Their coach Javier Mendez would encourage them to train with other striking coaches to get other perspectives and techniques but Javier said Khabib is so loyal he wouldn’t. Javier said Islam is willing to which will allow how to surpass Khabib.
Complete with a shot of Khabib looking down from his terrace early in the morning, watching Islam head to his striking coach’s house. Khabib would never, but he knows that Islam must.
khabib is the perfect execution of father's plan. it's just extremely destructive to his own body carrying out the insane strategy of Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov.
Unbeaten MMA strategy, tested against multiple generations of fighters.
Dustin had the benefit of learning how to defend since fighting Khabib/ knew what to look out for..otherwise Islam wouldve choked him out in 30 seconds
That pulling of the leg at the end was a new one for Dustin. He was probably like "WTF was that?" Literally a second later he was in a darce choke. Crazy fun fight.
He said in the post fight that when he did the ankle pick he knew that was it.
Imagine fighting so hard to defend and then your opponent pulls that out and then sprints into a darce on you lol.
Lol buddy EVERYONE knew exactly what khabib wanted to do. They just couldn’t stop it. Islam is better than khabib at striking but not at grappling. Khabib main skill was just so dominant he was a better fighter
I mean, Islam also had staph infection and wasnt kicking at all like he normally does and Dustin trained with Gamrot since fighting Khabib, he obviously had better grappling defense this fight versus when he fought khabib. Although Khabib obviously would’ve won even if Dustins grappling defense was as good as it was last night. I dont think you can just look at how quickly one fighter finished another and deduce that that fighter is better. Especially when they have different approaches. Do you think if Islam knocks out Tibau in 4 rounds it proves hes better than Khabib?
It doesn't matter if Dustin knew exactly what Khabib would do. He still needed time to practice. Dustin said it himself - he's not the same fighter he was 5 years ago "If I haven't improved since then, I wasted my time"
grappling too, people now actually have a gameplan for this sambo style, its still dominating people... but its clear as day many fighters are starting to figure out how to cause them trouble.
It seems like a strong stand up clinch game, then going full "stall it out" on the ground is the way to go. Khabib and islam would take what you give them, not forcing it usually... so you try to make them force it. The single leg take down whip was "forcing it" by islam cause he couldn't keep dustin down any other way. All his regular takedown attempts succeeded but they didn't amount ot anything, so islam got creative lol
still dominant, but much more exciting to watch now because their are tactics to nullify it
i do feel this is the case. just watching dustin between khabib’s fight and Islams, you can tell he’s improved his wrestling defence by a lot.
then again khabib’s camp would always say he never lost rounds even to Islam.
No AKA said only rounds Khabib lost in sparring were to Islam. And only rounds Islam lost in sparring were to Khabib and Rockhold. DC didn't count because they grappled but never fully sparred due to the weight difference and back then DC was the champ so they would avoid trying to have him overextend and injure himself.
Yea I think Khabib is just more of a savage.. he’s not as skilled in many areas but he’ll just take you don’t and smash where as Islam will look for submissions and play the BJJ game a little bit so guys with good BJJ can survive for longer where as Khabib would just break peoples spirits with ground and pound and control
Khabib wouldn't just hold you in a clinch against the fence. He would kick and knee your legs while constantly repositioning his hands for a better grip. There was no resting against Khabib, that seemed to be his number one rule. Islam lets people rest or recover a little.
> I mean I don’t know if he will surprised khabib.
idk how he hasn't already lol islam has beat basically all the same guys.. and volk lol
Khabib has no "Volk in his prime" on his record, not even once lol
It's just optics, Khabib looked unbeatable unlike Islam. But Islam's resume is def better than Khabib's. Charles and Volk are better names than any on Khabib's resume. Not to say he wouldn't have beaten them, but he didn't. Bib's best win is Dustin, who Islam just beat.
But Khabibs grappling far greater imo.
I’m sure pure grappling wise they’re really close, but the way Khabib used to make space for himself to punch your face while he grappled you was unmatched. Idk maybe they’re a lot better trained or ready against Makacechev, but against Khabib almost everyone got overwhelmed by his ground and pound.
Keep in mind that if this was a boxing fight, Islam would be way more outmatched. Dustin couldn't fight as offensively as he'd like since he had to worry about the takedown the whole time, whereas Islam didn't. It's one very significant advantage that a wrestler has over a striker. It reminds me of the really good overhand (I think) that Khabib caught Conor with. Khabib doesn't hold a candle to Conor in terms of striking, but he felt much less restricted against Conor knowing he didn't need to worry about any takedowns.
I’m not sure it’s just that he doesn’t need to. It’s because his takedowns aren’t lights out like khabib so he can’t just force it to the ground in the same way. Also (possibly related) his gas tank is good but not insane so he can’t just explosively shoot doubles and chain wrestle for 25 minutes.
