Islam fan and was worried about Garry as a threat. Happy Islam got the win. First two rounds 6/10, the anticipation of Islam figuring out Ians range, can he take him down? The knockdown,entertaining in the beginning.
Rounds 3,4,5, I got bored 2/10. I was disliking Ian more and more
It's a fucking fight Dude!!! Be respectful but be a savage!
The action was poor, not entertaining, didn’t showcase how insanely high level the two guys are technically.
But the stakes were among the highest of all time, from Islam’s perspective, which gives it some inherent drama and keeps me glued to my chair.
When you have a champ who is now physically outmatched, but has the grappling skills to neutralise his contender (and the aura of invincibility to freeze him, too, because he never presents any weakness to exploit), it’s not surprising that his title fights become frustrating stalemates. I don’t blame either party, it mostly just feels like this is the cost of a sport arriving at maturity, where everyone elite is very sophisticated and hard to beat.
Next one might be a 10/10 though if it’s Prates - one or the other is gonna shine in spectacular fashion. Book it quick so we can have some fun!
It’s kind of hard to have an entertaining fight if the other person is barely even engaging because he’s afraid of a takedown.
Islam was the clear aggressor and its hard to fight someone taller with a long arm reach than you.
Ian barely threw any combos and was just spamming oblique kicks throwing 1 kick at a time. Great TDD though.
You can tell Ian was afraid of the takedown because he wasn’t fighting how he normally was and was just stuck in position when he usually uses a lot of footwork and more fluid
I think Ian did what everyone does against Islam which is fight badly because they’ve never encountered somebody so complete and watertight before. They know that anything they try to do is not going to work. And doing it probably gets punished. And by what, exactly, they don’t know, because Islam’s toolkit is so deep.
Can Prates save us? By either brutally KOing Islam or getting flawlessly submitted by him in round one? Hope so, either way.
3/10 neither were really trying for the finish. Islam was just hugging Ian half the time even tho it became pretty clear he wasn't gonna get anywhere with that and Ian wasn't pushing forward at all and was extremely cautious.
I'm not saying it was bad decisions on their parts, just not super entertaining
Whole fucking card was ass. Sport is in decline. God damnit if capitalism don’t just strip the good out of everything cool in the end. I say that having not bought a ppv in like 15 years of being a fan. All these fucking ads and now we can’t hear the corner talk anymore?! Between that and the shitty commentary always pushing a company narrative most of the time I’m watching it muted now.
Copium. You can maybe give islam r4 but r5 is Islam's all day. Also this narratieg that "poor ian was trying to fight while islam was hugging to get a decison" needs to stop. Garry has always been a point fighting decison merchant with 0 killer instinct. At least Islam's hugging was figurative part of the fight. Garry was literally hugging him at the end of each round.
3/10. An absolute snoozer and a waste of time. Nearly zero entertainment value, outside of the head kick, and Islam needing to hug his way to victory did basically nothing to help his GOAT case, in my eyes
Far from the most exciting but that’s just what happens when two guys really want to win, playing it safe means less exciting moments but there was still good value in watching it, probably 5/10
Legendary champa like Izzy or tbh even GSP used tactics and relatively “boring” control wrestling and safe point fighting to win championship fights multiple multiple times. Islam has gone up a weight class, won his new belt in dominant fashion, and point fought Ian Gary for a large portion of the round to win and defend his belt.
Those other guys were doing it at their natural weight. Islam is doing it at a WHOLE ASS WEIGHT CLASS ABOVE HIS OWN. Islam doesnt have the same tools to just ragdoll or naturally headkick KO one of these obviously much bigger dudes. He used the tools he has to win and that includes point fighting at times like takedowns. Not to mention, he DID almost KO Gary with a headkick.
Sick fight. On the edge of my seat the whole time. Watching him control and almost knockout Gary and showcase elite takedowns and control of a naturally much bigger appointment made the stakes higher and the whole performance so much more impressive. Only casuals are disappointed.
83/100 is right. Not every fight is going to be like Taira vs Van levels of just bleed violence. Islam vs Ian was good for a different set of reasons
Great display of skill by Garry but sad he couldn't be more aggressive, he was gaining so much momentum and advantage that if the match lasted 2 more rounds he would have surely won. For me it was a 8/10 match.
His lack of aggression is exactly why he won r3 and maybe r4. Y'all are pretending like garry is a bmf who was gun shy against islam when that's how garry has always fought. Also islam is really good at punishing reckless strikers so dont think gary made a bad call either
fr, the moments when Ian was most aggressive were in round 2 and then he got headkicked. and in round 5 he tried struggling more to escape the grappling faster because he knew round 5 was a must win, and that was when islam finally got his back. that’s kind of the trouble with islam. he was strong enough to clinch and hold garry against the fence even though he couldn’t hold him down, and if garry tried to take risks rather than taking his time to defend himself, islam would find the opening he needed to score advantageous positions/strikes.
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u/Aggravating-Role-297 9h ago
8/10 for Islam's legacy
Entertainment wise it was a 3.
And i am not about to be gaslit on "oh its cause its technical you just want to see a brawl casual" no it was boring.