O malley said something similar where if someone’s hurt badly he just turns around with his hands up or something and the refs sometimes just stop it. Illia might have gotten it if he didn’t go for the takedown here, he kind of let Justin recover a bit.
Look at how many different title fights have happened since Paddy/Justin where a dude has a chance to win but follows the hurt opponent to the ground. It's kind of crazy how many times it's happened this year alone.
I think he was in desperation mode here. Both of his eyes were already fucked up and it was only the second round. Considering his ego and the fact that he'd never experienced anything like this before, I guess he just lost his head. We didn't see the calm and collected Ilia we're used to seeing.
Justin said on JRE he couldn’t believe how tired he was after round 1 due to the heat/humidity outside. With that in mind, Ilia must’ve felt like he was on deaths door after round 2. Makes sense he was so flat afterwards
The real factor for him being passive after round 2 is the adrenaline crash he had at the end of round 2. He had an adrenaline dump start with his first orbital breakage, and it crashed down by the end of round two, making go from active on the ground, looking for a sub, to maintaining top position until the end of the round. And being legally blind at this point also of course.
Justin's durability is insane, he managed to recover from those body shots really quickly and despite being that tired and came back for a banger round like he still had gas for days
Getting him back up (which he might not have even been able to do) or ground and pound would've been better than grappling. He was gassed to shit and probs in excruciating pain though so i get it
Justin himself did say he planned on just staying away or pulling guard if Ilia had forced him to get back up. I’m curious how that would have played out. It still probably would have worked out better for Ilia if he had been stood up. But I guess hindsight is 20/20 and all that
Redditors saying the then champion has low fight IQ , because he chose to try and finish the fight by submission , classic . People would be saying he should have gone for a sub , if he tried to ground and pound and failed . He tried to finish the fight , but couldn't , happens.
Can’t see what they are for but if it’s for subbing people you should know how exhausting tut is to try to sub ppl in a hurry. Specially outside in summer heat…
I think he was completely gassed trying to finish Gaethje and was content with just controlling him for the rest of the round or thought he could easily submit him
Ilias ego took this fight from him. He wanted to show he was like or better than Khabib, tried to go for a triangle choke from top, to finish Justin like Khabib did, when in fact Ilia did not need to do that and just go with some GnP.
I 100% agree but to the legit Illia copers, this can be said about more than half of all fights. Dudes get wobbled all the time too so. This is an example of good reffing. Although, I do wish they stopped it earlier cause Illia literally looks different now
It is SO HARD to KO someone with GNP who was not already rocked to the HEAD .
Illia couldn't do what u are asking cause Justin was with it the entire time , everytime Illia tried to GNP Justin would counter by moving or trying him up .
His first mistake was to take him down. If he actually kept up with the combinations then it couldve ended differently. Justin got rocked really bad when Ilia threw his body combinations , hence why he got taken down so easily.
Can you answer, in clear and concise sentences, the following questions:
Who is 'they'?
How did 'they' make Topuria grapple in this moment?
(Or alternatively, how did they stop him from just standing there and forcing Justin to stand back up)
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u/dank-kush 9h ago
O malley said something similar where if someone’s hurt badly he just turns around with his hands up or something and the refs sometimes just stop it. Illia might have gotten it if he didn’t go for the takedown here, he kind of let Justin recover a bit.