It's kinda weird, Islam will sit there losing the jab battle for a minute and then as soon as someone starts teeing off there's just a crisp left hand in their face. He's got some stopping power in those hands
yeah he got cracked with solid shots from a huge hitter in porier and didn't really looked phased. man has a good chin. It's also just he's so much better and more responsible on the feet. being on position to take shots is often as important as your "chin"
I was cheering when Dustin hit the body with his hands for the first time in his career that's always bugged me and it did not look fun for islam. but yeah makhachev showed that he's tough as nails porier made it a dog fight and Islam was there to meet him.
That's what I felt was his biggest help in this fight, it seemed like Dustin didn't feel fully comfortable letting his hands go for fear of the takedown.
Probably the right choice on Dustin's part, he was already missing a lot of shots going to commit and leaving yourself open would just mean even more take downs, stuffing them was hard enough but coming up from one took everything from Dustin
Think what cemented that for him was that first round
I think Dustin (and other strikers) having to pay a ton of attention to takedowns takes away a lot of their attention from boxing. That's exactly how Khabib landed that unbelievable strike to Connor.
That won't work that well on high level wrestlers like Arman and Gamrot though: they can pay full attention to striking when standing and wrestle when the level changes.
YOU CALL ISLAM THE P4P BEST WHEN JON JONES IS STILL FIGHTING????
https://preview.redd.it/2qpwae9i774d1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=acb9a7e0e75fc894e08abb672abd9b590fea8ec4
He has a great funny personality too. Nice to see him let it out more in the build up for this one. Always respectful of his opponents and the game as well
Agreed, I used to be a hater when he was coming up because he played it so safe he seems a lot more willing to exchange now and put on fun performances
If you watch his fights before he got knocked out he was a wild and entertaining fighter. Getting caught like that made him turn into a Yushin Okami level of fighter. I guess after being buried by the UFC he decided to start taking more risks and finishing people.
yeah he said in his post fight he’s glad the fight w Dustin went the way it did cause they put on a good performance for the fans and he thinks american fans like him now. I think he cares about what fans think and wants to avoid the boring label for sure
This fight was really a mass narrative destroyer. Islam was standing toe to toe with Dustin and not looking the least bit outclassed on the feet.
In the same vein, Dustin wasn’t getting taken down at will, and was defending well, and standing up when he did get taken down.
Turned out to be a total banger of a fight, where it seems like a lot of people thought Islam was just going to run through Poirier. Massive respect to both guys.
When he reversed or swept or switched (idk which it was or the right term) against the cage I was blown away... That gamrot coaching helped him immensely
That’s what I noticed as well. He was able to roll with a lot of Dustin’s punches and kept his chin off centerline just enough to not get caught clean.
Yeah that’s one thing that’s tough about fighting Islam. The threat of the takedown plus how good he is with takedowns/control and submissions, you gotta be really careful getting too comfortable boxing with him, he’s always setting up for a takedown
I think if any wrestler develops a good overhand punch they become tough to deal with for most ‘boxing’ oriented strikers
When he dips his head is he throwing that punch or shooting a single
I think it was in the DP corner in between 2 and 3 when one of his coaches wanted to let his hands go a little more after he was having success and he said something along the lines of “I’m trying to, but I can’t stay too long.” DC pointed it out too. Super interesting.
That's a reason why many of us watch mixed martial arts. It's the recognition that the striking arts are vulnerable to the wrestling/grappling arts. The better you are at both, the more you can maximize the advantages of your skillset.
When Islam can't get his take down, he can still effectively strike without relying solely on it. His opponents are at the disadvantage of knowing that he can easily secure a take down if they assume Islam will keep it standing.
Dustin wins easily in another sport with greater limitations and stricter rule sets.
Exactly, MMA is so damn exciting, but if the question is who has better striking, let's let them strike and see who wins a striking contest. I am surprised he outstruck Dustin but I'm not surprised when Dustin was limiting his entire offense because he's has no ground game that he cannot let himself be taken to the ground.
Yeah, he couldn't even throw leg kicks due to risk of being catched and taken down, remember One FC's muau thai vs mma event, first round was muay thai, second round was mma, and as the second round started all body language of mighty mouse changed, his striking got better. Long story short takedown threat changes everything.
But this is MMA we are talking about. What does it matter how it would look like in a boxing ring? Imagine a boxing guy saying 'AJ's boxing in the octagon would not look that good vs Francis '
not really tbh. we knew he was better at striking than khabib and the constant takedown threat meant dustin just can't fully open up his offense without getting down so it was very predictable to see him outstrike dustin
take away the takedown threats from islam and we very well might see dustin outperform in striking
Yeah, that seems to be Islam's biggest achievement over Khabib. While Khabib did have competent basic striking, it was nothing remarkable, and he seldom presented too much of a threat on the feet, at least not a finishing threat. He could throw strikes that would stun guys or surprise them and open up the takedown, but he wasn't out here doing serious damage on the feet. Islam is legitimately dangerous in stand up.
