What if Whittaker's offensive wrestling is very good now?
We know his defensive wrestling is very good, very hard to take down and very hard to keep down. It would stand to reason that in the time he spent to improve his TDD so much he also equally worked on his offensive wrestling.
He was invited to compete in the commonwealth games for Australia as a wrestler. I'm not saying that makes him an amazing wrestler but I would say that probably makes him a very good high level wrestler. Also I'm not saying that Olympic style wrestling will translate to his MMA game, but as a guy who already had very good MMA experience I'm sure it would be much easier for him to utilize what is good from the Olymic style and merge it into his MMA game.
We didn't see offensive wrestling against Yoel or Jacare, but they aren't really the guys you want to be wrestling with or taking to the ground for obvious reasons.
Izzy on the other hand is just the type of guy you would want to take down if you feel his stand up is too dangerous to compete with for 5 rounds.
From the workout footage today Whittaker looks to be in great condition, he's packed on more muscle, I just re-watched Yoel 2 and although Whittaker is in good shape I wouldn't say he looks great in there. Now he seems to have fully filled out his frame at middle weight. That means during this time off with injuries he's clearly had time to train hard, and importantly lift heavy. A key in recovery from a hernia is no heavy lifting. The fact he's put on muscle mass says to me he has fully recovered from the injury with plenty of time to spare to train, and probably also improve in terms of technique.
Something else to consider is Izzy fighting so much the past year or so. That could lead to him being more shop worn and possibly carrying some nagging injuries, but, also - If he's been fighting, and basically going from training camp to training camp, where has he found time to add new weapons to his game? Fighters always say the biggest improvements are made out of camp, that's where you learn new skills and ingrain them into your fighting system. I'm not saying Izzy will have nothing new to show but I doubt there have been any major additions, more small improvements on what he already does well.
That says to me he is the easier fighter to gameplan for, you can go back a year and see everything he has in his arsenal, barring a few new wrinkles, and prepare for it. That's not to say Izzy's game isn't great and very dangerous but it is to say it's more than likely going to be very much so the same game as his last fight.
To a degree Whittaker is coming in as an unknown. His basic style will be the same but who knows what's new and what he had to show in his last fights but due to the style match ups couldn't?
I think Whittaker is just as big a brute and power threat as guys like Costa and Romero but with a much more well rounded game, better technique and strong cardio. Whittaker for the first time in years, due to the fights that he's had, can actually be an aggressor and apply pressure. Kelvin was able to pressure and push his way into boxing range repeatedly. Whittaker is bigger, stronger, has more weapons and is more adjusted to middle weight than Kelvin. There is no reason any success Kelvin had can not be repeated by Whittaker.
For me, on paper, this is Whittaker's fight.
The X factor watching both guys fights back is the speed discrepancy. Izzy is faster, more fluid and his strikes can hit at any moment.
People by enlarge are expecting a majority striking match, and I think we will see a lot of that but I also think Whittaker will be more than happy to grab onto any grappling opportunity that he gets. If Izzy slips for a split second and Whittaker is able to grab his waist he will take it and hold on and use the position to his full advantage.
If Whittaker is under prepared or just not able to deal with the speed difference we will see a bull and matador type fight with Izzy sniping Whittaker... But, if Whittaker uses all of his tools and refuses to play the game we will see Isreal looking like Anderson Silva when he fought Cannonier. Cannonier gave Silva nothing to counter and nothing to time and he didn't fear his power in an all out attack. Thus leaving Silva with little option but to get backed up and hit with very hard very powerful basic strikes from Cannonier.
At even money, and some books showing Whittaker as a slight dog, he is clearly the pick. Izzy has one route to victory, Whittaker can win it anywhere the fight goes.
