Media Merab Dvalishvili talks Umar, targets return in March: "I need 6 months" off

[moosaev]

Don’t know how you fish, you Moron, but cast and reel, and lifting the net bag can be quite fatiguing and heavy on your arms and wrists even with smaller catch. Carpal tunnel syndrome is common among recreational fishermen.

Having a tendon injury doesn't necessarily mean you're wearing a cast you dipshit. Islam hasn't been wearing a cast, moot argument.

 

[Conan the K-9]

Having a tendon injury doesn't necessarily mean you're wearing a cast you dipshit. Islam hasn't been wearing a cast, moot argument.

He was wearing a brace, you dipshit and obviously faking his injury because he was riding dirt bikes a few days later.

 

[svmr_db]

Does Fig beating Yan potentially put him above Umar?

Perhaps briefly until Umar wins vs Song Yadong a few weeks later. Umar will get the first offer for the title fight unless he turns it down due to Ramadan.

I suppose the Yan vs Figgy winner could get the next title shot if Merab gets his way and he defends his title in March.

 

[Goutfather]

Does Fig beating Yan potentially put him above Umar?

that would be 4 quality wins in less than a year—3 of them ranked, 2 of them former champs. yeah i’d say that seals it.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

Does Fig beating Yan potentially put him above Umar?

If he smokes Yan (unlikely but possible) with like a first round sub it makes sense to leap frog Umar since you could then book him in March (or vice-versa if Yan sleeps Figgy immediately he’d be in a similar position).

In all likelihood though it’s a 5 round war and neither guy can realistically fight in March, in which case if Umar runs through Song they might as well just book that in May since that’s where the hype is at the moment.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Perhaps briefly until Umar wins vs Song Yadong a few weeks later. Umar will get the first offer for the title fight unless he turns it down due to Ramadan.

I suppose the Yan vs Figgy winner could get the next title shot if Merab gets his way and he defends his title in March.

I mean, people are vaulting Umar up there based purely on his single Sandhagen win.

But surely Yan > Sandhagen, yeah? And Yan just beat Yadong? So that just kinda knocks Umar, I'd think

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

I mean, people are vaulting Umar up there based purely on his single Sandhagen win.

But surely Yan > Sandhagen, yeah? And Yan just beat Yadong? So that just kinda knocks Umar, I'd think

Problem is the memory of Yan getting wrestle-fucked by Merab for 5 rounds is still relatively fresh - no one cares that Yan severely injured his leg 10 seconds in because he decided to fight with an injury, it is what it is, so he needs an incredible highlight/beating of Figgy to take that spot.

 

[svmr_db]

I mean, people are vaulting Umar up there based purely on his single Sandhagen win.

But surely Yan > Sandhagen, yeah? And Yan just beat Yadong? So that just kinda knocks Umar, I'd think

Well Yan's stock dropped after 3 straight losses. I think he'd be right behind Umar in meritocracy for a title shot though if he beats Figgy.

I would say Umar has a better win over Sandhagen than Yan. Yan's was higher profile sure in that it was for the interim title, but Sandhagen did take that fight on short notice stepping in for Sterling.

 

[Tweak896]

There was really no one else for Suga to fight but Merab, everyone behind him was booked or coming off a loss and Merab had his 10-fight win streak plus beating Cejudo who had just lost the close decision to Aljo prior.

We had to wait 8 months after the Aljo fight (second round KO where he took no damage, though I know he said he had a rib injury) for the Vera rematch, then another 7 months for the Merab fight (didn't take much damage in the Vera fight except for the body shot at the very end of the fight). Saying he "immediately went for Merab" is definitely some hyperbole, he didn't duck him but he didn't rush to fight him ASAP either.

Woodley defended the belt 3 times in a year, Izzy defended the belt 3 times in a year, Poatan defended the belt 3 times in a year - a lot of these other champs are doing less then twice a year asking for 7-9+ months in between fights and are usually not getting surgery or anything that would justify such long layoffs.

I mean if we want to be honest about Suga he never deserved the title fight in the first place - he got gifted a decision against Yan to leap-frog him like 10 places up the rankings. Then they pressured Aljo to fight on short-notice with an injury in Boston of all places (Suga got a 10-month break from the Yan fight, Aljo got a 4 month break from Cejudo which was a 5 round fight), then he gets to fight a non-top 5 ranked Chito who was coming off a close decision win against Pedro Munhoz of all people (the guy who got a NC with Suga after winning the first round because of Suga eye-pokes).

It all really just leaves a bad taste in your mouth in hindsight - really shows you how the UFC loves to put their thumbs on the scale to manipulate the fight scenarios to the best of their abilities to heavily favor certain outcomes.

I didn't look up how long it was for each fight, just remembered his responses. That is a ton of time in between. I hate that. The crazy part about champs taking 7 months for each fight, is there is 14 month stretch of time where they have only fought 1 time. It's beyond ridiculous what champs do now.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

I didn't look up how long it was for each fight, just remembered his responses. That is a ton of time in between. I hate that. The crazy part about champs taking 7 months for each fight, is there is 14 month stretch of time where they have only fought 1 time. It's beyond ridiculous what champs do now.

They make a lot of money from endorsements/sponsorships/seminars while being champ, so they mostly like to manipulate the bookings to their favor with max rest for them/minimal rest for opponents to maximize earning potential since you earn the most as champ and it’s a tenuous position.