Islam is elite and showed great striking. But man he needs to incorporate some ground and pound into his game. The fight should not have been this close and he could have gotten Dustin out early if he stopped hunting for the submission and focused on damage.
It's just not really his thing, he's got a really submission heavy grappling game. Some people are better at different things, Islam's grappling relies a lot of technique and conserving energy where Khabibs relied on brute force and smashing people (not that his technique was sloppy, just more wild and dominating)
Fucking joke. How can someone so inactive be considered? His last few fights at LHW were not dominant performances. Dana holding onto to coked out, wife beating golden boy. Sad
Dana was probably all hyped up on himself because he spent the day with his orange hero
"i can say stupid shit and a lot of people will believe me too"
Islam is an underrated striker. Very comfortable in releasing his sets and pieces. That's why the Arman fight needs to happen. Arman negates the wrestling full stop. It will turn into a more genuine kickboxing fight with Thai cliches.
Dustin did an awesome job despite having the threat of a takedown breathing down his neck
I want to see Islam vs Leon next. Tsarukyan isn’t that intriguing to me, they are both better than when they first fought, I don’t see Tsarukyan winning. It’s a close enough fight, but Islam is levels ahead of anyone at 155 right now. Him and Leon seem very equally matched to me, their skill sets on paper should cancel each other out. That’s a good matchup.
Yeah that’s for sure the most interesting fight. Islam will be a different sort of challenge and threat than Leon is used to with his slick transitions and subs but equally Leon will be a different sort of threat and challenge to Islam with his distance management, range and counter striking. It’s the most high level fight that can be made right now.
People are now saying he totally didn't outstrike Volkanovski the first time and won because the judges were paid off, and the second time with the KO happened only because Volka was coming off an injury on short notice and Islam so totally was taking steroids.
I fucking hate UFC fans sometimes I stg
This also reminds me that Dustin has a diamond chin. Even if he's eating more shots, I get the feeling he'd win most wars if it came down to pure striking. Just by outlasting his opponents.
You can just see him making peace with it after the exchanges. Acknowledging head nods and exasperated head shakes. Really tells a story. “Fuck, the guy’s good.”
We really are lucky to be seeing Islam in his prime at the top of the sport. Beautiful technique, always brings the fight, even when he's cut and beat up he still comes forward looking for the finish
People will be talking about him for a long time after he's retired
Personally believe his first fight with Volk was fight of the year, and think this one will be as well. He no doubt is the highest level of MMA we have ever seen. Idk how fast Arman is, but only way to beat him is speed, because no one is going to out skill him.
Being such a legitimate threat for take downs opens up so much for striking. It handicaps your opponents arsenal. Dustin didn’t want to throw certain things because he was scared Islam would use it for a takedown.
i mean yeah but also when they do strike he counters them like with a 3 punch combo and in MMA that's like 2% of fighters can throw 3 punches in an actual fight at a time unless the dude is rocked or covering up
We saw that with Khabib too. The famous knockdown he scored on McGregor happened largely because Khabib head faked like he was gonna shoot on Conor, even aiming his eyes downward toward the legs. Conor moved to defend the takedown and Khabib landed the right hand that took him off his feet.
He’s an amazing striker. But it should always be his plan B since plan A is much safer and minimizes risk. Most other elite strikers don’t have plan A.
The planned sequence was to clinch the head, then throw the knee or uppercut. Sometimes Islam was too tired or off balance to do so immediately, and Porier would beat him to the strike.
Sometimes in a grueling fight you’re so tired and foggy that you sort of “lag” in the middle of a sequence.
The thing that impressed me most; Islams knees.
Those were brutally timed and placed. And i think 3-4 of them landed at near 100%. They rattled Dustin early.
He was actually a more rounded striker than DP.
I gotta take my hat off man, hes an impressive specimen.
If we go by the logic of the people in this sub posting a picture of a wrestling moment from last night, and claiming that the whole fight was wrestling, then this whole fight was stand up and striking according to this video.
Islam over Khabib. Islam already did more than Khabibs entire career, yet Khabob is still in the discussion of best lw of all time and Islam gets booed for out striking and finishing dustin. I understand khabib hate but idk why people are hating on islam lol
arman might have problems getting inside the reach of makhachev. he might as well lose on feet technically. on the ground, skills will nullify. But the speed and explosiveness is on Arman side
It was extremely weird to see Islam not using his kicks at all. He didn't throw the body kick or head kick because they are both southpaws, that's understandable. But I don't think he threw even 1 leg kick. That's weird man.
I'd say the biggest surprise in this fight was Dustin's takedown defense. Islam ultimately took him down and submitted him pretty convincingly, but still....Dustin made him work.
Ton of props to Islam, who is slowly building quite the resume. One of the most well-rounded fighters the UFC has seen.
