Media GIF Why Sandhagen is a legitimate threat to Merab

[hbombbisping]

Sanghagen is not a power puncher in the traditional sense, but if you are a little guy and keep coming in on him he's good at swatting flies if you will. He has great timing and range.

How long before he catches Merab on the way in?

Judging by how many takedowns Merab attempts in a fight because his top control is weak, Corey will have many chances to play knee knee pinata on Merab's chin. He's not the favourite, but if anyone will pick off Merab like a fly it's Corey.

 

[Staph infection]

Sandhagen landing a sloppy jumping knee on old man Edgar is not the strong evidence you think it is.

 

[hbombbisping]

 

[mkess101]

People who think Corey's only chance is landing a big strike that hurts Merab are in for a surprise imo. Corey is legit gonna make this very competitive. He doesn't tire or fade, massively improved grappling, diverse striking. High fight IQ and always looking to improve.

 

[hbombbisping]

Merab really does stand a good chance of getting chinned but I guess we'll see.

 

[Islam Imamate]

Sandhagen landing a sloppy jumping knee on old man Edgar is not the strong evidence you think it is.

If all he had were hail Mary flying knees I'd agree with you, Jeremy Stephens has a flying knee KO against Bermudez who is a wrestler but I don't think he's necessarily the best at countering wrestlers.

The exchange that gives me more confidence in Cory is this one with TJ where he throws the flying knee, misses, but then immediately goes into an inverted triangle


Notice he rolls for a leg lock right after too. Not saying he beats Merab necessarily but I think he makes Merab work for it more than O'Malley did.

 

[XThe GreatestX]

Corey’s problem is the same problem condit had back in the day. good off his back but not otherworldly. no takedown defense

 

[hbombbisping]

Corey’s problem is the same problem condit had back in the day. good off his back but not otherworldly. no takedown defense

Corey is a good grappler, he'll get up many times, and Merab has weak top control, he is good at spamming takedowns but he rarely does anything with them. He will have to spam many td's, he's short, Corey is the man to catch him on the way in.

 

[ElLunico]

Yeah except this dude fights scared and is extremely defensive now. Takes zero risk.

 

[Islam Imamate]

Corey’s problem is the same problem condit had back in the day. good off his back but not otherworldly. no takedown defense

Imo Cory is a much smarter grappler. Condit's idea of guard play is throwing up submissions that don't work and when he did accept that this isn't enough instead of integrating his submissions into his anti-wrestling he just tried to stuff takedowns terribly. His strategy against Maia was to get to full guard and throw elbows ffs which is hilarious because he got taken down straight into half guard and was never able to implement it and instead got steamrolled. I don't like being a Condit hater but he was insanely overrated because he was exciting and had legendary fights but he got more opportunities than he deserved because of his exciting style.

Cory understands the importance of establishing a catch to control and threaten the top player. Notice in the clip I posted above before he loses the triangle he's already setting up the leg lock. He's throwing up submissions that allow him to control TJ and which, for TJ to escape, he might create space or turn away which creates the opportunity to stand up.

 

[rjmbrd]

Sanghagen is not a power puncher in the traditional sense, but if you are a little guy and keep coming in on him he's good at swatting flies if you will. He has great timing and range.

How long before he catches Merab on the way in?

Judging by how many takedowns Merab attempts in a fight because his top control is weak, Corey will have many chances to play knee knee pinata on Merab's chin. He's not the favourite, but if anyone will pick off Merab like a fly it's Corey.

Edgar finished his career:

KO LOSS
KO LOSS
KO LOSS >> you are here
SD WIN
KO LOSS
UD LOSS

Same for those posting Moraes... Corey was the 2nd of 8 guys to KO him over 9 fights. These both make fun GIFS but we don't really have anything like this when Corey is fighting his actual peers.

That isn't to say Corey can't win, I think he's a live dog and one of the most interesting fighters in the sport right now. He's also still improving. I think he's much more likely to win via versatility than one big KO kill shot. Looking forward to this one.

