Israel Adesanya vs Alex Pereira was about as interesting a middleweight fight we've had in along time, finally Izzy had an opponent that was talented enough to force him to do interesting things and we got several interesting things throughout the fight
1/15
i am this close to muting the phrase 'jon jones' i literally just do not care anymore. aspinall is the current champ, he has 1 title defense, somehow jailton almeida is like the
#1
contender or smth idk. Gane still sucks
There exists a class of fighter across all combat sports that are so generationally great that we must take care to never forget them. Their sacrifice and skill must always be remembered and revered. Jose Aldo is unquestionably one of those fighters. The GOAT.
Gaethje feints the jab upstairs baiting Max into throwing the counter uppercut. As max is planting to throw Gaethje is already reaching for the collar tie and he closes distance to negate the uppercut. He catches Max on the top of the head with a tight right hook, dropping him.
Settlement reached for both Le v Zuffa & Johnson v Zuffa (likely almost zero damaages for Johnson because most signed class action waivers) Amount $335m.
One day Dustin Poirier is going to call it quits and that will be a dark day for the sport. But as long as we still have him it is important to appreciate just how special of a fighter he is. Nothing but violence and more violence. No one is more worthy of wearing that hat.
Final thoughts:
Fury really only posed 2 major questions to Usyk that entire fight imo. first one was the length with the jab, second one was the more interesting and difficult one with the intercepting counters. Usyk got around the length relatively easily because on its own it
Cejudo opened the fight pressuring and backing Merab down with leg kicks. Note how he claims the space Merab surrenders off the back of his leg kicks.
2/15
The biggest and most important dynamic was just how comfortable Izzy was conceding space. Yes Alex is a massive hitter but by giving Alex so much space and freedom is to give him opportunities to be a massive hitter. And Izzy chose to fight on a tightrope.
2/15
I cannot explain the amount of aura this sequence has and how it's like, 59% responsible for me being a combat sports fan. The shot from the broadcast where Wilder turns his back on Fury and starts walking away is permanently etched in my mind
Happy Trans Day of Visibility everyone! Trying to be more visible, love y'all <3
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(Crazy how short my hair used to be)
🚨| The official UFC store are selling these custom shorts ahead of
#UFC300
.
Top left - Max Holloway
Top right - Zhang Weil
Bottom left - Alex Pereira’s
Bottom right - Justin Gaethje
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Merab had a strong pick up single that he paired with a trip/kick out. He landed it twice and missed one in the third. He didn't really have fantastic set ups for it but the attempt itself is really strong.
4/15
Now this seemed very intentional because Izzy had a variety of answers along the fence, some working better than others. He was constantly handfighting and grabbing Pereira's wrists at close range. He would also clinch reactively off slips and rolls.
3/15
@FisticuffsFella
GOOD maybe then the UFC will be forced to make decisions that better the sport instead of relying on the butt load of cash espn gives them (I am completely wrong)
@largeJackass
It's really quite impressive and refreshing. It's not just flash or a good roll there is genuine substance behind what's coming out of that camp.
@_TobiasAguirre
My squishy has already won by becoming a doctor instead of having to fight through the strongest division in the UFC. Clearly showing he's smarter than 99% of MMA fighters, basically this is a KO1 for Zabit
creating separation with his head well, he never really used it for notable offense. It seems like he thought he could just "MMA" him. Pereira had some good answers in the clinch, mainly his knees and hooks. You can see Alex working with any free limb he has to hit Izzy.
5/15
@UnoBit3
He has good ideas but mechanically isn't the best. Still pretty good though but it looks worse when he's in there with Yan because Yan is fantastic mechanically
Strickland is such a linear fighter. He walks straight on you, he only throws straight punches, only throws straight kicks. His fucking fighting style is homophobic I respect the commitment to the bit
Lastly here's every hook that Pereira came close to landing and a few that he most definitely did not miss.
Your new middleweight champ, Alex "Poatan" Pereira
15/15
One of the reasons why Cejudo wanted to be on the front foot aside from the obvious is that Merab is rather poor on the backfoot. He has a tendency to back up in a straight line and put himself on the fence.
6/15
Cejudo's distance management in this fight was crucial. He constantly makes sure he is just outside punching range so that it is difficult to grab him. He also utilized feints to punish Merab's reactions and force him back.
5/15
Izzy’s clinch in particular was largely defensive, it didn't seem like it had been planned out as a place to initiate offense but more as a place to try to limit Pereira’s. Izzy was getting bicep ties and double under hooks pretty consistently. Issue was while he was
4/15
There was no follow up or even repetition of the jab. He isn't pumping it in consistently. This has long been one of the major criticisms of Adesanya’s game, how he never really “builds” off his strikes.
11/15
NO NO NO YOU DUMBASSES WHAT ARE YOU DOING SHAVKAT VS JDM IS RIGHT THERE IS WAS LITERALLY HANDED TO YOU ON A PLATTER WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING WHAT ARE YOU DOING
Now to talk about Pereira's successes for a bit. The biggest one of these is undoubtedly his cage cutting. Yes Izzy was more willing to concede space but Alex also *made* him do so. These sequences from the 2nd round show how great Alex was at keeping Izzy on the fence
12/15
But with all of this there were still times where we saw Adesanya fight for the center of the ring and have lots of success. This sequence from the 4th shows Adesanya pushing Pereira and even when Pereira tries to pressure he responds effectively.
9/15
how the fuck did the algerian thing become an international scandal i thought it was just my corner of the internet talking about it this morning what the fuck happened why is logan paul on my timeline. Also why is the IDF involved??? i have so many questions
Look at this sequence in particular how Adesanya goes from having Pereira on the fence to having the positions completely flipped in about 10 seconds. Even considering that Izzy was unusually off with his ringcraft in this fight this is very impressive from Alex.
13/15
Being along the fence makes Adesanya more hittable and being hittable in front of Alex Pereira is not a good idea. The biggest concern is obviously the right hook. So Izzy's answer was to switch to southpaw when on the fence to allow him to get behind his now lead shoulder
7/15
I largely agree with Miguel on this topic in that the UFC should want "dumber" fans who have lower expectations of what "good" MMA is. If you as a business can get your customers to accept and love a cheaper product then thats kind of a miracle tbh.
With the gameplan being to let himself get backed to the fence Adesanya inadvertently limited his own kicking game. Kicking is something that requires a space and space is a luxury along the fence. Most of Adesanya's kicking game, is most sucessful in open space.
6/15
Some cool things I saw in Dober vs Alves last week:
Dober used rear body kicks to discourage Alves from moving to his right and wheel kicks to discourage him from moving to his right. These kicks kept Alves on the centerline and made him more hittable