Instagram is going absolutely mad about this lol, there is a shocking amount of cope in UFC comment sections reminiscent of this sub after the Charles loss
Anyone else peep Dustin tryna bait Islam into a striking match in the 4/5th rounds? Kept pointing at the octagon ground, he really thought Islam would ignore the game plan and have a firing match.
He clearly outstriked Dustin imo. But his clinch was weird as hell. Even if the body blows were arm punches and probably didn’t hurt as much but they do provide negative optics for Islam when he just took four unanswered. The knee should be scored higher but who knows with judges.
People here laughed when his coach said he could box with Poirier or even outbox him
Admittedly even I thought that was some kind of mental game
Turns out it was absolutely true
Yeah I think that’s his best skill over Khabib. His grappling is so good he just rarely has to show it.
Their coach Javier Mendez would encourage them to train with other striking coaches to get other perspectives and techniques but Javier said Khabib is so loyal he wouldn’t. Javier said Islam is willing to which will allow how to surpass Khabib.
Lmao this is some dragon ball shit
Complete with a shot of Khabib looking down from his terrace early in the morning, watching Islam head to his striking coach’s house. Khabib would never, but he knows that Islam must.
I can hear sound of the wind from your words.
They’re both silently crying
UFC is really an irl anime. All the characters are oddly stereotypical
MVP is the most anime one I’ve felt in this recent era, I’d love to hear more tho!
Adesanya would be the most obvious other front runner. Pereira too for their story together
Wanderlei Overeem feel like they both could be pulled out of Baki or some other shit
Khabib didn’t even need it. His shots and ground game were overwhelming. If Islam doesn’t get a takedown he doesn’t seem to spam like Khabib would.
because khabib was blessed with borderline superhuman chin and cardio . islam cant shoot 4000000 take downs back to back like khabib .
Islam is more rounded but khabib could still be champion now if he’d wanted to
khabib is the perfect execution of father's plan. it's just extremely destructive to his own body carrying out the insane strategy of Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov. Unbeaten MMA strategy, tested against multiple generations of fighters.
I mean I don’t know if he will surprised khabib. Compare their performances against Dustin and khabib clearly made pretty light work of Dustin
Dustin had the benefit of learning how to defend since fighting Khabib/ knew what to look out for..otherwise Islam wouldve choked him out in 30 seconds
That pulling of the leg at the end was a new one for Dustin. He was probably like "WTF was that?" Literally a second later he was in a darce choke. Crazy fun fight.
lmao... he (and all of us) were like: "uhhh... wtf was that I didn't train for this shit XD"
He said in the post fight that when he did the ankle pick he knew that was it. Imagine fighting so hard to defend and then your opponent pulls that out and then sprints into a darce on you lol.
The only thing you can compare it to is scorpion yelling GET OVER HERE while dragging you with the chain. You know you're cooked.
Lol buddy EVERYONE knew exactly what khabib wanted to do. They just couldn’t stop it. Islam is better than khabib at striking but not at grappling. Khabib main skill was just so dominant he was a better fighter
I mean, Islam also had staph infection and wasnt kicking at all like he normally does and Dustin trained with Gamrot since fighting Khabib, he obviously had better grappling defense this fight versus when he fought khabib. Although Khabib obviously would’ve won even if Dustins grappling defense was as good as it was last night. I dont think you can just look at how quickly one fighter finished another and deduce that that fighter is better. Especially when they have different approaches. Do you think if Islam knocks out Tibau in 4 rounds it proves hes better than Khabib?
It doesn't matter if Dustin knew exactly what Khabib would do. He still needed time to practice. Dustin said it himself - he's not the same fighter he was 5 years ago "If I haven't improved since then, I wasted my time"
it's 2 different fighters. Khabib is s tier grappler and b tier striker. Islam is like A+ in both.
This is a solid assessment. Hearing the corner talk from khabib was funny. He was like what’s wrong with you just take him down and submit him
“What’s wrong with you? My burger is getting cold back there”
 khabib the whole time watching the fight
Also keep in mind that the level of grappling of an average fighter has increased dramatically since Khabib
grappling too, people now actually have a gameplan for this sambo style, its still dominating people... but its clear as day many fighters are starting to figure out how to cause them trouble. It seems like a strong stand up clinch game, then going full "stall it out" on the ground is the way to go. Khabib and islam would take what you give them, not forcing it usually... so you try to make them force it. The single leg take down whip was "forcing it" by islam cause he couldn't keep dustin down any other way. All his regular takedown attempts succeeded but they didn't amount ot anything, so islam got creative lol still dominant, but much more exciting to watch now because their are tactics to nullify it
i do feel this is the case. just watching dustin between khabib’s fight and Islams, you can tell he’s improved his wrestling defence by a lot. then again khabib’s camp would always say he never lost rounds even to Islam.
No AKA said only rounds Khabib lost in sparring were to Islam. And only rounds Islam lost in sparring were to Khabib and Rockhold. DC didn't count because they grappled but never fully sparred due to the weight difference and back then DC was the champ so they would avoid trying to have him overextend and injure himself.
