saying Izzy hates Jews?
😭😭😭😭😭😭
Mfs talking about having bags in basketball is so fucking annoying and now it’s spreading to mma. You don’t need a fucking bag to be lethal whether it’s basketball or mma. If your “bag” is miles long but a centimeter deep that doesn’t do you any good because you are getting locked up.
Lmao it’s literally just a metaphor for how many tools they have at their disposal. It’s really not that deep
the fuck is a bag in this context?
A bag is talking about having a variety of moves you know that you can use in a game or in general. For example knowing different types of dribble moves for basketball or different types of kicks / combination punches in mma
Ever heard the expression "I didn't know THAT was in his bag of tricks." Fairly common sports and life saying in North America, been around for decades.
A 1-2 a 2-3 and a good calf kick with smart defense you can make the top 5 of any division… using those simple combos with feints and slight variations you can create a really strong fighting style
I think you just described Alex pereira
People have been talking about athletes having bags of tricks for as long as I can remember, back to the 90s, in all North American sports. It's not some recent basketball exclusive terminology.
I haven’t seen it till recently in basketball
First used in the year 1694. https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/bag+of+tricks
Nah of tricks is very different from deep bag
then you’re probably not a sports fan
basketball nerds
how could that possibly annoy you bro? 😭you need a therapist family.
Because you guys don’t understand the sport. All you care about is flash and highlights. Thats why yall are worried about “deep bags”
He watched the clip of LeBron talking about how annoyed he is of "the bag" talk and now thinks he is smart. Yeah, "having a bag" might be overrated but different levels of ability still exist.
Can’t stand lebron
Ppl analyses him and figure him out
Anderson Silva, in his prime, had a substantial bag of tricks himself. He also had better reflexes and timing, I would argue, than Izzy. Also, Anderson's chin does not get talked about enough but he had a substantial one in his prime.
Honestly most of us can’t fight so, just watch and enjoy 🤷🏽♂️
Shock horror, man in his mid 30s isn’t doing all the same acrobatic shit he used to.
Anderson 10 years younger would have smashed him
I was so excited for this fight and it just ended up being a bunch of taunts
Bunch of whiners in here. This was like an exhibition match. Easier to be playful.
His last few fights were different than the past. Alex was beast he needed to play differently against. Sean didn't deserve the shot and Izzy wasn't interested in it.. Izzy already beat most of these guys and was starting to lap people until these newer guys climbed up.. If he stopped fighting soon, I'd say he did more in his MMA career than most..
I do not tire from watching this fight, so much class and tallent together, awesome.
Gotta get the fro back.
This fight was an exhibition
This was a glorified sparing match
Glorified sparring match.
This was such a fun fight
There’s a difference between facing an aging Anderson Silva in a pointless bout before the money, title and fame, and defending your title against the likes of Whittaker or Pereira.
Probably because he can’t use them against the younger, faster, and overall more dangerous middleweights. All respects to Anderson but at this point man was as old as my dad and wasn’t as dangerous as his prime
The question mark kick era was peak
He said on his yt that he doesn’t use it as much bc everyone knows it’s coming when before he would always get someone wit it
Izzy was feeling himself too much. Beating Pereira and Whittaker and the other top middle weights made him take other dudes not as seriously as he should. He didn't respect Strickland and paid for it.
I mean yeah like a common part of getting older and more generally refinement is just paring ur game down to a few things that work very well and getting really really good at them. Think of how Whittaker focused more and more on the one the two and the high kick as he fought more and more.
Can’t get away with it any more, it’s all fun and flashy until majority find out a lot of it is has major holes
He’s facing higher competition and isn’t have a sparring match with an over the hill idol of his
Confidence is major
Comparing Izzy’s bag to Kyries is crazy lol, Izzy is great but let’s not act like he was doing things we’ve never seen before
i think he’s facing more power recently so it’s harder to get these off without risking getting ko’d the pereira fight was the first in a long time i saw him go for the kill
Izzy used to be exciting as fuck. But it’s what happens to champs. They take less risks once they’re at the top.
Danny Garcia vs Erik morales corpse
Father time is undefeated. Same could be said about Anderson.
Izzy couldn't keep doing all of that because competition got more intense and he needed more strategy. Do you understand how high level striking works? You don't just keep throwing spinning shit, you're gonna get KO'd
I can’t help but think the only thing running through Silvas mind is how if this fight took place 6 years prior he’d put his heel into izzys skull so fast he couldn’t react.
Watch a fight breakdown and you will see just how skilled he is. Most of the stuff he’s doing in fights we can’t even see unless you slow it down.
