Merab vs Sean breakdown

[Shay Brennan]

This has to be his the best pure striker vs grappler matchup in a long time.

Initially, when the matchup was announced, I had Merab winning but now I'm leaning more towards Sean.

If the fight goes to a decision I have to go with Merab with his insane cardio and relentless wrestling.
But if the fight ends early I'm picking Sean. I just can't see Merab finishing at all. The only time he did finish a fight was a against washed Moraes.

Also, the big reason why I'm picking Sean now is the Moraes fight for Merab and Vera fight for Sean.
Moraes was able to hurt and wobble him bad which goes to show that his chin ain't that good.
Sean is 10 times better better boxer than Moraes and has shown in his last fight that he has the best footwork in the division and also that was the second time he rocked a good fighter with a knee.


The lack of top control for Merab and the fact that all rounds begin on feet means that Sean will have dozens of opportunities to snipe him with his deadly cross or set him up with a knee.
Also Merab doesn't pose any major submission threat for Sean, meaning he won't have to be worrying about that while getting up.

One reason Petr had so much grappling success against Sean was due to his striking threat, something Merab just doesn't have.

My pick is Sean by cross TKO round 1.

What is your breakdown and who do you have winning ?

 

[ninja boot]

Personally I think O'Malley is going to annihilate Merab.
Same plan as usual. Feints followed by diverse striking that keeps Merab frozen leading to combinations and an end in under 5 rounds.

 

[ArtardFiesta]

merab has to be real conservative to win this. patient and hold him against the cage.

cejudo is right about using a belal esque strategy.

imagine if the belal gameplan catches on in the other divisions lol. sandhagen has been kind of doing it as well.

you have aljo at 145. phantasia at 125 already does it. maybe ddp does it against izzy. maybe ank does it against poatan.

dana is going to have a heart attack

 

[Uber_Noober]

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Probably looks like the classic Diaz vs Wrestler. Sean gets wrestled for 4.5 rounds and almost gets the finish in the last 30 seconds... starting the meme Sean 5 ,5 , 5 or Sean wins in a 7 round fight.

 

[KO Shotz]

Love me some Chito, but Merab isn't like Chito. I think everyone really started to think Suga was untouchable after the most recent Chito fight, but Merab will apply different pressure & has better grappling & ground game than Chito. Suga definitely has a chance of dropping Merab early or at any point in the fight, but if Merab gets a hold of him Suga will have an awful night.

It's going to be a very interesting fight.