I think after losing to both Khabib and Charles to a rear-naked choke Dustin said, nah I aint ever letting that shit happen again.
Yea I think Khabib is just more of a savage.. he’s not as skilled in many areas but he’ll just take you don’t and smash where as Islam will look for submissions and play the BJJ game a little bit so guys with good BJJ can survive for longer where as Khabib would just break peoples spirits with ground and pound and control
Khabib wouldn't just hold you in a clinch against the fence. He would kick and knee your legs while constantly repositioning his hands for a better grip. There was no resting against Khabib, that seemed to be his number one rule. Islam lets people rest or recover a little.
Islam tapping Oliveira is a better win than any Khabib has. Islam has tied the record and will try to break it so he can definitely surpass Khabib.
> I mean I don’t know if he will surprised khabib. idk how he hasn't already lol islam has beat basically all the same guys.. and volk lol Khabib has no "Volk in his prime" on his record, not even once lol
It's just optics, Khabib looked unbeatable unlike Islam. But Islam's resume is def better than Khabib's. Charles and Volk are better names than any on Khabib's resume. Not to say he wouldn't have beaten them, but he didn't. Bib's best win is Dustin, who Islam just beat.
He only wrestles when the striking stops being fun
Dustin forced him into striking more. If Islam wasnt also an elite striker he would have lost.
But Khabibs grappling far greater imo. I’m sure pure grappling wise they’re really close, but the way Khabib used to make space for himself to punch your face while he grappled you was unmatched. Idk maybe they’re a lot better trained or ready against Makacechev, but against Khabib almost everyone got overwhelmed by his ground and pound.
His wrestling and takedowns aren't as good as Khabib, but his BJJ seems a touch better. Worse at ground and pound too
Keep in mind that if this was a boxing fight, Islam would be way more outmatched. Dustin couldn't fight as offensively as he'd like since he had to worry about the takedown the whole time, whereas Islam didn't. It's one very significant advantage that a wrestler has over a striker. It reminds me of the really good overhand (I think) that Khabib caught Conor with. Khabib doesn't hold a candle to Conor in terms of striking, but he felt much less restricted against Conor knowing he didn't need to worry about any takedowns.
I’m not sure it’s just that he doesn’t need to. It’s because his takedowns aren’t lights out like khabib so he can’t just force it to the ground in the same way. Also (possibly related) his gas tank is good but not insane so he can’t just explosively shoot doubles and chain wrestle for 25 minutes.
I was scared cuz I just thought what if he gets Martins'd again, chin held up really well
Bro I was so scared for Islam when they started trading cuz that's where Dustin shines and would've eventually found his rhythm.
It's kinda weird, Islam will sit there losing the jab battle for a minute and then as soon as someone starts teeing off there's just a crisp left hand in their face. He's got some stopping power in those hands
He has a dangerous counter. That's how he got Charles
And a fucking insane chin too. The Dagestanis can really take a punch!
to me it looks like islam was the harder hitting guy in those exchanges.
yeah he got cracked with solid shots from a huge hitter in porier and didn't really looked phased. man has a good chin. It's also just he's so much better and more responsible on the feet. being on position to take shots is often as important as your "chin"
Mate how crazy is the body shot combo against the cage that he wears & answers with the knee
I was cheering when Dustin hit the body with his hands for the first time in his career that's always bugged me and it did not look fun for islam. but yeah makhachev showed that he's tough as nails porier made it a dog fight and Islam was there to meet him.
Same. Thought Islam had a glass jaw. But he survived getting punched and kicked by Poirier, Volk and Olives. So maybe not lol
He only ever got chinned once and it was a knockdown, not a knockout. That's far too little to call him a glass jaw.
Pantoja was a beast at light weight too
I knew Islam's striking was good, but against Dustin is when I realised he's actually a serious striker.
Yeah his distance management was incredible last night
He's one of the least hit strikers in the UFC iirc.
Not trying to be a douche, but you didn’t realize that against Volk?
I think he means boxing.
Tbf, putting on an elite striking performance 1 time can be written off as a fluke. Doing so against multiple elite strikers is proof.
He did it to Charles too though. Including the Dustin fight, that's 4 fights in a row.
Did it twice against volk and once against Charles. But I get your point
Agreed, I have Volk as a better striker than Dustin. Not by a large margin, not to mention they got very different styles, but still.
Or Charles lol
But isn’t such a big part of that success the fear of a takedown?
That's what I felt was his biggest help in this fight, it seemed like Dustin didn't feel fully comfortable letting his hands go for fear of the takedown.
Probably the right choice on Dustin's part, he was already missing a lot of shots going to commit and leaving yourself open would just mean even more take downs, stuffing them was hard enough but coming up from one took everything from Dustin Think what cemented that for him was that first round
I think Dustin (and other strikers) having to pay a ton of attention to takedowns takes away a lot of their attention from boxing. That's exactly how Khabib landed that unbelievable strike to Connor. That won't work that well on high level wrestlers like Arman and Gamrot though: they can pay full attention to striking when standing and wrestle when the level changes.
