Are you ok with “win by any means” champs like Izzy?

Izzy is very technical and a great striker, you have to give him his props for that, but I still don't root for him due to his 'win by any means' mentality.
 
I enjoy his striking alot. You just wish his dance partner could keep up
 
sampuncher said:
"He isn’t entertaining because his style is to counter strike"

Why not? Counter Striking is boring after one or two fights apparently and Anderson is one of the best counter strikers to ever exist.

We can pretend Anderson didn't have his own fair share of lackluster yet dominant fights on his resume aswell if we want.
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People forget Anderson's fights against Maia, Cote, and Leites. You can't always expect magic moments to happen; that's what makes them magic.
 
Martialbeef said:
I’m not sure i am. He isn’t entertaining because his style is to counter strike, and generally point fight, unless the guy he is fighting is super aggressive.

Do i appreciate his skills? Of course, but after watching him do this once or twice it gets tiresome.

The annoying thing about Izzy is that he would be an incredibly good offensive fighter if he tried to inflict more violence. He has the movement and quickness. Underrated hands too. I don’t think his ceiling is too much higher than where he is just now popularity wise. If he’s cool to cash cheques and get uninspiring safe wins then fair play.

Same goes for Volk except the difference is he lost his last title fight
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Izzy has his share of finishes it's not like he is a full time decision machine but a win is win nonetheless.
 
Martialbeef said:
Don’t put Izzy in the same sentence as Anderson my guy
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Anderson had higher highs but also lower lows in terms of title fights.
Most lists of "10 most boring title fights in UFC history" had Anderson in 3 of those: Leites, Maia and Cote.
And the DIaz fight was also shite.

I think people forget just how much everyone hated those fights.

Shit, Dana agreed Silva vs Maia was so embarassing for the sport it was his lowest moment as president of the UFC


Now, granted - this was before Woodley vs Maia.

And Romero vs Izzy was also horrid but not quite as bad imo.
 
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sampuncher said:
It makes me sad that if Anderson and Machida were fighting today people would be calling their style "tiresome" after one or two fights.
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Uh... you must have forgot... both were called boring and tiresome in their day
 
Mr.Maelstrom said:
Honestly, I'm fine with it. If izzy can outclass opponents without ever getting out of 2nd or 3rd gear, that's the ideal approach.

To me, Arona was the only guy who I sincerely couldn't enjoy watching win bouts conservatively.
He fought dirtier than anyone (fingers in sakuraba's cuts, the late punch on overeem after Reem tapped out) while using his top game to put 80,000 fans to sleep.

Now THAT was a miserable prick to watch fight.
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I just had to reply to say I 100% agree
 
Get that W.
Sure as a fan we love exciting but I get fighters side of it. Stack the wins. I don't even see Izzy in the way some are categorizing him. Sure he had that lackluster showing against Romero where he was just trying to get out clean with his belt. Other than that I've been fine with how he has performed in his fights.
 
100%. Their job is to win a fist fight with a trained killer, not entertain a bunch of double-chinned WWE fans. Fighting smart is an oxymoron but it’s the best way to fight, and if your opponent can’t force you away from that then it’s his problem.
 
Martialbeef said:
I’m not sure i am. He isn’t entertaining because his style is to counter strike, and generally point fight, unless the guy he is fighting is super aggressive.

Do i appreciate his skills? Of course, but after watching him do this once or twice it gets tiresome.

The annoying thing about Izzy is that he would be an incredibly good offensive fighter if he tried to inflict more violence. He has the movement and quickness. Underrated hands too. I don’t think his ceiling is too much higher than where he is just now popularity wise. If he’s cool to cash cheques and get uninspiring safe wins then fair play.

Same goes for Volk except the difference is he lost his last title fight
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Israel fights cautiously because he gets caught more than Joe Rogan likes to admit. He's not some defensive genius at all.
 
