Aljo "Likes His Chances" Against Illia...

[TheMMAnalyst]

Should be a fun match. Sterling should stay quiet about planning to grapple f#k Illia because the powers that be and some fans will start getting the wrong idea that Sterling would make it “boring”

I don’t think they’d believe him if said he was going to stand and bang anyways though lol.

He’s kind of damned in that way regardless, might as well claim you have a real path to victory.

 

[NoSmilez]

I don't think Topuria's wrestling and grappling is all that. Aljo is a solid grappler. He isn't just a wrestler. He can hang with some professional grapplers. We honestly don't know much about Topuria's grappling except he is a black belt.

Aljo's next fight is going to be weird. It's human backpack vs fanny pack. It's going to be awful. Aljo is a bit of a staller when it comes to wrestling. He doesn't shoot takedowns against another grappler. He will wait for Evloev to make the first move.

 

[ejazahmednit]

Atleast he is honest

 

[legcramp]

I'm a fan of guys with limited or different skillsets who find a way to win no matter what, even if it is boring.

You're a fan of mixed martial arts, that's the beauty of the sport.

 

[NicholasJBasile]

Well he should like his chances -- it would be whack if a fighter with championship aspirations just flatout said they have no chance. I wouldn't favor Aljo, but he most definitely should believe in himself.

 

[Safton]

In the Kattar bout you say:

“in Round 3 he finally realized "This dude has nothing for me" and basically mauled Calvin with GnP and put him in all sorts of submission danger whilst”

He never did anything close to “mauling” and he had him in one submission for one second…am I taking crazy pills when I re-watch this? I’m not trying to be a hater, I just don’t understand how you can’t see the same things I see.

I don't feel like a fighter has to land fifty ground strikes to maul someone with GnP nor chain together multiple submission attacks to count as submission danger. When you compare his performance in Round 1 and Round 2 -- which was purely him suffocating Kattar with mat returns and ground control -- to what he did in Round 3, yes I feel safe in considering that a mauling when looking at the totality of the power-bomb, flurry of GnP, and submission attempt all of which served to place Calvin into pure survival mode. It wasn't a high-level win considering Calvin's age, injury-based inactivity, etc. but we've also never really seen anyone do that to him on the mats so there's that. In other words Aljo finally recognized that he outmatched Old Man Kattar badly in the grappling department to the point that he could open up and if that issue was ever in doubt, then the ten minutes he had just put into the bank sucking the life out of him prior certainly didn't hurt.

To me he just never “opens up” nearly enough. I respect him doing what it takes to win and being smart in fighting safe, but I don’t find it enjoyable personally. I enjoy fights more when the fighters are willing to put themselves in danger to hurt their opponents, that’s just me though.

Thanks for reading my wall of text and responding, always respect your opinion.

This first bit I actually agree with to some extent, that's what my initial post was intended to address. Perhaps it didn't come across properly. Basically I was saying that while his typical gameplan isn't the most riveting TV, when he does open up it's oftentimes pretty exciting and those sequences are enough to keep me watching his fights with interest even if I wish they happened more frequently. They got me invested early in his career and they've kept me in his corner. And while objectively I can acknowledge that his rangy point-fighting and ground control aren't kosher to most fans (and myself at times), I can respect his cerebral approach in being able to apply them with a surprising degree of success even at the highest level of the sport whilst keeping himself reasonably healthy. Typically I would expect an athleticism-based dude competing in the lower weight classes with a wrestling-heavy gameplan to start falling off the proverbial cliff by his mid-30s, but Aljo still looks more or less like Aljo even after shifting weight classes. Time will tell if that's still the case in the Evloev fight.

Likewise. As always, you are one of the most thoughtful posters on Sherdog even if our opinions don't always align which IMO simply serves to keep things interesting. For what it's worth I think we agree more often than not. As an aside, I should note that my taste in fighters is... I dunno, esoteric? That makes me sound like a fucking knob when I say it out loud, but a lot of the time I can't really articulate what makes me a fan of one fighter to the next. Like I appreciate Aljo with all his baggage, but I also eagerly get behind the occasional "kill-or-be-killed" marauder.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

I don't feel like a fighter has to land fifty ground strikes to maul someone with GnP nor chain together multiple submission attacks to count as submission danger. When you compare his performance in Round 1 and Round 2 -- which was purely him suffocating Kattar with mat returns and ground control -- to what he did in Round 3, yes I feel safe in considering that a mauling when looking at the totality of the power-bomb, flurry of GnP, and submission attempt all of which served to place Calvin into pure survival mode. It wasn't a high-level win considering Calvin's age, injury-based inactivity, etc. but we've also never really seen anyone do that to him on the mats so there's that. In other words Aljo finally recognized that he outmatched Old Man Kattar badly in the grappling department to the point that he could open up and if that issue was ever in doubt, then the ten minutes he had just put into the bank sucking the life out of him prior certainly didn't hurt.

