Is Pereira more talented than Adesanya or just a bad matchup?

[Hazuki Ryo]

Pereira seems to have a good chin cause Adesanya caught him good in two of these fights. The third one was a close decision. I still think Izzy is more complete in MMA.

 

[wildchild88]

When is Alex going to get his flowers ffs..

He finished Izzy twice in his last two fights..

He's better than Izzy.. period.

 

[Joss]

I think at this stage Pereira would lose to wrestlers whereas Izzy didn't so there's that.
But who knows how he could develop in his next 3-4 fights.

 

[Celeron]

When they faced off Alex legit looked 2 inches taller and 20 pounds heavier.

I still can't get over how fucking huge of a MW this guy is.

And what’s even crazier is there have been times that Izzy has made other MW’s look small like Whitaker.

I don’t like making any accusations, until a fighter fails a drug test you can’t really accuse them of taking anything.

But at the same time something has got to give with Alex. Unless he is just a genetic freak who is one of a kind, it’s very unusual that he has the height, size, and muscle mass and can still make 185. Usually when a fighter is that tall they give up size and strength like Izzy, or Costa who has the size and muscles but lacks the height, but no Alex still has the size (frame), muscle mass, strength and the height.

The only other fighter that had all the physical tools was Jon Jones and we all know the story with him.

 

[smart.feller]

Izzy is probably the more skillful fighter, it doesn't mean he is the better fighter. Power is an attribute, not a skill. Same with speed. How you strike should be based to best amplify your attributes. Pereira definitely has a higher level of the power attribute and evidence would suggest that he utilizes that attribute better than Izzy is able to implement his attributes when they are matched up.

Same thing at HW...Stipe is a more skilled fighter than Francis, but Francis has enough power to offset what he lacks in the offensive grappling department with solid defensive wrestling and out of this world power.

 

[Kommit]

Styles makes fight. thats it. Put a good grappler in front of Pereira and the title will change hands very quick

 

[ilfirin]

He's a more talented striker. That doesn't mean Izzy isn't a world class striker too, because he is. But Pereira is on a different level overall.

 

[m249viking]

he didn't struggle in the fights with Alex though, he lost, but he didn't struggle.

What a tool.

 

[brownsmith76]

Maybe Adesanya can do side kicks in the rematch to keep Alex away.

If Adesanya can circle away from the cage in the 5th round, then he should be able to win a decision.

 

[Migdagen]

BS on luck. Izzy struggles against equal or larger size. Look at the fight with Jan and the fights with Alex

Had Izzy survived the 5th, which is not asking for too much, he would most likely have won. What I mean is that if we were to re-run the 5th round over and over, Izzy would survive the vast majority of the time. But this time around, he got caught... again! Of course, the power and size difference was also a big factor, but stars sometimes not being aligned is something I believe in.

 

[icerealm]

i would say izzy's body/power lost the game.
izzy said that perara broke down his leg.
both guys have quite a clear cut game plan to win, however izzy's body failed him, what if izzy has some metal shins/legs? your body and your skillset play a equal role in fighting.
look at TJ, all the skills, but a shoulder surgery and how skilled you are, you are still fucked
pereira is not a double weight kickboxing div champion only just because he has power.

 

[eNoq]

Izzy showed that once he doesn't have the ridiculous height and reach advantage he's very beatable, same with Jones.

 

[Saulo]

I think we can't answer this question until we see how Alex would adapt to grapplers.

In striking, I think Izzy is the better

technical fighter but Pereira's power changes everything.

What's more intriguing is how he gets so much power with so little movement, he's something of a Tyson.

 

[Paolo Delutis]

Izzy is probably the more skillful fighter, it doesn't mean he is the better fighter. Power is an attribute, not a skill. Same with speed. How you strike should be based to best amplify your attributes. Pereira definitely has a higher level of the power attribute and evidence would suggest that he utilizes that attribute better than Izzy is able to implement his attributes when they are matched up.

Same thing at HW...Stipe is a more skilled fighter than Francis, but Francis has enough power to offset what he lacks in the offensive grappling department with solid defensive wrestling and out of this world power.

Couldn't have said it better myself, 4 pages ago lol

Well said this is factual truth and is part of why this sport and combat sports are so great

 

[mister piscadinha]

Ngannou used to be sloppy as fuck but he always had his power. Now he's developed unto a pretty skilled fighter.

Someone like Deontay Wilder though, he's a fundamentally atrocious boxer. Like, one of the worst professional boxers I have ever seen, yet he was a long time reigning world champion who KOed everybody he'd ever fought because he has natural, ungodly power. Punchers aren't made. They are born.

lmao, wilder is much more talent relative to his competition than ngannou is.
wilder would never do something as ridiculous as the sequence big frank did against jairzinho