That’s part of the reason a lot of us want to see fighters get paid better at the lower level, they are literally encouraged to rank squat and fight duck because it’s financially the right move, which in that framing is inarguable.

 

[The Blue Bird]

Fuck it duck it

 

[Pechan]

I love how all the champs have to accommodate to the dumb ass fast these religiontards do

 

[moosaev]

that would be 4 quality wins in less than a year—3 of them ranked, 2 of them former champs. yeah i’d say that seals it.

Washed Cody Garbrandt is a quality win? Loooool. The contortions you guys make to justify nonsense arguments is hilarious.

 

[Tweak896]

They make a lot of money from endorsements/sponsorships/seminars while being champ, so they mostly like to manipulate the bookings to their favor with max rest for them/minimal rest for opponents to maximize earning potential since you earn the most as champ and it’s a tenuous position.

That’s part of the reason a lot of us want to see fighters get paid better at the lower level, they are literally encouraged to rank squat and fight duck because it’s financially the right move, which in that framing is inarguable.

I get it, like it makes sense to only accept fights as champ with the weakest opponents and wait long in between defenses. However as a fan it blows to forget some fighters are even on the roster. There has to be some middle ground where UFC pays out big when you stay active. A fighter that fights 3x a year makes 3x as much money.

ESPN motivates UFC to put together cards week after week. UFC should put in place the same motivation to try and get all the top fighters to do 3 fights a year.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

I get it, like it makes sense to only accept fights as champ with the weakest opponents and wait long in between defenses. However as a fan it blows to forget some fighters are even on the roster. There has to be some middle ground where UFC pays out big when you stay active. A fighter that fights 3x a year makes 3x as much money.

ESPN motivates UFC to put together cards week after week. UFC should put in place the same motivation to try and get all the top fighters to do 3 fights a year.

The problem is that if they lose once they make so much less and lose all leverage.

As champ they might be making a couple million per fight, plus they have huge visibility so are making 100K+ in monthly sponsorships, get big endorsement deals, can do appearances or seminars and make a quick 50 G's for a few hours of their time.

Then they lose once and they are back to making like $250K to show/$250K to win or $400K guaranteed and those sponsorships/endorsements/appearance/seminar fees go down drastically as well. So it's all a calculated gamble at that point, you are fighting the best of the best that are all jockeying for your spot and building games specifically designed to beat you.

I hate it as a fan because I want to see the best fight the best as often as possible, but by being greedy shit-bags that keep all the money for management/investors the UFC has literally created this by-product by design.

What do they care if they are selling cut-up baby powder as pure columbian marching powder if they can convince morons to keep snorting the shit?

 

[Goutfather]

Washed Cody Garbrandt is a quality win? Loooool. The contortions you guys make to justify nonsense arguments is hilarious.

gee, maybe he should have fought nobodyzat neverheardofhimadov from whereistan. much better than a former champ on a 2-win streak.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

Washed Cody Garbrandt is a quality win? Loooool. The contortions you guys make to justify nonsense arguments is hilarious.

Exactly.

Getting a decision win over a semi-washed Rob Font (35 year-old BW who was 1-3 in his last 4 and is 17 fights into a 10-year UFC career) is considered a "top win" - it's a good win, but it's not an elite win.

Getting tooled on the feet for a round by a semi-washed Garbrantd (3-5 in his last 8 with the two most recent wins being decisioning Trevin Jones, where he got hurt and was panic-wrestling, and KO’ing completely shot and chinny Brian Kelleher who fought him like a moron) and then subbing him is considered a "top win" because he's a former champ - it's a good win still because of how impressive Figgy's grappling looked, but again, not an elite win.

The best of the lot is the Vera win, but he was never considered truly elite, got gifted a title shot against Suga and ate like 200+ strikes. That fight was 1-1 going into the 3rd round with Vera seeming to have the momentum until Figgy hurt him bad - again, a good win, impressive to drop him and fight with a smart gameplan, but it's not an elite win.

People love to cherry-pick context i.e. "former champ" or "former contender" without taking into account how long ago they were champ (for Garbrandt it was 6 years ago) or how they got to be a contender (a very close decision Vera could've lost to gatekeeper Pedro Munhoz).

That's just the fight game though, people see what they wanna see, as our boy Max would say....

 

[The Siege]

I mean of course, you guys would rather see fights that're complete ass just to trigger people, you're literally bragging about a self own lol. Enjoy O'Malley vs Merab 2!

After reading post after post where these posters are publicly gameplanning how their favorite fighter can use Ramadan to avoid the Dagi fighters, I have to start questioning whether they have tied too much of their self-worth to the outcomes of these fights.

Its one thing to be a fan, but to be so personally affected that you would argue against the core value of MMA (the best fight the best) is not healthy.

 

[richardjohnson]

I mean of course, you guys would rather see fights that're complete ass just to trigger people, you're literally bragging about a self own lol. Enjoy O'Malley vs Merab 2!

I wouldn’t worry about that fella, based on his username I’m assuming he’s French Canadian.. AKA the red headed step children of Canada. No one likes them.

 

[Mike]

Another new champ just ducking people. And nobody even likes this guy ffs.

Strip him.