Slugfest Addict said:
Meh, not all ppl can appreciate high level striking. Its probably not for u but hes getting more and more popular and tht means whatever hes doing is working. I remember back when Adesanya's IG followers is below 2 mil. Now its 5,1 mil. 300k increase from few days ago before he fought vettori. Dude is very popular and lots of ppl appreciate what he brings to the table.
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His striking is overrated.
 
Yes. I can't fault a guy for doing what he needs to do to win, even if at times it makes for some performances that I find underwhelming in the entertainment department.

Not including cheating of course.
 
ch1584 said:
100%. Their job is to win a fist fight with a trained killer, not entertain a bunch of double-chinned WWE fans. Fighting smart is an oxymoron but it’s the best way to fight, and if your opponent can’t force you away from that then it’s his problem.
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Vettori trained killer? Guy couldn’t finish a mars bar
 
Martialbeef said:
I’m not sure i am. He isn’t entertaining because his style is to counter strike, and generally point fight, unless the guy he is fighting is super aggressive.

Do i appreciate his skills? Of course, but after watching him do this once or twice it gets tiresome.

The annoying thing about Izzy is that he would be an incredibly good offensive fighter if he tried to inflict more violence. He has the movement and quickness. Underrated hands too. I don’t think his ceiling is too much higher than where he is just now popularity wise. If he’s cool to cash cheques and get uninspiring safe wins then fair play.

Same goes for Volk except the difference is he lost his last title fight
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Izzy was throwing heat the whole time and actually lead quite a bit during this fight. Vettori is the one you should be going after. he was trying to catch kicks for takedowns like in the first round the hwole fight. Vettori would chase Izzy to the fence, stand in front of him, throw some punches get slipped and get countered. If he shot in he would stop and just hold on.

I hate Izzy, but Vettori was the one on the defensive most of that fight besides the fence wrestling. Izzy was still the one landing most of the strikes and escaping off the fence whilst vettori just held waiting to get the takedown when Izzy opened up.
 
Just Sherdog being Sherdog with its typical "last fight memory". Adesanya is a finisher, he's not going to put himself in bad spots, that's why he's the champion. Who has finished Vetorri? He's not an easy guy to finish. Same leg kicks that had Paulo contemplating life didn't do much to Vetorri. He's a tough dude, you guys are always ready to label people decision machines rather than actually analyzing a fight. Lazy ass viewing.
 
The goal is to win the fight by any means under the rules of the UFC.

Not doing that means you are NOT a fighter.

ANY fighter that doesn't try to win by any means possible will not become a champion.
 
Slugfest Addict said:
Meh, not all ppl can appreciate high level striking. Its probably not for u but hes getting more and more popular and tht means whatever hes doing is working. I remember back when Adesanya's IG followers is below 2 mil. Now its 5,1 mil. 300k increase from few days ago before he fought vettori. Dude is very popular and lots of ppl appreciate what he brings to the table.
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His popularity is due to him being considered the next Anderson Silva. People are expecting him to finish fights with highlight reel KOs. That's how he advertises himself and that's how UFC promotes him. People will lose interest in point fighting style fights. I appreciate the skill set, but the way he fights doesn't match what he says and how he portrays himself as a fighter. He's trying to outdo Anderson Silva, how is he currently fighting isn't going to do that for him. Anderson had boring fights because he was playing with his opponents and was trying to embarrass them for their trash talking. The rest he was finishing with KOs/TKOs and submissions. Izzy's fights, there's a lot of moments with nothing happening at all.

Like others have said Izzy has the skillset and physical abilities to finish fighters. He just fights in a way that prevents that from happening unless they are constantly just running into his counters. He will be fine from mid long range just throwing leg kicks and punch counters as they try to close in, or evade as they rush in, reset and repeat. Which is fine strategy, but if you are talking about your striking level being on another level to everyone else in the division and you are talking about knocking out fighters during your prefight trash talk, I expect a KO or a fighting style going for a KO/TKO.
 
Of course we are ok with guys that win by any means. This is a job, and the fighters need to do The best they can to earn money and avoid damage.

Then again, I wish the comissions and promotions would do more to constantly change the rules to make fights more exciting. K1 was good at that.
 
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