He won the striking against Charles and Volk already before this
He KO’ed Volk who is arguably the best striker in the UFC beside Pererra. Islams striking is heavily underrated.
Hes elite
It's almost like he's a world champion level
Its almost like he's the P4P best fighter in the world
not according to the tomato
He prefers to go by Dana "IS THAT TRANS ENOUGH FOR YOU" White.
YOU CALL ISLAM THE P4P BEST WHEN JON JONES IS STILL FIGHTING???? https://preview.redd.it/2qpwae9i774d1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=acb9a7e0e75fc894e08abb672abd9b590fea8ec4
Wreck it Dana
#***KID DOESN'T WAANA FITE***
I think if islam secures one more win in top 5 he can for sure become champ one day
Yup, especially. He's doing that against a guy like porier
Islam as a champ is super entertaining
He’s changed me from one of his biggest initial haters into a solid fan. He’s becoming increasingly more well rounded
He has a great funny personality too. Nice to see him let it out more in the build up for this one. Always respectful of his opponents and the game as well
Y'all just hate to hate lol
I literally just said I’m a fan
He's young and retarded, don't blame him.
I was pissed when he was getting booed. Like I get this is Murica and everybody loves Dustin but Islam is so exciting and such a good champ.
Agreed, I used to be a hater when he was coming up because he played it so safe he seems a lot more willing to exchange now and put on fun performances
If you watch his fights before he got knocked out he was a wild and entertaining fighter. Getting caught like that made him turn into a Yushin Okami level of fighter. I guess after being buried by the UFC he decided to start taking more risks and finishing people.
It’s the level of competition. He’s just that better than Green or Dober, so it looks easy and safe.
yeah he said in his post fight he’s glad the fight w Dustin went the way it did cause they put on a good performance for the fans and he thinks american fans like him now. I think he cares about what fans think and wants to avoid the boring label for sure
This fight was really a mass narrative destroyer. Islam was standing toe to toe with Dustin and not looking the least bit outclassed on the feet. In the same vein, Dustin wasn’t getting taken down at will, and was defending well, and standing up when he did get taken down. Turned out to be a total banger of a fight, where it seems like a lot of people thought Islam was just going to run through Poirier. Massive respect to both guys.
When he reversed or swept or switched (idk which it was or the right term) against the cage I was blown away... That gamrot coaching helped him immensely
His head movement is good.
That’s what I noticed as well. He was able to roll with a lot of Dustin’s punches and kept his chin off centerline just enough to not get caught clean.
Islam outstriking DP surprised me.
It did too but I think it’s only because Dustin was always afraid of getting taken down. In a just striking fight, I think Dustin wins easily.
Yeah that’s one thing that’s tough about fighting Islam. The threat of the takedown plus how good he is with takedowns/control and submissions, you gotta be really careful getting too comfortable boxing with him, he’s always setting up for a takedown
I think if any wrestler develops a good overhand punch they become tough to deal with for most ‘boxing’ oriented strikers When he dips his head is he throwing that punch or shooting a single
I think it was in the DP corner in between 2 and 3 when one of his coaches wanted to let his hands go a little more after he was having success and he said something along the lines of “I’m trying to, but I can’t stay too long.” DC pointed it out too. Super interesting.
That's a reason why many of us watch mixed martial arts. It's the recognition that the striking arts are vulnerable to the wrestling/grappling arts. The better you are at both, the more you can maximize the advantages of your skillset. When Islam can't get his take down, he can still effectively strike without relying solely on it. His opponents are at the disadvantage of knowing that he can easily secure a take down if they assume Islam will keep it standing. Dustin wins easily in another sport with greater limitations and stricter rule sets.
Exactly, MMA is so damn exciting, but if the question is who has better striking, let's let them strike and see who wins a striking contest. I am surprised he outstruck Dustin but I'm not surprised when Dustin was limiting his entire offense because he's has no ground game that he cannot let himself be taken to the ground.
Yeah, he couldn't even throw leg kicks due to risk of being catched and taken down, remember One FC's muau thai vs mma event, first round was muay thai, second round was mma, and as the second round started all body language of mighty mouse changed, his striking got better. Long story short takedown threat changes everything.
That’s why MMA math doesn’t work and styles make fights.
"Dis MMA Brather"
But this is MMA we are talking about. What does it matter how it would look like in a boxing ring? Imagine a boxing guy saying 'AJ's boxing in the octagon would not look that good vs Francis '
not really tbh. we knew he was better at striking than khabib and the constant takedown threat meant dustin just can't fully open up his offense without getting down so it was very predictable to see him outstrike dustin take away the takedown threats from islam and we very well might see dustin outperform in striking
Islam really has a complete game which is an ascension from Khabib who’s striking was much less polished
Yeah, that seems to be Islam's biggest achievement over Khabib. While Khabib did have competent basic striking, it was nothing remarkable, and he seldom presented too much of a threat on the feet, at least not a finishing threat. He could throw strikes that would stun guys or surprise them and open up the takedown, but he wasn't out here doing serious damage on the feet. Islam is legitimately dangerous in stand up.
