MMA-UFC UFC 287: Pereira vs. Adesanya 2

[Topkent]

I

Would love to see Poatan move to 205 and claim the LHW title and then a trilogy match for champ-champ status for one of Izzy/Poatan.

Izzy 0 chance of beating him at 205.

 

[Crimson King]

Yeh, I think Poatan would be more likely of the two to go back down to MW and try for champ-champ.

 

[Topkent]

Yeh, I think Poatan would be more likely of the two to go back down to MW and try for champ-champ.

Izzy wouldn't put on size to go up, Poatan would just barely have to cut and would most likely carry even more power. Probably stronger chin aswell.

 

[the_interloper]

Izzy had been getting criticised for point fighting in his last few, haven't heard anyone suggest it about the weekend. Izzy is very elite and he needs someone on his level striking wise to bring the fight out of him. Izzy took some risks but I guess if he didn't it's a matter of time against Pereira, he needed to get off first which he did.

 

[RobbyRoy]

I think people are getting caught up in what the top LHWs favour and forgetting most are pretty strong grapplers. The likes of Jan, Jiri, Ankalaev and Rakic would all get Pereira down and put a beat down on him.

 

[Topkent]

I think people are getting caught up in what the top LHWs favour and forgetting most are pretty strong grapplers. The likes of Jan, Jiri, Ankalaev and Rakic would all get Pereira down and put a beat down on him.

I assume the UFC won't stick him with grapplers though until he has no choice i.e he's champ.

 

[RobbyRoy]

I assume the UFC won't stick him with grapplers though until he has no choice i.e he's champ.

That's what I mean though, those guys (besides Ankalaev, because of his background) aren't considered grapplers. Yet if faced with Pereira, the sensible thing to do for all of them would be to grapple, where they would easily handle him.

 

[Topkent]

That's what I mean though, those guys (besides Ankalaev, because of his background) aren't considered grapplers. Yet if faced with Pereira, the sensible thing to do for all of them would be to grapple, where they would easily handle him.

Jiri, Hill would be the 2 obvious matchups against him if he goes up. He's not gonna stick around and be a 7x champ. He probably does 1 or 2 and then maybe Adesanya and that's it

 

[RobbyRoy]

Jiri, Hill would be the 2 obvious matchups against him if he goes up. He's not gonna stick around and be a 7x champ. He probably does 1 or 2 and then maybe Adesanya and that's it

And Jiri on the surface appears the most likely to attempt to strike with Pereira, making it a pretty interesting proposition. I'm fairly confident he would end up taking Poatan down though.

He's turning 36 this year so yeah, not exactly worth thinking about long-term plans at LHW.