I feel like Rob's wrestling game was weak, and that's why he lost

NorrisB

NorrisB

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Watching the fight it seems like Rob either choked, or his wrestling ability is a lot lower than his resume of a gold medal Australian suggest. I just dont think you see good wrestlers who have taken the back allow repeatedly, allow their opponent to get out without a take down. Saw that several times. In wrestling you must practice that every day, a common position is:

5c7db70d8943c.image.jpg


Down guy tries to stand up, top guy has rear bear hug position, top guy puts their right foot behind down guys right foot so it cant move, and perform what's called a valley drop pulling the bottom guy backwards and since his foot cant move he falls back down. Wrestlers practice this all the time, I really dont get why Whittaker had such problems getting a takedown from there. It's really easy and it's very hard to not get taken down, it may take 6-12 attempts to successfully escape for the bottom guy. Better wrestlers Bottom guy when he stands up wants to get his hips as far away as possible from top guy and press on top guys hands at a 45 degree angle to break the grip so bottom can just turn around completing the escape. I did not see Israel doing that, certainly not with good form, and Whittaker just gave up on it so easily. Israel showed weaknesses in his ground game that can be exploited if there was a decent wrestler at 185 which there isn't.



The most effective wrestling move from bottom - box-out stand-up - YouTube

Little higher level but look how hard it is to get someone off your back here even for Daniel Cormier see 9:30 Cael Sanderson v. Daniel Cormier: NCAA title match at 184 pounds - YouTube
 
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I was surprised at how bad Whittaker's wrestling was against a poor grappler like Izzy.
He was literally the Australian freestyle wrestling champion in the 213 lbs division.
 
The problem isn't really the wrestling but the gameplan. You really can't keep Adesnaya down as a shorter person with shorter arms because part of keeping someone down when they're trying to stand up is lacing their far arm that they're using to post. When Izzy has a 7 inch reach advantage that's impossible. So the point is not to get takedowns, or get your opponent to the ground.

What Whittaker did in round 5 was actually effective. He pushed Adesanya against the fence, he kneed him in the thighs and he stomped on his feet. Just like Usman/Masvidal 1. It's boring, but it gets the job done. If he did that for 25 minutes, he wins. At that range, Izzy's striking arsenal is neutralized. But he didn't think to do that. He was either trying to get Izzy to the mat, or the moment Izzy got off the mat, he was retreating back to range. If he had the revelation that he had in the 5th round but in the first or second round, he at least a chance of winning the fight.

Future opponents of Izzy should take notice of this. Maybe once it's in the later rounds and he's tired, maybe then you can start taking him to the ground. But that shouldn't really be the goal. The goal should be to pin him against the fence and force him to battle for position. I don't think Cannonier has the skill to implement this gameplan, but there might be some younger MW out there who can.
 
His offensive wrestling could use some work. However Izzy is tricky to take down annoyingly for Rob.
 
People need to stop judging Izzy based on the the Jan fight. At middleweight, he has decent take down defense, and is great at getting back to his feet.
 
NorrisB said:
Watching the fight it seems like Rob either choked, or his wrestling ability is a lot lower than his resume of a gold medal Australian suggest. I just dont think you see good wrestlers who have taken the back allow repeatedly, allow their opponent to get out without a take down. Saw that several times. In wrestling you must practice that every day, a common position is:

5c7db70d8943c.image.jpg


Down guy tries to stand up, top guy has rear bear hug position, top guy puts their right foot behind down guys right foot so it cant move, and perform what's called a valley drop pulling the bottom guy backwards and since his foot cant move he falls back down. Wrestlers practice this all the time, I really dont get why Whittaker had such problems getting a takedown from there. It's really easy and it's very hard to not get taken down, it may take 6-12 attempts to successfully escape for the bottom guy. Better wrestlers Bottom guy when he stands up wants to get his hips as far away as possible from top guy and press on top guys hands at a 45 degree angle to break the grip so bottom can just turn around completing the escape. I did not see Israel doing that, certainly not with good form, and Whittaker just gave up on it so easily. Israel showed weaknesses in his ground game that can be exploited if there was a decent wrestler at 185 which there isn't.



