Ankalaev fanbase

[mkess101]

To each their own I guess but in my opinion Ankalaev is definitely a more entertaining fighter than Merab.

I can't fathom that. I'll take a nonstop ball of energy that has some showmanship and does something nobody else is capable of. Ank is really, REALLY good. There's absolutely no denying it. But he's completely reliant on his opponent being aggressive for anything of note to happen in his fights. I almost fell asleep in the Rakic fight. And I was in public so would've been embarrassing haha.

But yes, it definitely is a matter of perspective.

 

[Cheese_&_mma_lover]

Damn right, i'm a huge fan. He mentally broke and froze Poatan for 5 rounds. the scariest striker in UFC history completely frozen and helpless.

imagine if Poatan gets frozen again. that would be 50 straight minutes of cage time frozen. what happens to a man psychologically after that???....

 

[HHJ]

Well, if Ankalaev loses the rematch, will their fanbase stick along strongly supporting him?

Fuck em if they jump ship. Those aren't real fans.

 

[HHJ]

I can't fathom that. I'll take a nonstop ball of energy that has some showmanship and does something nobody else is capable of. Ank is really, REALLY good. There's absolutely no denying it. But he's completely reliant on his opponent being aggressive for anything of note to happen in his fights. I almost fell asleep in the Rakic fight. And I was in public so would've been embarrassing haha.

But yes, it definitely is a matter of perspective.

Rakic has to take the blame for the running the whole fight.

 

[BEATDOWNS]

Stop making threads, you moron.

everyday rustling

 

[Luthien]

Rakic has to take the blame for the running the whole fight.

True

 

[richardjohnson]

I can't fathom that. I'll take a nonstop ball of energy that has some showmanship and does something nobody else is capable of. Ank is really, REALLY good. There's absolutely no denying it. But he's completely reliant on his opponent being aggressive for anything of note to happen in his fights. I almost fell asleep in the Rakic fight. And I was in public so would've been embarrassing haha.

But yes, it definitely is a matter of perspective.

I don’t want to turn this into me just shitting on Merab because what he does is impresssive and effective but I say that because Merab is pretty much the definition of a decision machine. He’s only finished two fights in the UFC, and personally I don’t think him kissing his opponents adds any entertainment. I think recency bias is playing a pretty big role here, it wasn’t too long that literally everyone called Merab boring, and it’s not like anything has really changed.

 

[JBJ was here]

I don’t want to turn this into me just shitting on Merab because what he does is impresssive and effective but I say that because Merab is pretty much the definition of a decision machine. He’s only finished two fights in the UFC, and personally I don’t think him kissing his opponents adds any entertainment. I think recency bias is playing a pretty big role here, it wasn’t too long that literally everyone called Merab boring, and it’s not like anything has really changed.

I've always thought that Merab's really fun to watch for a decision machine. He's always working to improve position or inflict damage even if he's not working to inflict enough damage to finish the fight. You may not get a lot of the best highlights and exciting moments from him, but when he's fighting you can count on a solid 7/10 fight or so rather than a mandatory bathroom break.

 

[mkess101]

I don’t want to turn this into me just shitting on Merab because what he does is impresssive and effective but I say that because Merab is pretty much the definition of a decision machine. He’s only finished two fights in the UFC, and personally I don’t think him kissing his opponents adds any entertainment. I think recency bias is playing a pretty big role here, it wasn’t too long that literally everyone called Merab boring, and it’s not like anything has really changed.

For sure mostly decisions with him but that tends to be more true at lower weight classes in general. Maybe more so with him...but at LHW where we tend to see more finishes we have the best LHW pn earth that's finished 2 of his last 9 fights. And his decision wins are pretty low output snoozers.

 

[Luthien]

anyone that isn’t Jiri or Alex

 

[StanTheMan]

Big Ank Time

 

[Strijfy]

My question is what did Ankalaev do to piss so many of you off? Is it just the fact that he beat Pereira?

well thats simply because hes a Dagistani Muslim

 

[Fahcough]

Don't remember any of his fights and look forward to none in the future

 

[Skarsgard]

Damn right, i'm a huge fan. He mentally broke and froze Poatan for 5 rounds. the scariest striker in UFC history completely frozen and helpless.

imagine if Poatan gets frozen again. that would be 50 straight minutes of cage time frozen. what happens to a man psychologically after that???....

If they have a rerun of the last fight, Dana will probably just strip whoever wins.

 

[Luffy]

I mean, I expected his fanbase to be a lot bigger actually... I have nothing against Dagestani fighters. Yeah I rooted for Volk, I'd root for Topuria vs Islam, I'll root for Pereira in the rematch. That doesn't mean I dislike them. Like, I rooted for Khabib vs Connor because McGregor was just annoying AF with those stupid call outs and trash talk. I mean, I don't even know if I'd root for Illia Topuria vs Islam, I'd likely be inclined to root for Islam because I've been used to him as a champion more, I've watched him more, he has been a long time UFC fight. I wouldn't root for Topuria actually.