This first bit I actually agree with to some extent, that's what my initial post was intended to address. Perhaps it didn't come across properly. Basically I was saying that while his typical gameplan isn't the most riveting TV, when he does open up it's oftentimes pretty exciting and those sequences are enough to keep me watching his fights with interest even if I wish they happened more frequently. They got me invested early in his career and they've kept me in his corner. And while objectively I can acknowledge that his rangy point-fighting and ground control aren't kosher to most fans (and myself at times), I can respect his cerebral approach in being able to apply them with a surprising degree of success even at the highest level of the sport whilst keeping himself reasonably healthy. Typically I would expect an athleticism-based dude competing in the lower weight classes with a wrestling-heavy gameplan to start falling off the proverbial cliff by his mid-30s, but Aljo still looks more or less like Aljo even after shifting weight classes. Time will tell if that's still the case in the Evloev fight.

Likewise. As always, you are one of the most thoughtful posters on Sherdog even if our opinions don't always align which IMO simply serves to keep things interesting. For what it's worth I think we agree more often than not. As an aside, I should note that my taste in fighters is... I dunno, esoteric? That makes me sound like a fucking knob when I say it out loud, but a lot of the time I can't really articulate what makes me a fan of one fighter to the next. Like I appreciate Aljo with all his baggage, but I also eagerly get behind the occasional "kill-or-be-killed" marauder.

They credited Aljo with 10 significant strikes in round 3 - I've watched it multiple times and I wouldn't describe what he was doing as anything close to "mauling" but that's just my opinion I suppose.

The only submission attempt that was close to anything was the guillotine at the very end of the fight which Kattar rolled to his back to escape immediately. It's just not anywhere close to Diego Lopes chain-submissions that we want to see out of a high-level submission fighter.

Aljo easily dominated Kattar and showed he was on another level physically and technically, but you've gotta acknowledge that in rounds 1 and 2 he literally just burned 1+ minutes of clock time holding him down without attempting to do anything really. It's not a fun way to fight ultimately, it's a turning a fight into an exercise in self-defense, not a combat spectacle.

I do see what you are saying about when he does open up he's capable of exciting shit, and I do agree with that sentiment, I just don't see enough of it to find it enthralling. It's basically a garnish on top of the meal for him, it's not even a component of the dish at this point.

I watch his fights because I know how good he is at what he does and he actually does have a personality that isn't "I'll fight whomever they want me to" and he pissed Dana off on the come-up so they made him get his title fight the hard way (which might've made him double-down on his stylistic tendencies even harder, for better or worse).

Again, credit where credit is due, he's making a very simplistic approach to fighting (spam range strikes with low power to draw opponents in so you can out-wrestle/out-grapple them for extended periods) work against a ton of elite opposition, even if it isn't always dominant (easily could've lost to Cejudo and Yan in the rematch). I just don't enjoy "negative" fighters where their goal is to limit their opponents offense by threatening to control them so it essentially shuts down the fight and turns it into an exercise in limiting damage to both fighters.

We definitely agree on the vast majority of things and I would actually be incensed if everyone had my point of view on fighting, it's nice to have other fans with unique takes on fighting and appreciation for stuff I don't enjoy, that's kind of the joy of going to the circus in the first place (not everyone likes the same exhibitions). I just wish sometimes we could have a clearer consensus on using terminology like "mauling" to describe what Aljo did in the 3rd round to Kattar, as if that's Khabib vs. Johnson or Cain vs. Rothwelll, which is what that term should be reserved for I feel.

But that's ultimately just debating semantics and I have far too much respect to drag you into that pointless rabbit-hole of nuance.

 

[Safton]

They credited Aljo with 10 significant strikes in round 3 - I've watched it multiple times and I wouldn't describe what he was doing as anything close to "mauling" but that's just my opinion I suppose.