The most effective wrestling move from bottom - box-out stand-up - YouTube

Little higher level but look how hard it is to get someone off your back here even for Daniel Cormier see 9:30 Cael Sanderson v. Daniel Cormier: NCAA title match at 184 pounds - YouTube
Click to expand...

Rob is more of a defensive wrestler, all his fights he's used his wrestling defensively for the most part. Plus the size difference is what makes it difficult to control Izzy once taken down. Their legs are different size and Izzy's hips are way higher. The video you posted their legs and hip difference isn't much compared to the difference between Izzy and Whittaker. This is why he doesn't really get controlled much at MW. It takes a significant size advantage and better grappling to be able to do it. That's why people think there is a blueprint to beat him but that blueprint required a huge size/weight and grappling advantage. He probably has also been training his ground game and TDD even more since then since Izzy is a smart fighter that understands the holes in his games.
 
The fact that Adesanya was able to damage Whittaker's lead leg in the first round hampered his movement in the wrestling and striking department.

On top of that, yes, Whittaker does not have the strongest wrestling.

The few guys in the UFC that can reliably land takedowns have all been wrestling since they were 5 years old.
 
Honestly, it was shocking.

Dan Hardy did an amazing breakdown of this fight, talking about how Izzy makes really big mistakes in the grappling facets, but most opponents are so far behind that they panic and rush it i.e when Vettori took his back.

God forbid Jacare or Muniz get that position. You’re dead! Jacare done though, so that’s just fantasy talk.
 
Izzy showed that the only chance you have at wrestling him is if you're either elite or a LHW. Nobody at MW fits the bill.

Whittaker can grapple a bit, but he's far from elite, and frankly, was at considerable a size disadvantage.
 
It was hard for DC to get Cael Sanderson off his back because Cael is one of the greatest collegiate wrestlers of all time
 
codfather said:
I was surprised at how bad Whittaker's wrestling was against a poor grappler like Izzy.
He was literally the Australian freestyle wrestling champion in the 213 lbs division.
Click to expand...

He looked bad because he has a freestyle background and not folkstyle. Folkstyle teaches you to ride and control your opponent on the ground without locking your hands. Much better for mma.
 
The thing that disappointed me most though was when Izzy was wearing Robert like a backpack with hooks in and Robert was trying to get a RNC. I'm not sure what exactly Izzy did to escape but all of a sudden Izzy and Robert are both standing on the ground facing each other and Robert backs away instead of trying to press Izzy against the fence.

That was probably Robert's best chance to finish the fight but he couldn't capitalize.
 
Sticko said:
The thing that disappointed me most though was when Izzy was wearing Robert like a backpack with hooks in and Robert was trying to get a RNC. I'm not sure what exactly Izzy did to escape but all of a sudden Izzy and Robert are both standing on the ground facing each other and Robert backs away instead of trying to press Izzy against the fence.

That was probably Robert's best chance to finish the fight but he couldn't capitalize.
Click to expand...
Finish the fight or not, he should have pressed izzy against the cage for 25 minutes like Usman/Masvidal 1, or made Izzy wear him like a backpack, either works, but in principle, keeping within phone booth range, avoiding standing at Izzy's range letting him pick him apart.

If he just grinds Izzy for 25 minutes, probably a very boring fight but he walks out with his hand raised. Too much emphasis is placed on the takedown. The takedown is unnecessary so long as you're controlling range/position.
 
Rob is striker then wrestler. His striking would open up grappling opportunities.

Izzy is a better striker so the opportunities weren’t as pronounced.
 
Sticko said:
The thing that disappointed me most though was when Izzy was wearing Robert like a backpack with hooks in and Robert was trying to get a RNC. I'm not sure what exactly Izzy did to escape but all of a sudden Izzy and Robert are both standing on the ground facing each other and Robert backs away instead of trying to press Izzy against the fence.

That was probably Robert's best chance to finish the fight but he couldn't capitalize.
Click to expand...

It was also Rob's best chance to get finished.
 
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