Media Merab Opens As MASSIVE Underdog vs Umar

[MarioLemieux]

Even as an Umar fan I agree the odds should be a lot closer.

Merab making himself look like a huge chicken through the whole buiildup is probably the reason though, when fighters act like that they almost always lose.

 

[BowserJr]

That's pretty crazy.

Has this ever happened to a champ who's been on such a dominant run?

(run is dominant and he is now champ)

Could it be that it's cuz he seems very worried about the match up?

 

[mister piscadinha]

it will be funny when merab wins

 

[mister piscadinha]

Umar couldn't get anywhere near putting Sandhagen away, and that was a stylistically favorable matchup for him. His fight before that, he couldn't put away Bekzat making his UFC debut, a guy coming in from a regional org.

In 6 UFC fights Umar has put away 3 guys, and they are all middling un-ranked fighters of no note. One of them is a prestigious 8-9 in the UFC.

Merab is on an 11 fight UFC win streak and he's fought 4 consecutive world champions in a row now (Aldo, Yan, Cedjuo, O'Malley) and made them all look like easy fights.

No doubt Umar has a very real chance of winning, but there is nothing in either mans history that suggests he puts Merab away in 3 rounds?

umar best win is a staring contest against cory, a guy aljo finished in 20 seconds

if he had a different surname, nobody would pick him to beat merab based on body of work

i think people will be surprised

merab has faced nothing but beasts

 

[svmr_db]

umar best win is a staring contest against cory, a guy aljo finished in 20 seconds

if he had a different surname, nobody would pick him to beat merab based on body of work

i think people will be surprised

merab has faced nothing but beasts

Cory was the same fighter in 2020 that he was in 2024?

 

[GluttonforPunishment]

Water is wet. Did you not see the build up? Umar is better in all categories.

 

[mister piscadinha]

Cory was the same fighter in 2020 that he was in 2024?

i dont think so
i also dont think that merab would struggle to outgrapple him like umar did

 

[asdf122345]

Nobody on Khabib team is losing. The aura is so powerful.

 

[svmr_db]

That's pretty crazy.

Has this ever happened to a champ who's been on such a dominant run?

(run is dominant and he is now champ)

Well as others mentioned Charles Oliveira was on an 11 fight win streak and the undisputed champion but still a +150 ish underdog when he had to fight Islam Makhachev. Similar thing here.

 

[DoctorStoppage]

Merab is shouting and swinging at his computer screen as we type

Swinging? More like he’s probably holding his computer screen against the fence for 25 minutes

 

[TITS]

Merab will wipe the floor with Umar if they fight

Don’t mistake Merab’s humility as him being afraid of the Umar matchup. He knows he would wipe the floor with him. He just doesn’t think it’s fair that he had to fight Moraes, Aldo, Yan, Cejudo and O’Malley to win the title whereas Umar has only beaten Sandhagen and now he gets a shot. There’s...

forums.sherdog.com

 

[Superzorro]

I'm rooting for Merab but I doubt he wins.

 

[BowserJr]

Well as others mentioned Charles Oliveira was on an 11 fight win streak and the undisputed champion but still a +150 ish underdog when he had to fight Islam Makhachev. Similar thing here.

Similar but he seemed beatable. Merab has been on an unbeatable run

 

[Preston broadus]

Merab has to win 3 rounds. Umar can finish him at anytime with a variety of techniques. Judging by how omalley found his weak spot at the end of their fight, I wouldn't be surprised if Umar went straight towards poking merab in the gut with his foot right away.

 

[ejazahmednit]

Merab is a weird cookie
I think he will be a strong champion
Umar will be a tough challenge but Merab is no pushover

 

[Jinx_AA]

Umar couldn't get anywhere near putting Sandhagen away, and that was a stylistically favorable matchup for him. His fight before that, he couldn't put away Bekzat making his UFC debut, a guy coming in from a regional org.

In 6 UFC fights Umar has put away 3 guys, and they are all middling un-ranked fighters of no note. One of them is a prestigious 8-9 in the UFC.

Merab is on an 11 fight UFC win streak and he's fought 4 consecutive world champions in a row now (Aldo, Yan, Cedjuo, O'Malley) and made them all look like easy fights.

No doubt Umar has a very real chance of winning, but there is nothing in either mans history that suggests he puts Merab away in 3 rounds?

Styles make fights … I think he keeps the fight standing and merab is very chinny

Sandhagen is very durable

Merab will get tkod in one way traffic I think personally

 

[Portland8242]

So hypothetically, if Merab does find an early takedown, is the legendary Nurmogomedov grappling very proven defensively? These guys rarely fight guys who shoot on them.

I don't doubt Umar's got good cardio but if you grapple hard with Merab a couple rounds the going gets very tough regardless of your skills.

He had to fight O'Malley a lot differently cause he was very aware he may get sniped on the feet but Umar doesn't really have that same skillset on the feet.

 

[Rataria]

This is silly. Merab is gonna make Umars skills account for much less than all the other competition Umar has faced.

 

[Iroh]

Serra was +370 against a -440 in the GSP rematch.

I wonder what the odds would be for Khamzat vs Alex.

 

[SalvadorAllende]

I'm not gambling these days but I thought he wuold be +150 at most.

I do favor Umar.