The only submission attempt that was close to anything was the guillotine at the very end of the fight which Kattar rolled to his back to escape immediately. It's just not anywhere close to Diego Lopes chain-submissions that we want to see out of a high-level submission fighter.

The significant strike counts rarely tell the story of a fight IMO. The UFC's stats in general are like that -- a bit inscrutable and weird at times about what's significant, what's a takedown and what's not, what's a submission attempt, what's a knockdown, etc. Aljamain isn't really an opportunistic submission ace like Diego Lopes, IMO comparing him to Diego or Brian Ortega is inherently wrong-headed. He's a high-level wrestler with a solid submission game in his back pocket who forces you into positions and scrambles where you're forced to constantly worry about said submission attack when deciding how you're going to get out from under him. Generally speaking he's not the guy to give up position in order to snatch up subs out of nowhere like those guys I just mentioned, but by the same token he's also got a far more respectable submission arsenal than his boy Merab who at best has a guillotine that he's only recently begun incorporating for the purpose of mat returns and controlling the pace. I don't have a problem acknowledging that Aljo is a "control first" grappler, but his top game attacks are definitely there -- they just take a backseat.

Aljo easily dominated Kattar and showed he was on another level physically and technically, but you've gotta acknowledge that in rounds 1 and 2 he literally just burned 1+ minutes of clock time holding him down without attempting to do anything really. It's not a fun way to fight ultimately, it's a turning a fight into an exercise in self-defense, not a combat spectacle.

Well, I said as much about the Kattar fight in the first two rounds. I would disagree that it's not fighting... it's just a fairly non-violent method of doing so. I think there's a place in the sport for grinders like that and I think it's important that the fighters who consistently put on spectacles show they can handle guys like Aljo. I mean even boxing has analogues in guys who are defensive masterminds and jab their way to Decision victories time after time. Some of them are even considered ATGs.

I do see what you are saying about when he does open up he's capable of exciting shit, and I do agree with that sentiment, I just don't see enough of it to find it enthralling. It's basically a garnish on top of the meal for him, it's not even a component of the dish at this point.

That's fine. We draw the line in different places.

I watch his fights because I know how good he is at what he does and he actually does have a personality that isn't "I'll fight whomever they want me to" and he pissed Dana off on the come-up so they made him get his title fight the hard way (which might've made him double-down on his stylistic tendencies even harder, for better or worse).

Agreed.

Again, credit where credit is due, he's making a very simplistic approach to fighting (spam range strikes with low power to draw opponents in so you can out-wrestle/out-grapple them for extended periods) work against a ton of elite opposition, even if it isn't always dominant (easily could've lost to Cejudo and Yan in the rematch). I just don't enjoy "negative" fighters where their goal is to limit their opponents offense by threatening to control them so it essentially shuts down the fight and turns it into an exercise in limiting damage to both fighters.

Like I said, I get it. This is why I'm not throwing the "lul casual, if you were a REAL fan you would appreciate what Aljo is doing out there!!!" narrative at you. You know what you enjoy watching in what is nominally supposed to be a sports entertainment product at the end of the day... and by extension what you don't enjoy watching. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I am not so blind to the fact that a healthy part of what Aljo does in his fights could be perceived by the masses as "stalling" or at the very least boring compared to the gameplan of many of his compatriots, even if I don't personally see it that way. My only real interest/point of contention was answering your original question aimed at @fortheo which was framed in the rather pointed fashion of "How can you possibly be a fan of this guy?" which... sort of begs a response xD

We definitely agree on the vast majority of things and I would actually be incensed if everyone had my point of view on fighting, it's nice to have other fans with unique takes on fighting and appreciation for stuff I don't enjoy, that's kind of the joy of going to the circus in the first place (not everyone likes the same exhibitions). I just wish sometimes we could have a clearer consensus on using terminology like "mauling" to describe what Aljo did in the 3rd round to Kattar, as if that's Khabib vs. Johnson or Cain vs. Rothwelll, which is what that term should be reserved for I feel.

But that's ultimately just debating semantics and I have far too much respect to drag you into that pointless rabbit-hole of nuance.

All good. Again, we draw the line in different places. I am respectfully going to continue to use the term "mauling" to describe what Aljo did to Kattar in Round 3, I hope you'll forgive me Sherbro Like I said, for me it's the totality of circumstances within those five minutes. Much like no one can agree what constitutes a "robbery" versus a "close fight", I think this is just one point we can safely agree to disagree on.

