Merab won two rounds by stalling

[ArtardFiesta]

He took round 1 and 2 by basically holding Petr against the fence and doing donkey kicks to him.

The body shot in round 3 broke Merab and he was unable to continue with this strategy.

But even before that I would have said Yan was the one actually fighting vs who merabs point spamming.

Merab could have pulled out another push against the fence and taken it, would you have been pissed if the fight went to Merab like that?

Should the rules be updated to not reward this type of fighting?

 

[rear naked ankle pick]

He won nothing.

People laughed at me when i said Merab isnt ufc material.

Whos laughing now?

 

[RockyLockridge]

I disagree.

He didn't win any rounds.

 

[STAY GOLD]

Should the rules be updated to not reward this type of fighting?

The rules have changed. Damage takes precedence over control. Merab didn’t win a single round.

 

[Human Bass]

He won nothing.

People laughed at me when i said Merab isnt ufc material.

Whos laughing now?

The former champion who defended the belt multiple times isnt UFC material? Lol the trolling

 

[Harlekin]

Judges had Merab winning 2 x 1 and 1 x 2 rounds.
65% of media had it 5 - 0
35% had it 4 - 1

Judges just gave Merab those rounds because of champ status and long winning streak.
Had it 5 - 0, I'm fine with 4 -1

 

[loisestrad]

The former champion who defended the belt multiple times isnt UFC material? Lol the trolling

Never read a post by the guy before?

 

[Oscar Madison]

Yan never close to finishing Merab.

Both looked like old world farmers arguing in a field about farming shit -- then started to throwdown.

It was a scrappy and definitive Loss, but not epic -- Merab seems to get tougher from the damage from his past campaigns at the Lake and in the Cage.

Yan looks like a small action figure. UFC needs to turn him loose for 3 fights in 2026. It's his turn to run the gauntlet like Merab in 2025.

 

[snotflakes]

I had it 5-0. They counted his first tskedown attempt as 9 failed attempts, they are trigger happy with that stat counting button. As well, many of Merab's "significant" strikes were pretty "insignificant" if you ask me.

 

[ThaiSexPills]

Damage counts now so he didn’t win those rounds on the new system. But in the past, he would have

 

[don't ask]

Both looked like old world farmers arguing in a field about farming shit -- then started to throwdown.

This had me laughing out loud

 

[TriangleMonkey]

I missed the main event

Where is it that I can catch full-fights after the event?

 

[StanTheMan]

Rogan and DC couldn't give all the rounds to merab fast enough

 

[Xoleth]

I missed the main event

Where is it that I can catch full-fights after the event?

Without paying?

You know that...

 

[Myrddin Wild]

Teh ROOLZ are already amended.

push against teh fence scorez zero. Being on top on teh ground scores zero. (a TD is a scoring criteria... as is "advancing position," but just being on top is nill.

That waz a major addition to teh MMA judging criteria in 2017. It was a revolutionary & groundbreaking change that was very much needed to stop "lay & pray" (ie... "control") from being a scoring criteria.

It took them half a decade before teh judges actually implemented teh roolz & that waz so frustrating to watch lay & prayers taking away wins for doing fook all. Commentators too would embarrassingly keep parroting the idea of "control" being a valid scoring criteria yearz after it was officially nixxed. Judges embarrassingly kept awarding "control" a victory for way to long after teh criteria was changed.

Thank god they finally got it.​

Merab has always had a very busy control situation. He strikes & goes for subs... though not as aggressive as we would prefer, but he still is accomplishing legitimate scoring criteria. It's no different in scoring if you stand face to face "& strike"... compared to grounding them "& strike." The 2 situations are equally scored based on the "impact" of the strike.

A lot of people dismiss Merab because he puts them in an environment where they have smaller chances to hurt him before he does his damage. GSP got much of the same critiques from casuals during his reign... but Both are/were very active from those positions.

The gripe is justifiably so, with people who lay & pray & do fook all with their position. Merab nor GSP have ever been that guy. It's actually a smart way to fight.

 

[RedMountain]

He won nothing.

People laughed at me when i said Merab isnt ufc material.

Whos laughing now?

He was never that good, i am pretty sure i can knock him out with my jab after some beer at the bar.

 

[humdizzle]

It was 5-0

at most you could give him 4-1 based on nothing other than control time and attempting a guillotine. The judge with the 48-47 is probably still scoring TDs without damage

 

[Koala]

I had it 50-45 Yan
Not sure if the judges were not listening to Cormier

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

Yan never close to finishing Merab.

Both looked like old world farmers arguing in a field about farming shit -- then started to throwdown.

It was a scrappy and definitive Loss, but not epic -- Merab seems to get tougher from the damage from his past campaigns at the Lake and in the Cage.

Yan looks like a small action figure. UFC needs to turn him loose for 3 fights in 2026. It's his turn to run the gauntlet like Merab in 2025.

Yan wobbled him in rounds 1 and 4 and had him yelling in pain retreating from body shots in 3/4/5. He hit Merab with ever type of strike to every part of his body full-power and even some on the same-time counter.

He broke Merab’s nose, cut his face in multiple places, probably broke a rib, fucked up his liver, gave him multiple concussions, and chopped up his legs.

What more do you want from someone fighting an elite cardio machine whose strategy is to hug you to the point of exhaustion?

 

[Oscar Madison]

Yan wobbled him in rounds 1 and 4 and had him yelling in pain retreating from body shots in 3/4/5. He hit Merab with ever type of strike to every part of his body full-power and even some on the same-time counter.

He broke Merab’s nose, cut his face in multiple places, probably broke a rib, fucked up his liver, gave him multiple concussions, and chopped up his legs.

What more do you want from someone fighting an elite cardio machine whose strategy is to hug you to the point of exhaustion?

It's right before your eyes.