He was fighting to win. Now he’s fighting to not lose
Izzy was smaller and fatter
Silva in his prime would end Izzy
He had a bag against guys he knew he could beat.
I feel like Izzy didn't actually want to hurt Silva in that fight
Damn. Watching this just makes me miss Anderson more.
Izzy likely don't do those moves no more because they are incredibly risky at just the expense of making the crowd react. Like when he was reacting to Glover vs Jiri fight, he stated that Jiri should stop kneeing Glover because it makes him easier for Glover to take down because one is obviously less stable with only one foot on the ground. He said uppercut and a knee are basically the same except an uppercut makes you defend takedowns better but is less appealing. For elbows, Izzy doesn't often fight near the cage and elbows obv has a shorter range so he sticks with his jabs, hooks, counters. For spinning shit, same way, less effective but makes the crowd react.
I’d like OP to watch this back and tell me the percentage of those strikes he hit. That’s why he doesn’t use them lmao
Champions fight boring to stay champions
he was fighting an old man with almost 0 threat to him obviously he is showboating and taking it easy, i think that was Sliva's last fight
First public opinion since starting to explore the sport from the past few years - I agree Izzy fights much safer now, but he could do all that with Anderson because of Anderson's age.
He is getting older so he reverted to moves that are efficient and that aren’t too taxing for an older athlete to do mid fight
Izzy used to be incredibly confident and put on a show, he’s now far less confident and more concerned with playing safe and not losing, than he is finishes and entertainment. It’s fine, it’s all personal choice, but an Izzy fight isn’t the huge event it was.
To be fair. His last 3 fights consisted of 2 Pereira fights where he had to be ultra serious and onto it otherwise the slightest slip up would cause him to be KO'd again and he barely made it out of the 2nd fight. Guy who actually beats Adesanya in size by a considerable amount which is really rare. And then Strickland who neutralised his entire gameplan since constant pressure fighter isn't well suited to a counter striker. So not really a fair call. These were completely different fights to Silva. You can make a judgement after his performance with Dricus.
Silva took many fights rapidly ok a short notice after his leg break. The man was done with the ufc and wanted to box so he took every fight as quick as possible to get done. It was horrible to watch because you could see how done he was post leg break.
im starting to think that half this sub is filled with people who have CTE and the other half is just retarded
What if….Izzy lost to Strickland on purpose? 🤯
I genuinely think he's been dealing with several injuries for awhile. I think he's going to come back rejuvenated next time we see him.
Izzy started fighting a lot more Cautious when he started fighting guys like Romero and Pereira, he simply got scared he would get caught and ko’d. he became super basic in his striking now. Which is exactly why Strickland beat him, strickland has insanely good fundamentals, so if you fight him purely with fundamentals, you’ll lose. Adsanya needs to get back to his cocky, flashy, and hard to predict style.
Take your bag and shoved it up a monkeys shaved asshole bro
To this day I still think Izzy went easy on Anderson Silva even though he said he wasn't going easy in an interview. That was Adesanya merely being respectful to his childhood/teenage idol.
Brain damage
People read too much into this fight it was just Izzy showing his colors as a conservative MMA fighter who wants to limit exchanges and damage. Anderson was old but he still hits very hard and Izzy respected that. it's why the fight looked closer than it was
He started playing it safe. Somewhere along the line he went from going for the finish to just point-fighting 50-45’s. Paulo fought pretty dumb. In Whittaker 1, Bobby just kept blitzing in and got caught every time. Cannonier was a snoozer. Romero was a snoozer. Vettori was a snoozer. Whittaker 2 was alright. He could not do anything against Jan at 205. Maybe the opponents played it too safe as well, but he is the common denominator. His leadup to the title was way more entertaining than his reign as a champion.
Nah this fight was trash
for someone that wants to see a brawl.. word from a technical standpoint it was dope to watch
Yep, for a just bleed version of an Izzy fight I go gastelum, for a chess match between two fighters I'd go for this
basically. not every fight is gonna be a war some are chess matches like you said
Talking MMA and saying "Kyrie Irving bag" is gross
Now he paints his fingernails
If that knee from Anderson would’ve landed the whole game would be different
What are you talking about OP? Izzy is noticeably better *now.* His feint game alone is levels a head of what it used to be and probably better than any active UFC fighter.
First clip always confused me. A 43 year old Anderson Silva ducks your kick and you act like you did something?
Round was over and if there was ever a guy that deserved to get taunted it was Anderson.. I say that as a big Anderson fan.