Merab Was the most active champion ever. Possibly burnt out?

[pamirec]

Not a fan, but Merab fought his heart out. Yan was just better tonight.

 

[bjjwar]

I hate watching his fights, sh** on his anti fighting style all the time, but i have to give him big props for putting his belt on the line so much. I wanted him to lose his belt, but now that he lost i feel bad.

All the other champs acting like entitled diva's barely fighting 1 time per year and here he was on his 4th fight this year. Huge respect!

 

[moosaev]

I would say it’s more burn out than Petr Yan getting any better. Except for Pete Yan’s strength and cardio… which was surprising.

Maybe Merab winning the first time was Petr Yan having a broken arm more than Merab being better than him…

People need to stop making this excuse for Merab. He got whupped. Nobody even knows if Yan was even healthy this camp.

 

[Rampage_Jackson]

I was certainly burnt out on Merab

 

[this is my new account]

No he is not over worked. Defending your belt 4 times in 2 years is hard. Defending your belt at ANY time is hard. He just lost a good fight. Jan is good

 

[Zed237]

Totally possible but we can also speculate that he took significant damage each round and that slowed him down.

 

[Hezekiah]

Four weight cuts in a year, and as Rogan said he cuts a lot of weight.

He should take six months off before the rematch.

 

[xhaydenx]

Then u dont understand how human body works. U simply cannot ignore regeneration and have same results. Mainly when u train like a crazy madman and spar even during fight day. No one can do this.

Its same as taking Goggins as example and ignoring how much destroyed his body is due to ignorance.

Sure, but how do you know how much time Merab needs between fights to be at his optimal best? You don't. For all you know, 2 months with the way he lives is adequate for Merab.

If Merab's approach was so bad he wouldn't have won 3 out of his 4 fights this year.

 

[Deceasedxo]

Yan adjusted from the first fight, trained hard and correctly, then came in with the better gameplan.

 

[RichardHarrow]

I think Merab was quite game. He just faced a better fighter on the night of...

 

[Angelassassin53]

I've said before, I think Yan has insane fight IQ and makes some of the best adjustments mid fight of just about any fighter we've seen. Given that they've fought previously, it's no surprise that Yan would have made the necessary adjustments to put on that masterclass performance

However I definitely think Merabs over activity is a factor. We saw it with Lawler against Woodley. Tyron was never a championship caliber fighter imo, but he sat out for a year and a half while Lawler went back-to-back-to-back in grueling FotY wars against Hendricks, Rory, and Condit. After being worn down like that, Woodley was able to capitalize and secure the belt. I dont think that's the biggest factor with Yan/Merab, but it's certainly worth considering