Media Merab willing to fight Petr Yan March 8, UFC 313

Merab might be trolling the MMA world, especially the die hard dagestani fans, which is somewhat amusing.

Guys, he will fight umar. Even if he didn't want to, UFC will make it happen. Relax. UFC isn't going to treat merab like a star and allow him to call his shots.
 
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Fuck Merab is lame and annoying. Reddit tier fanbase and avoiding Umar like the plague. Can’t wait until he loses the belt.
 
Although he such a boring champ but i don't think Yan could beat him in rematch, Yan lacks of K.O ability, he will be wrestlerfuck by Merab again for 5 rounds and lost via UD.
 
svmr_db said:
Huh? Islam is fighting the next deserving contender in Arman Tsarukyan next and never tried to pivot elsewhere.
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his 3 defenses came against a FW and a 35 yr old LW on a 1 fight win streak who had been KO'd dead 1 fight ago. he should've fought Gamrot at 294. he should've fought Arman earlier this year instead of Poirer. he should've fought Gaethje or Max instead of Poirer.

he talks about how he's cleared the division and wanted a WW fight with Leon when he was the champion but he's effectively only beaten 2 guys and 1 of them isn't even a LW. he's just fighting whoever he wants at this point.
 
Pancake Sprawl said:
his 3 defenses came against a FW and a 35 yr old LW on a 1 fight win streak who had been KO'd dead 1 fight ago. he should've fought Gamrot at 294. he should've fought Arman earlier this year instead of Poirer. he should've fought Gaethje or Max instead of Poirer.

he talks about how he's cleared the division and wanted a WW fight with Leon when he was the champion but he's effectively only beaten 2 guys and 1 of them isn't even a LW. he's just fighting whoever he wants at this point.
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You're fudging the facts all over the place.

- Volkanovski earned his shot at the LW title with the amount of title defenses he had at FW. Was Islam supposed to turn him down? Can't fight him, can't turn him down, can't win position right there.

- Gamrot was a "backup" for UFC 294 the same way that Tom Aspinall was at UFC 309. In that they were given the position but were probably never going to get the opportunity to fight. Islam's manager did his job & got him the biggest money opponent they could because there was high demand for the Volkanovski rematch, and Islam had a bit of a chip on his shoulder because of how his performance in the first fight was criticized. If you've got a problem with Gamrot not getting the shot, take it to the UFC. They knew Gamrot stepping in on short notice wouldn't have sold well nor hyped the fanbase up. If UFC was strongly in favor of that match and told Islam that's who he is fighting, he would've done it.

- Again, blame the UFC regarding the Poirier / Tsarukyan mess. UFC wanted Islam fighting in June but were foolish enough to line up Gaethje vs Holloway & Oliveira vs Tsarukyan in April. They could've probably rebooked the Oliveira rematch that was supposed to take place at 294, who knows why they didn't. They were probably upset that Oliveira pulled out of the rematch relatively last minute & they had to back up the brinks truck for Volkanovski to salvage the event.

Tsarukyan was coming off a win over Dariush and hadn't punched his ticket as the #1 contender until he beat Oliveira. Seems you should be pointing the finger at UFC's scheduling of fights rather than any of Islam's decisions. He should've ideally had the rematch vs Tsarukyan back in October but he got injured, is what it is. Can't fault him for that, injuries are part of the sport.
 
Vagabound said:
Islam is scheduled to fight Arman, and has beaten: Oliveira, Poirier and Hooker. Who's there to duck, Moicano? BSD? Dariush? Lol
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i didn't say he ducked. i'm saying he's fighting whoever he wants and not the next best guy every time.
svmr_db said:
You're fudging the facts all over the place.

- Volkanovski earned his shot at the LW title with the amount of title defenses he had at FW. Was Islam supposed to turn him down? Can't fight him, can't turn him down, can't win position right there.

