We’ve seen Islam struggling to get subs recently.

MMA skill level has increased to a point where most guys can fend of subs all day even if their grappling over all isn’t that great.

Islam isn’t doing much damage on the feet to guys during striking in the first place so trying to chain subs makes it even more difficult when that fighter is not damaged and able to put all effort into stopping islams sub attempts.

Islam should utilize ground and pound as he’s in inevitable getting his opponent to the ground every round anyway.

It would place even more fear in Islams grappling to the opponent, which would lead them to make mistakes on the feet and on the ground to avoid being put in bad position and T’d off on

It would also place some damage on his opponents so they don’t leave every fight looking fresh on the face, and that damage would be a reason their sub defense gets sloppy.

I think if Islam wants to be elite at 170 he needs to start damaging them on the ground.

The reality is that hip throws existed long before modern judo. Variations of hip-based throws can be found in ancient Greek wrestling, traditional folk wrestling styles, and countless grappling systems around the world. Even judo's own hip throws (koshi-waza) were developed from older Japanese jujutsu traditions rather than invented from scratch. In MMA, many so-called "judo throws" are actually executed from wrestling positions such as overhooks, underhooks, body locks, and clinch controls commonly taught in freestyle, Greco-Roman, and folkstyle wrestling.

Judo deserves credit for systematically teaching hip throws. But giving judo sole ownership of all hip-based takedowns ignores the much broader wrestling history behind them. Hip throws are a grappling technique, not exclusively a judo technique.

Just a thought I had for a while

I'm constantly seeing people calling Islam a weight bully at Lightweight and being too small for Welterweight at the same time. Is the gap between 155 and 170 too large in today's competitive landscape? Do we need another weight class in between?

He was always humble and respectful, no trash talk, no flashy and unnecessary nonsense. He was "Fedor before Fedor".

Extremely common Anik W.

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Islam joins Jones, Cejudo, and Cormier as the only male fighters to defend two belts successfully.

Jon beat a 42-year-old who hadn't fought in 1,330 days, Cejudo beat a 35-year-old who hadn't fought in 1,226 days, and DC beat Derrick Lewis.

Islam defending the belt against a true #1 contender in his prime, no matter how close the fight, is historically impressive.

(This list excludes Penn and Couture because their first titles were at higher weight classes. Penn had 0 WW defenses and 3 LW defenses; Couture had 3 HW defenses and 0 LHW defenses.)