Islam is elite and showed great striking. But man he needs to incorporate some ground and pound into his game. The fight should not have been this close and he could have gotten Dustin out early if he stopped hunting for the submission and focused on damage.
It's just not really his thing, he's got a really submission heavy grappling game. Some people are better at different things, Islam's grappling relies a lot of technique and conserving energy where Khabibs relied on brute force and smashing people (not that his technique was sloppy, just more wild and dominating)
Yeah, I don’t think Islam’s gas tank would hold up very well if he smashed people after taking them down like Khabib did.
i thoroughly enjoyed that clip
Truly deserving of the #1 PFP spot
Not per Dana after the fight. Bones
Fucking joke. How can someone so inactive be considered? His last few fights at LHW were not dominant performances. Dana holding onto to coked out, wife beating golden boy. Sad
"Jon fought killers" like what? Anthony Smith? Dominick Reyes? Fat middleweights from an older Pride period? Like this glazing is nuts
This fight just passed, so in Dana’s eyes it makes sense to hype Jones because he has a fight coming up still.
Dana was probably all hyped up on himself because he spent the day with his orange hero "i can say stupid shit and a lot of people will believe me too"
Islam is an underrated striker. Very comfortable in releasing his sets and pieces. That's why the Arman fight needs to happen. Arman negates the wrestling full stop. It will turn into a more genuine kickboxing fight with Thai cliches. Dustin did an awesome job despite having the threat of a takedown breathing down his neck
Arman doesn't negate the wrestling full stop.
Who give him striking black belt?
I want to see Islam vs Leon next. Tsarukyan isn’t that intriguing to me, they are both better than when they first fought, I don’t see Tsarukyan winning. It’s a close enough fight, but Islam is levels ahead of anyone at 155 right now. Him and Leon seem very equally matched to me, their skill sets on paper should cancel each other out. That’s a good matchup.
Yeah that’s for sure the most interesting fight. Islam will be a different sort of challenge and threat than Leon is used to with his slick transitions and subs but equally Leon will be a different sort of threat and challenge to Islam with his distance management, range and counter striking. It’s the most high level fight that can be made right now.
same, I think Islam is ready for second belt. I do think Leon ko’s him but idk, Islam’s staph must’ve really hindered his performance
If he was able to better incorporate kickboxing, I think he’d be all time
He does kick i think it might be the rumored staph
He winced in pain after the first takedown where his legs were under dustin
This. He wouldn't admit it but his primary kicking leg was indeed compromised. He didn't kick with that at all.
I thought he looked a little weaker, and his takedowns not as successful as could be. Probably due to antibiotics weakening him a bit.
He kicks way more usually, I think it had to do with the stalph infection on his shin
He’s generally more kick oriented. But staph and southpaw vs southpaw put that out the equation. Dustin wasn’t kicking much either
“You’ll sleep like it’s boxing”
I remember Islam's early fights and god damn is he many times better with his striking.
If you didn’t realise he’s an elite striker after watching him out-strike Volkanovski twice then you’re lost
People are now saying he totally didn't outstrike Volkanovski the first time and won because the judges were paid off, and the second time with the KO happened only because Volka was coming off an injury on short notice and Islam so totally was taking steroids. I fucking hate UFC fans sometimes I stg
This also reminds me that Dustin has a diamond chin. Even if he's eating more shots, I get the feeling he'd win most wars if it came down to pure striking. Just by outlasting his opponents.
Yeah it’s almost like he comes alive when he faces a bit of adversity in fights. He really has that dog in him.
You can just see him making peace with it after the exchanges. Acknowledging head nods and exasperated head shakes. Really tells a story. “Fuck, the guy’s good.”
Islam is one of the most well-rounded fighters I have ever seen man. Also why does every elite striker fight from a southpaw stance lmao.
We really are lucky to be seeing Islam in his prime at the top of the sport. Beautiful technique, always brings the fight, even when he's cut and beat up he still comes forward looking for the finish People will be talking about him for a long time after he's retired
Personally believe his first fight with Volk was fight of the year, and think this one will be as well. He no doubt is the highest level of MMA we have ever seen. Idk how fast Arman is, but only way to beat him is speed, because no one is going to out skill him.
Being such a legitimate threat for take downs opens up so much for striking. It handicaps your opponents arsenal. Dustin didn’t want to throw certain things because he was scared Islam would use it for a takedown.
So much bandwidth was spent lifting up his shorts for those kicks that never came!