 

[tritestill]

Ilia knocks him out

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

The significant strike counts rarely tell the story of a fight IMO. The UFC's stats in general are like that -- a bit inscrutable and weird at times about what's significant, what's a takedown and what's not, what's a submission attempt, what's a knockdown, etc. Aljamain isn't really an opportunistic submission ace like Diego Lopes, IMO comparing him to Diego or Brian Ortega is inherently wrong-headed. He's a high-level wrestler with a solid submission game in his back pocket who forces you into positions and scrambles where you're forced to constantly worry about said submission attack when deciding how you're going to get out from under him. Generally speaking he's not the guy to give up position in order to snatch up subs out of nowhere like those guys I just mentioned, but by the same token he's also got a far more respectable submission arsenal than his boy Merab who at best has a guillotine that he's only recently begun incorporating for the purpose of mat returns and controlling the pace. I don't have a problem acknowledging that Aljo is a "control first" grappler, but his top game attacks are definitely there -- they just take a backseat.

Yeah I don't trust the UFC stats, I trust my eyes, which is why I re-watched that round a few times and have conclusively decided he in no way, shape or form was at the level of "mauling" but that's a subjective interpretation I suppose.

I'm not comparing him to Lopes or Ortega, I'm just saying that's the type of submission grappling I find exciting and entertaining, where they are willing to risk losing position to get a submission. Aljo is so risk-averse he would never consider such a thing, which is a good strategy for a risk-averse safe fighter, it's just not nearly as entertaining (which isn't really debatable).

Merab isn't a submission fighter, he has shit control and even his GnP is pretty weak just like Aljo, he's a pace fighter that breaks guys by making them work endlessly and exhausting them to wanting to give up. He's ultimately taking a a lot more chance than Aljo through this methodology, though I don't find it to be the most violent style at least it's uniquely offensive and he is constantly working.

Well, I said as much about the Kattar fight in the first two rounds. I would disagree that it's not fighting... it's just a fairly non-violent method of doing so. I think there's a place in the sport for grinders like that and I think it's important that the fighters who consistently put on spectacles show they can handle guys like Aljo. I mean even boxing has analogues in guys who are defensive masterminds and jab their way to Decision victories time after time. Some of them are even considered ATGs.

I never said it wasn't fighting, I said:

"It's not a fun way to fight ultimately, it's a turning a fight into an exercise in self-defense, not a combat spectacle."

Maybe that's hyperbole, but I think the core argument behind it is true.

I agree there is a place in the sport for them, I never advocated kicking him out of the UFC or even said anything close to "he's a bad fighter" - I just don't like what the result of his approach turns fights into, which is typically an exercise in avoiding damage to control someone, which makes them hesitant to attack because they don't want to be controlled. That's why I call it "negative" fighting style, because it reduces both fighters output dramatically when you are forced to deal with someone who uses that style effectively.

I wish that knees to a grounded opponent were legal because it would make his style far more risky and force him to accept that there are consequences for getting sprawled on other than flopping to his back or holding a leg knowing his opponent won't' follow him to guard or be able to land real GnP from that position.

Like I said, I get it. This is why I'm not throwing the "lul casual, if you were a REAL fan you would appreciate what Aljo is doing out there!!!" narrative at you. You know what you enjoy watching in what is nominally supposed to be a sports entertainment product at the end of the day... and by extension what you don't enjoy watching. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I am not so blind to the fact that a healthy part of what Aljo does in his fights could be perceived by the masses as "stalling" or at the very least boring compared to the gameplan of many of his compatriots, even if I don't personally see it that way. My only real interest/point of contention was answering your original question aimed at @fortheo which was framed in the rather pointed fashion of "How can you possibly be a fan of this guy?" which... sort of begs a response xD

I did want to know why you were a fan and you made your points clearly and concisely, they are literally undebatable because it's about subjective preference to what is ultimate an entertainment product.

There is even a part of me that enjoys hate-watching him fight, because he always surprises me by how effective he is in pulling opponents into his game and making fights incredibly boring to me lol.

Just to me fighting at it's core is about putting yourself at risk to try and hurt someone, to Aljo fighting is about trying to win so he can get a paycheck. It is prize-fighting after all, so he is doing what he has to do to get that prize, it's just ironically counter-intuitive to what a fight is really about in my opinion.