- Gamrot was a "backup" for UFC 294 the same way that Tom Aspinall was at UFC 309. In that they were given the position but were probably never going to get the opportunity to fight. Islam's manager did his job & got him the biggest money opponent they could because there was high demand for the Volkanovski rematch, and Islam had a bit of a chip on his shoulder because of how his performance in the first fight was criticized. If you've got a problem with Gamrot not getting the shot, take it to the UFC. They knew Gamrot stepping in on short notice wouldn't have sold well nor hyped the fanbase up. If UFC was strongly in favor of that match and told Islam that's who he is fighting, he would've done it.

- Again, blame the UFC regarding the Poirier / Tsarukyan mess. UFC wanted Islam fighting in June but were foolish enough to line up Gaethje vs Holloway & Oliveira vs Tsarukyan in April. They could've probably rebooked the Oliveira rematch that was supposed to take place at 294, who knows why they didn't. They were probably upset that Oliveira pulled out of the rematch relatively last minute & they had to back up the brinks truck for Volkanovski to salvage the event.

Tsarukyan was coming off a win over Dariush and hadn't punched his ticket as the #1 contender until he beat Oliveira. Seems you should be pointing the finger at UFC's scheduling of fights rather than any of Islam's decisions. He should've ideally had the rematch vs Tsarukyan back in October but he got injured, is what it is. Can't fault him for that, injuries are part of the sport.
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of course, everything is the UFC's fault. i'm saying Islam is not advocating for fighting the next best guy. you can't talk like you beat everyone when you pick and choose who you fight and when you fight them. you cannot only blame the UFC. the UFC would do what Islam wanted if he gave enough push back, but obviously he's happy with how everything is going because he doesn't say anything. being complicit doesn't mean you're innocent.

i don't know how you "earn" a title shot at LW by being the FW champion but ok. people wanted the Volk rematch, but they wanted a proper rematch. not "hey this guy pulled out can you get off the couch in 11 days and come fight the best LW in the world?" type of rematch.

i don't care if the Gamrot fight wouldn't have sold well. we're not talking about the business of MMA, we're talking about the sport of MMA. just because it makes sense from a business perspective doesn't mean it makes sense from a sporting meritocracy LEGACY perspective. otherwise everyone complaining about Merab ducking should "blame it on the UFC" because fighting Petr Yan IS a better business move than fighting Umar. so is rematching O'Malley, however that doesn't mean it's a better move for the SPORT.
 
Dana white supposedly wants the boxing world to fix it, the best against the best. Dana white must start his own organization, Jones who does not want but has a title and now Merab who does everything to avoid Umar.
 
Black9 said:
Merab ran through Yan last fight, He's clearly ducking Umar at this point.

Picking literally the exact date Umar can't fight for religious reasons.
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The UFC is not a career but an oportunity. If you limit your availability thats fine but dont expect a whole company to ignore that. Urmar had one good win and now he and his troll fans think the UFC and champs must dance according to their demand.
 
Pancake Sprawl said:
of course, everything is the UFC's fault. i'm saying Islam is not advocating for fighting the next best guy. you can't talk like you beat everyone when you pick and choose who you fight and when you fight them. you cannot only blame the UFC. the UFC would do what Islam wanted if he gave enough push back, but obviously he's happy with how everything is going because he doesn't say anything.
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The same guys you are arguing with call JBJ, who is champ since 2011, a duck because he chose to fight Stipe, the UFCs HE GOAT, for a legacy fight BUT will defend Islames last fights even thought he is a new champ and has not defended his title 1 time against the legit #1 contender.
 
balkanbomber85 said:
The same guys you are arguing with call JBJ, who is champ since 2011, a duck because he chose to fight Stipe, the UFCs HE GOAT, for a legacy fight BUT will defend Islames last fights even thought he is a new champ and has not defended his title 1 time against the legit #1 contender.
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Fact check

- Oliveira was the #1 contender & got the rematch at UFC 294 but pulled out less than 2 weeks prior

- Tsarukyan was the #1 contender & was offered the rematch at UFC 302 but turned it down (understandably given he just fought at 300) blame the UFC for that mess.
 
At this point, just callout Jose Aldo, Cejudo, and Cruz for your "legacy" fights.
 
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