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Just rewatched Umar vs Merab and frankly Umar fought like an arrogant newbie. I mean obviously he looked incredibly impressive and announced himself as the real deal but it was very obvious that he went in there thinking he could just outpoint and out finesse Merab instead of trying to contain him and discourage him from building. The only thing that did that for umar was great defensive footwork in the early going and umars blistering handspeed (not something to rely on in a 5 rounder with merab). Regardless, he still did very well and showed himself to be incredibly persistent, fighting well up until the very end despite being dead exhausted. So what could he do differently given that they will no doubt, meet again:
More attritive work. Umar mostly head hunted in this fight. He barely kicked the legs at all and even his choice of bodywork was lacking. Rather than relying on the type of stabbing bodywork that will better discourage your opponent from moving into you, Umar mostly used roundkicks to attack the body and the way he went about it made them more point scorers than serious attritive weapons. His backfoot kicking footwork was lacking. Rather than create a good angle or adequate distance to properly run merab onto his shin, he just hopped back and kicked as merab moved into him and merab was close enough it often lost alot of pop as merab stepped up the kick. It also just felt like he was looking to score points rather than do damage. when you can kick as fast as umar can theres no excuse for the majority of your connections with body round kicks to seem more slapping than thudding. Personally I think Umar would be wise to go to his left hand to the body more, throw intercepting knees, and if hes not gonna make leaps and bounds in his backfoot kicking game he should go to a stabbing front snap kick to the body rather than his round kicks. As for the legs theres no excuse for you barely kicking the legs against a front foot heavy pressure fighter who doesnt defend lowkicks super well. In general his kicking game would be helped by him actually standing his ground and kicking on the front foot/midrange but thats for another bullet point
Going for cuts: Frankly umar doesnt have the pop in his hands to discourage merab from coming foward into him as he slows down over the rounds. Merab staying back was mostly because of Umars blistering handspeed. But, Merab isnt hard to cut and the elbow is an dense piece of bone you can do serious damage with especially on interception. Umar should take a page out of cory sandhagen and his fight with the invulnerable Song Yadong. Intercepting elbows can hurt durable opponents on their own but also, cuts end fights and it makes hitting and hurting your opponent easier when they are blinded with blood. A cut must be respected, therefore it will slow Merabs pressure further if he has to worry about getting cut on his entries.
Standing your ground: Umar fought predominantly on the backfoot and he was pretty good at staying out in the open and angling off well defensively. But his ability to create good counters with his footwork was lacking and it really hampered his kicks to be on the backfoot. He has the wrestling defense and the handspeed to keep Merab off him for a bit, he should be going foward more and standing his ground. It just generally makes his job easier and he has the takedown defense to stick to it makes building his offense easier. He is not as good as he thinks he is on the backfoot and it makes landing damaging shots hard for him. Its also hard to maintain over the rounds when you arent controlling the pace.
No more shooting on Merab: Umar is a fantastic offensive wrestler but Merab really showed up with world class takedown defense. And while Umar has elite cardio, taking shots takes alot out of him when combined with all the pressure he was being put under the shots he was taking served to exhaust him. In my opinion he should massively cut down on his offensive wrestling, and only go for it off reversing merabs td offense. That was where I saw Umars most successful offensive wrestling and its less exhausting than taking shots. He should save his energy for his work on the feet
A change in Takedown Defense Strategy/using the clinch to discourage Merab: Merabs opponents all seem to be singularly focused on breaking his connection and getting away when defending tds. But we all know that merab doesnt care if he fails on takedowns he just cares if he makes you work. You have to discourage that workrate, that constant shooting that exhausts his opponents. In my opinion, attritive clinch work is an underrated way to discourage a pace wrestlers takedowns and pace fighters generally. Their game is built around closing distance and making connection, so discourage that. What i mean is instead of working to fight off the takedown and break the connection, I think Umar should work to pull Merab into a clinch. He has 2 fantastic clinchfighters in his camp/friendgroup (Islam Makhachev and DJ). Angling off and hitting good knees to the body, posting your head and punching the body, elbows and right hands on the break, and uppercuts to the body in the clinch would all be excellent attritive/discouraging weapons for Umar. In the first fight he kinda disgraced himself in the clinch, Merab was hitting him constantly on the break. He should be looking to make Merab worry about locking up with him. Furthermore for someone who isnt a huge hitter like merab, dirty boxing, knees, and elbows are all ways to get real power and damage in your shots.