But Ankalaev tho, I'm not saying he has too many fans, I'm actually surprised how he isn't overflowing with fans despite being the champion of the premiere division of UFC ... Maybe because he doesn't speak English? I think that may be it. Islam Makhachev has a lot of interviews with DC, behind the scene funny videos, cool statements in English. Ankalaev is the silent type who doesn't speak English, doesn't do media, but has a huuuge personality on X (fuck anyone who tells me that's Ali, that's his account so it's him ). Alex Pereira is like him, Ankalaev even said he likes Pereira's attitude, that he is very professional. Pereira became a superstar but he prefers staying quietly training and appearing when it's time to fight. All stars are quiet tho, we see nothing from Khamzat, DDP, JJ, Tom... Only superstar who fought most recently was Alex Pereira but then when he lost every star went quiet.

Alex and Ankalaev had agreed to fight in August... Alex Pereira said he had said yes for August... They put it to October because the UFC chooses the dates, not the athletes. We are seeing a lot of action but all stars are quiet, no one calls each other. I think mainly, Alex Pereira, Ankalaev are the most actives as Alex is accepting the rematch,mis calling out for HW as well, Ankalaev said he wants Alex a lot, but that he can fight Alex later if Alex goes to HW, calling Jiri... Jiri is also calling out Ankalaev. Otherwise, we see the stars quiet, all .....

 

[Luffy]

If they have a rerun of the last fight, Dana will probably just strip whoever wins.

The fight wasn't bad at all though. It was high level. But the fanbase thinks high level fights are those in which the fighters are punching each other , bleeding and "fuck my defense". The fact it was a chess play shows they're elite. They won't run unnecessary risks. Many instances, they'd hesitate because they realized it was a feint, so they didn't bite ... When elite fighters fight, many times fans see those fights as boring. If you have 2 random guys who know nothing about fighting fight, you all will find entertaining AF.

If someone is clearly levels ahead, it will be "entertaining " in a way because it'll be a domination. Many times when they are elite and equally matched, fans find boring precisely because they are elite and equally matched fighters, meaning they won't throw caution to the window and go to do or die... They aren't fools. For me, it was a better fight than Jiri vs Hill for sure. Fans confuse entertaining with good... I think Alex is still slightly better though because the fight was close and he had Norovirus, which takes a toll on the body... A fresh Pereira, I think it'd be a better fight and Pereira would turn the script, getting a 3-2 as I see him as slightly better in general, even if he isn't totally well rounded. I think the fight will be still a chess play because they are elite, but both improved, though mostly Pereira as he was sick in that day... I see it as a JJ vs DC 1 type of fight, but closer. That fight was 4-1, I'd see 100% Pereira as a 3-2 in a slight edge overall against Ankalaev.

I think the new guys from LHW, specially the elite with Alex Pereira and Ankalaev, as potentially capable of beating any fighter in the roster. In a top 5 "can beat anyone", I'd put Pereira, JJ, Ankalaev, DDP and Tom Aspinall in the top 5, in this order..

Alex Pereira — 10
JJ — 10
DDP — 10
Ankalaev — 9.5
Tom Aspinall — 9.5
Jiri Prochazka — 9
Khalil Rountree — 9
Hill — 8.5
Cyril Gane — 8.5


The first 5 though, they can beat anyone in their best day... Not DDP likely because I think Pereira and Tom might be too big for him, Pereira is 240-ish, Tom is 250 lbs ... And they can move naturally at that weight, as it's their best weight. If Pereira fights in LHW tho, then I think he and Dricus are 50/50, as well

 

[omawho402]

Big Ank is the man. I predicted him to beat Alex and people thought I was nuts. Still picking him in the rematch, but it's not as confident a pick this time.

 

[Ramon Antonio]

Don't remember any of his fights and look forward to none in the future

I do remember him giving up with 1 second on the clock against Craig.

 

[Tokoloko]

My question is what did Ankalaev do to piss so many of you off? Is it just the fact that he beat Pereira?

He is fake person with boring fightstyle which cant even speak for himself, and people who speak for him like to lie...

For example he shouldn't "lick" Jiri's ass and act as nice and humble person in Xtreme couture when he later wants to start bs on social media. Also its funny when member of his team in "private circles" talk how Jiri is unpredicatble fighter and they dont want this matchup and then Ankalaev on social media start blast how Jiri is "fake ninja", "fraud", "terrible fighter" so is not worth of fighting, etc...

He literally reminds me of Rakic's attitude before he lost to Jiri, but 100x worse due to ignorance of Ankalaev fans which will "eat" anything what comes from Ali or Ankalaev...

 

[RockyLockridge]

To each their own I guess but in my opinion Ankalaev is definitely a more entertaining fighter than Merab.

Crazy. Merab is one of the highest paced fighters in the ufc