I'd say Gastelum had him in some real danger. It's hard to say how close he was to getting stopped, because even Pereira never put Izzy out cold in the UFC to be fair, but he was definitely in some danger.
It's crazy how one fight can change things but that is the sport. Folks were calling Woodley possibly the greatest welterweight of all time until Usman destroyed him. Aldo was the certified featherweight goat until Max. And then Max was looking like the goat until Volk. Now the convo is up in the air. Just how it goes.
I still think Izzy had a great run and is still the #2 middleweight of all time at this point. And the rematch win against Poatan was legendary. Despite everything I've said here so far
, I actually am a fan and I still think highly of the guy, especially how active he stayed and how willing he was to fight every top contender. He didn't have to go along with fast tracking Poatan but he did, he actually hyped the fight even more. This loss to Strickland just puts a dent in things because of the way he lost.
If they rematch and he somehow comes back with a dominant performance it could switch the narrative again for sure. But if he comes back and loses to Strickland again it might be worse tbh. This just isn't the guy that was supposed to take he belt off him, but whatever. Maybe the weirdest championship upset win of all time.