So yeah those are my suggestions, let me know if you guys have any thoughts
More attritive work. Umar mostly head hunted in this fight. He barely kicked the legs at all and even his choice of bodywork was lacking. Rather than relying on the type of stabbing bodywork that will better discourage your opponent from moving into you, Umar mostly used roundkicks to attack the body and the way he went about it made them more point scorers than serious attritive weapons. His backfoot kicking footwork was lacking. Rather than create a good angle or adequate distance to properly run merab onto his shin, he just hopped back and kicked as merab moved into him and merab was close enough it often lost alot of pop as merab stepped up the kick. It also just felt like he was looking to score points rather than do damage. when you can kick as fast as umar can theres no excuse for the majority of your connections with body round kicks to seem more slapping than thudding. Personally I think Umar would be wise to go to his left hand to the body more, throw intercepting knees, and if hes not gonna make leaps and bounds in his backfoot kicking game he should go to a stabbing front snap kick to the body rather than his round kicks. As for the legs theres no excuse for you barely kicking the legs against a front foot heavy pressure fighter who doesnt defend lowkicks super well. In general his kicking game would be helped by him actually standing his ground and kicking on the front foot/midrange but thats for another bullet point
Going for cuts: Frankly umar doesnt have the pop in his hands to discourage merab from coming foward into him as he slows down over the rounds. Merab staying back was mostly because of Umars blistering handspeed. But, Merab isnt hard to cut and the elbow is an dense piece of bone you can do serious damage with especially on interception. Umar should take a page out of cory sandhagen and his fight with the invulnerable Song Yadong. Intercepting elbows can hurt durable opponents on their own but also, cuts end fights and it makes hitting and hurting your opponent easier when they are blinded with blood. A cut must be respected, therefore it will slow Merabs pressure further if he has to worry about getting cut on his entries.
Standing your ground: Umar fought predominantly on the backfoot and he was pretty good at staying out in the open and angling off well defensively. But his ability to create good counters with his footwork was lacking and it really hampered his kicks to be on the backfoot. He has the wrestling defense and the handspeed to keep Merab off him for a bit, he should be going foward more and standing his ground. It just generally makes his job easier and he has the takedown defense to stick to it makes building his offense easier. He is not as good as he thinks he is on the backfoot and it makes landing damaging shots hard for him. Its also hard to maintain over the rounds when you arent controlling the pace.
No more shooting on Merab: Umar is a fantastic offensive wrestler but Merab really showed up with world class takedown defense. And while Umar has elite cardio, taking shots takes alot out of him when combined with all the pressure he was being put under the shots he was taking served to exhaust him. In my opinion he should massively cut down on his offensive wrestling, and only go for it off reversing merabs td offense. That was where I saw Umars most successful offensive wrestling and its less exhausting than taking shots. He should save his energy for his work on the feet
A change in Takedown Defense Strategy/using the clinch to discourage Merab: Merabs opponents all seem to be singularly focused on breaking his connection and getting away when defending tds. But we all know that merab doesnt care if he fails on takedowns he just cares if he makes you work. You have to discourage that workrate, that constant shooting that exhausts his opponents. In my opinion, attritive clinch work is an underrated way to discourage a pace wrestlers takedowns and pace fighters generally. Their game is built around closing distance and making connection, so discourage that. What i mean is instead of working to fight off the takedown and break the connection, I think Umar should work to pull Merab into a clinch. He has 2 fantastic clinchfighters in his camp/friendgroup (Islam Makhachev and DJ). Angling off and hitting good knees to the body, posting your head and punching the body, elbows and right hands on the break, and uppercuts to the body in the clinch would all be excellent attritive/discouraging weapons for Umar. In the first fight he kinda disgraced himself in the clinch, Merab was hitting him constantly on the break. He should be looking to make Merab worry about locking up with him. Furthermore for someone who isnt a huge hitter like merab, dirty boxing, knees, and elbows are all ways to get real power and damage in your shots.
So yeah those are my suggestions, let me know if you guys have any thoughts