But again, I know that's just me and my sick need to see competitive violence.

All good. Again, we draw the line in different places. I am respectfully going to continue to use the term "mauling" to describe what Aljo did to Kattar in Round 3, I hope you'll forgive me Sherbro Like I said, for me it's the totality of circumstances within those five minutes. Much like no one can agree what constitutes a "robbery" versus a "close fight", I think this is just one point we can safely agree to disagree on.

Tomato, Tomahto, all good Sherbro, you have more than earned the right to use whatever terminology you like.

These things operate on a subjective spectrum of interpretation as well, I would just think there would be a closer border on some of them.

I mean was Carlos Leal "robbed" vs Rinat, or was that a "close fight"? I think it's a clear robbery, over 50% of people on MMADecisions gave it to Leal 30-27 but apparently because 20% or less (1 in 5 fans) think Rinat won it's a "close fight." So even when there is an incredibly drastic difference in the subjective metrics the minority side always frames things in their favor, despite the overwhelming data that says otherwise.

That's just the fight game I suppose though, we see what we want to see - maybe it's a reflection of our own psychosis or some sub-conscious shit.

Thanks for the discussion, always a pleasure to read your posts.

 

[Safton]

Yeah I don't trust the UFC stats, I trust my eyes, which is why I re-watched that round a few times and have conclusively decided he in no way, shape or form was at the level of "mauling" but that's a subjective interpretation I suppose.

I'm not comparing him to Lopes or Ortega, I'm just saying that's the type of submission grappling I find exciting and entertaining, where they are willing to risk losing position to get a submission. Aljo is so risk-averse he would never consider such a thing, which is a good strategy for a risk-averse safe fighter, it's just not nearly as entertaining (which isn't really debatable).

Merab isn't a submission fighter, he has shit control and even his GnP is pretty weak just like Aljo, he's a pace fighter that breaks guys by making them work endlessly and exhausting them to wanting to give up. He's ultimately taking a a lot more chance than Aljo through this methodology, though I don't find it to be the most violent style at least it's uniquely offensive and he is constantly working.

I would also consider guys like Lopes/Ortega/Oliveira/etc. nominally more entertaining as a rule, but I also have a general respect for the fight IQ of guys like Aljo, Demian Maia, Beneil Dariush, etc. who value control and keeping the fight in their wheelhouse over risky transitions. After all, it's a contextual fine line between "taking risks for our collective entertainment" and outright recklessness. I think there's room to appreciate both styles and I've got a soft spot for plenty of representatives of both schools of grappling.

I was using Merab as an example of a fighter who is around the same weight class and is more or less a "pure wrestler" with effectively no real top game attacks unlike the others. If I was willing to move up in weight I could use someone like Malkoun or Maximov, both of which make Aljo look like the most violent man alive lmao. In other words, the point I'm trying to make is that Aljo exists somewhere on the spectrum between "submission ace who fucks people up on the mats given half a chance" and "pure wrestling wet blanket". If you said he was closer to the latter than the former, I wouldn't argue with you.

I never said it wasn't fighting, I said:

"It's not a fun way to fight ultimately, it's a turning a fight into an exercise in self-defense, not a combat spectacle."

Maybe that's hyperbole, but I think the core argument behind it is true.

Either way you're arguing that Aljo is basically turning a fight into something that is not a fight (in this case a "self-defense exercise"), which I don't really agree with. I guess the "combat spectacle" bit is subjective, but as I've said I agree it's not the most fan-friendly form of fighting.

I agree there is a place in the sport for them, I never advocated kicking him out of the UFC or even said anything close to "he's a bad fighter" - I just don't like what the result of his approach turns fights into, which is typically an exercise in avoiding damage to control someone, which makes them hesitant to attack because they don't want to be controlled. That's why I call it "negative" fighting style, because it reduces both fighters output dramatically when you are forced to deal with someone who uses that style effectively.

I wish that knees to a grounded opponent were legal because it would make his style far more risky and force him to accept that there are consequences for getting sprawled on other than flopping to his back or holding a leg knowing his opponent won't' follow him to guard or be able to land real GnP from that position.