 

[Aurelian]

Imo Cory is a much smarter grappler. Condit's idea of guard play is throwing up submissions that don't work and when he did accept that this isn't enough instead of integrating his submissions into his anti-wrestling he just tried to stuff takedowns terribly. His strategy against Maia was to get to full guard and throw elbows ffs which is hilarious because he got taken down straight into half guard and was never able to implement it and instead got steamrolled. I don't like being a Condit hater but he was insanely overrated because he was exciting and had legendary fights but he got more opportunities than he deserved because of his exciting style.

Cory understands the importance of establishing a catch to control and threaten the top player. Notice in the clip I posted above before he loses the triangle he's already setting up the leg lock. He's throwing up submissions that allow him to control TJ and which, for TJ to escape, he might create space or turn away which creates the opportunity to stand up.

Do you think Cory's grappling is good enough to win rounds? In particular, three of them.

It's possible Cory can have a close and competitive fight, but this I think depends on what a person sees as a close and competitive fight. If he loses every round it's not particular close when looking at the outcome.

I can agree he has a better than average strikers chance at landing a big shot. But winning a decision seems like a far-fetched notion.

 

[hbombbisping]

Do you think Cory's grappling is good enough to win rounds? In particular, three of them.

It's possible Cory can have a close and competitive fight, but this I think depends on what a person sees as a close and competitive fight. If he loses every round it's not particular close when looking at the outcome.

I can agree he has a better than average strikers chance at landing a big shot. But winning a decision seems like a far-fetched notion.

I don't think he wins a decision either. If he wins it will be by knockout and he has a good chance as anybody of getting it done. He will have many opportunities because his grappling is good enough to get a lot of cracks at Merab on the feet.

 

[Aurelian]

I don't think he wins a decision either. If he wins it will be by knockout and he has a good chance as anybody of getting it done. He will have many opportunities because his grappling is good enough to get a lot of cracks at Merab on the feet.

Merab has indeed shown to be susceptible to getting finished by strikes, it's just yet to be done. Cory could do it and I wouldn't be shocked.

 

[Why did you]

he seems too slow for merab and prone to takedown attempts that will happen

 

[Islam Imamate]

Do you think Cory's grappling is good enough to win rounds? In particular, three of them.

It's possible Cory can have a close and competitive fight, but this I think depends on what a person sees as a close and competitive fight. If he loses every round it's not particular close when looking at the outcome.

I can agree he has a better than average strikers chance at landing a big shot. But winning a decision seems like a far-fetched notion.

That's an important point and traditionally when a wrestler fights guy who who threatens submissions and knees so long as he survives and establishes control he can win rounds and thus the fight. TJ even failed to take Cory down most of the time and instead cling to a body lock and still somehow won though of course it was controversial.

So if you're saying Merab should be the favorite I'd agree.

 

[wrb]

Kind of BS to say as the guy has been in the top 5 for a while and what do I know.. BUT: IMO Corey does not hit hard enough which puts him in a noticeable disadvantage when he fights someone in the top 5. Merab is just going to walk through everything like Yan did. If Merab gets nervous when he is on the ground with him, he will just keep letting him up and taking him down like he did with Yan.

 

[Natural Order]

Two of the best gas tanks in the company. Good scrap, rooting for Sandhagen for sure!

 

[Hymen Crusher]

Merab has fought and beat every single guy and style. Yan is a better stand up fighter then Cory. Aldo the list goes on. I mean merab could lose but im expecting him to be a minus 400 favorite for a reason

 

[Staph infection]

If all he had were hail Mary flying knees I'd agree with you, Jeremy Stephens has a flying knee KO against Bermudez who is a wrestler but I don't think he's necessarily the best at countering wrestlers.

The exchange that gives me more confidence in Cory is this one with TJ where he throws the flying knee, misses, but then immediately goes into an inverted triangle


Notice he rolls for a leg lock right after too. Not saying he beats Merab necessarily but I think he makes Merab work for it more than O'Malley did.

Your example is what the OP should have used. As you noted he misses but transitions into submission attempts. I think merab blankets him but Sandhagen is an active guy and is always trying to get the win. At the very least merab will not be able to blanket him. Sandhagen will be active from the bottom when merab takes him down.