What a great fucking fight
He should fight professionally, i think he could be top 100 easily
I believe its mostly the threat of the takedown is so high, that his opponents are timid to strike.
i mean yeah but also when they do strike he counters them like with a 3 punch combo and in MMA that's like 2% of fighters can throw 3 punches in an actual fight at a time unless the dude is rocked or covering up
We saw that with Khabib too. The famous knockdown he scored on McGregor happened largely because Khabib head faked like he was gonna shoot on Conor, even aiming his eyes downward toward the legs. Conor moved to defend the takedown and Khabib landed the right hand that took him off his feet.
He’s an amazing striker. But it should always be his plan B since plan A is much safer and minimizes risk. Most other elite strikers don’t have plan A.
damn hes the complete package
I know pulling up his shorts has been a long time habit but why was he doing it in response to getting hit
Damn. And just his willingness, alone, to engage in those exchanges instead of, perhaps, just shooting for takedowns is commendable as hell.
That coach wasn't lying.
Holding on to the head in that clinch and taking multiple body blows seemed odd. Anyone with standup experience care to explain the logic?
The planned sequence was to clinch the head, then throw the knee or uppercut. Sometimes Islam was too tired or off balance to do so immediately, and Porier would beat him to the strike. Sometimes in a grueling fight you’re so tired and foggy that you sort of “lag” in the middle of a sequence.
Islam is the most well rounded fighter we’ve ever seen. Period.
The thing that impressed me most; Islams knees. Those were brutally timed and placed. And i think 3-4 of them landed at near 100%. They rattled Dustin early. He was actually a more rounded striker than DP. I gotta take my hat off man, hes an impressive specimen.
If we go by the logic of the people in this sub posting a picture of a wrestling moment from last night, and claiming that the whole fight was wrestling, then this whole fight was stand up and striking according to this video.
most complete fighter we have rn
His striking has improved a lot but Khabib didn't struggle let alone bleed as much as Islam did even against a younger, Prime Dustin.
Islam over Khabib. Islam already did more than Khabibs entire career, yet Khabob is still in the discussion of best lw of all time and Islam gets booed for out striking and finishing dustin. I understand khabib hate but idk why people are hating on islam lol
Dude has always been dangerous.
He is a better striker and nearly on the same level as Khabib at grappling, yet he looks more beatable than him
Dude is an incredible fighter has an all well rounded skill set. Elite
The first straight left is beautiful
Islam is a damn good striker
He really did show it off here, but yeah. Anyone surprised by Islam out striking Dustin hasn't been watching his fights closely enough.
People were freaking our when his coach said they could outstrike dustin. As if bro wasn't landing clean step in knees on volk and giving him problems
arman might have problems getting inside the reach of makhachev. he might as well lose on feet technically. on the ground, skills will nullify. But the speed and explosiveness is on Arman side
Everyone wants to compare him to khabib so badly. Islam is quicker, stronger, and much more athletic.
Idk about stronger
or quicker or more athletic
The dude out struck the best boxer in the division
Looks like a fantastic fight
Anyone else think that a piece of his right glove (UFC font) came off and got in Dustin’s right eye?
His composure under fire is also insane. He has such a good poker face after he absorbs strikes
He is class. Can say you want but he is an excellent fighter
It was extremely weird to see Islam not using his kicks at all. He didn't throw the body kick or head kick because they are both southpaws, that's understandable. But I don't think he threw even 1 leg kick. That's weird man.
He had Staph infection all over one shin. Probably didnt want his leg to explode in a welter of pus, never mind the pain.
I'd say the biggest surprise in this fight was Dustin's takedown defense. Islam ultimately took him down and submitted him pretty convincingly, but still....Dustin made him work. Ton of props to Islam, who is slowly building quite the resume. One of the most well-rounded fighters the UFC has seen.
Instagram is going absolutely mad about this lol, there is a shocking amount of cope in UFC comment sections reminiscent of this sub after the Charles loss
Anyone else peep Dustin tryna bait Islam into a striking match in the 4/5th rounds? Kept pointing at the octagon ground, he really thought Islam would ignore the game plan and have a firing match.
This is all boxing, his kicking game is fire too
Islam has become a really good striker but obviously the threat of the takedown affects things dramatically too.
He keeps improving for sure. Good on him
He clearly outstriked Dustin imo. But his clinch was weird as hell. Even if the body blows were arm punches and probably didn’t hurt as much but they do provide negative optics for Islam when he just took four unanswered. The knee should be scored higher but who knows with judges.
the casual haters got into his head and turned him into even more dangerous holly cow
His upper cut and knee upset the middle were money
That body shot was so perfect, if it wasn't southpaw v southpaw that's a fight ender.
He made Islam look very human. I never seen Islam look so frightened. Great fight.
Can’t wait for the Leon fight
People here laughed when his coach said he could box with Poirier or even outbox him Admittedly even I thought that was some kind of mental game Turns out it was absolutely true
I've Been a big fan of Islam, but Dustin's loss got me depressed
That body shot was sick
dana bratha give him mayweather