I know. I'm not accusing you of doing so, I'm just offering more of my reasons for why I personally enjoy Aljamain's approach to fighting (or self-defending ). It is very neat to me that he is consistently able to force other professional fighters at a high level to second-guess themselves in this way and thus nullify what they have to offer. These are good guys who would gladly knock his block off given half a chance (and some have) and yet he is frequently able to use his natural gifts and good gameplanning to tip-tap them at range like it's a point karate match or take them down and hold them down at will... I don't know, there's just something equal parts funny and intriguing to me in that even if it's not the same as watching Trevor Peek march forward and punch someone into the third row.

I actually agree about grounded knees. Shit I think even the upcoming change about posted hands IRT knees and 12-6 elbows alone will at least give him some degree of pause... and I think they are moving the sport in the right direction.

I did want to know why you were a fan and you made your points clearly and concisely, they are literally undebatable because it's about subjective preference to what is ultimate an entertainment product.

There is even a part of me that enjoys hate-watching him fight, because he always surprises me by how effective he is in pulling opponents into his game and making fights incredibly boring to me lol.

Just to me fighting at it's core is about putting yourself at risk to try and hurt someone, to Aljo fighting is about trying to win so he can get a paycheck. It is prize-fighting after all, so he is doing what he has to do to get that prize, it's just ironically counter-intuitive to what a fight is really about in my opinion.

This is all very fair. For what it's worth I think Aljamain himself thrives on the negative attention as much as the positive and is self-aware in that regard. Like you, I have a certain place in my heart for fighters who are willing to go out on their shield with a kill-or-be-killed mentality each and every time they step in the cage... but they're not my sole interest within the sport. Like I said before, I have different tastes and point-fighting risk-averse grinders like Aljo fulfill some while risk-takers hit the spot other times. I just recognize that prize-fighting -- no matter the specific discipline -- will inherently encourage a large number of athletes to do the maximum amount that they can whilst receiving the minimum amount of long-term damage. Boxing has had its fair share of greats who understood and excelled at this, many of which in turn had adoring fans and critics for their defensive-minded styles.

But again, I know that's just me and my sick need to see competitive violence.

Tomato, Tomahto, all good Sherbro, you have more than earned the right to use whatever terminology you like.

These things operate on a subjective spectrum of interpretation as well, I would just think there would be a closer border on some of them.

I mean was Carlos Leal "robbed" vs Rinat, or was that a "close fight"? I think it's a clear robbery, over 50% of people on MMADecisions gave it to Leal 30-27 but apparently because 20% or less (1 in 5 fans) think Rinat won it's a "close fight." So even when there is an incredibly drastic difference in the subjective metrics the minority side always frames things in their favor, despite the overwhelming data that says otherwise.

That's just the fight game I suppose though, we see what we want to see - maybe it's a reflection of our own psychosis or some sub-conscious shit.

Thanks for the discussion, always a pleasure to read your posts.

Nothing sick about it. That's what you're there to see. That's what we "pay" for at the end of the day. It's fine to feel gipped when an athlete looks like they're phoning it in or are otherwise disinterested in hurting the other guy. I get it. That's not how I see it, but I get it.

Oh don't get me wrong. Carlos Leal was 100% robbed if you ask me. But to this day you get heated arguments over fights like Yan/O'Malley, GSP/Hendricks, Condit/Diaz, Griffin vs. Rampage, Jones vs. Reyes, etc. Were those blatant highway robberies? Or were they close fights open to interpretation? I have my own opinions about them -- at least some of them -- but just putting them out there as food for thought to make my point. Fans will argue if a fight was a robbery, other fans will argue "No it was just a close fight; close & competitive fights can't be robberies" and then the first fan will say "Close fights can still have clear winner and be robberies!" and the whole thing devolves into drivel from there. I've seen it happen I dunno how many times at this point.

Indeed, a pleasure as always!

 

[pick999]

Aljo chin is gone he won't be able to take 1 punch from a power puncher

 

[BEATDOWNS]

Aljo already the BMF - Boring Mother Fucker..


hard pass.

 

[chinarice]

Nobody has any thoughts/opiions on who Merab would side with - his countrymen Illia or his "brother he won't fight" Aljo?

Heel turn on aljo incoming.

 

[chillyoo]

I think he’s totally in the right to think that way. Ilia’s ground game isn’t the same level imo. Aljo is slick he’d dominate and control.

But Aljo doesn’t have good TD’s and he likely couldn’t get Ilia down without a trip or some type of scramble. without the TD he’s toast.

 

[KamalaForever]

Aljo would probably get sumbitted on the grounf. He won't be ab;e to just hang on to Ilia like a knapsack.