Merab's weakness exposed - Body shots

[Mr.Maelstrom]

This is the point.


He may have yelled, but he sucked it up and kept fighting, rather than fall to floor writhing in pain.


Its like when Usyk was getting blasted by Tyson fury, you could tell that shit was hurting him badly, but he just grit though it and keep going

When that happens, its actually shrugging off what would kill mortal men

Literally died from a body shot in sparring. Turns out, having a weakness to getting smashed in the body repeatedly covers more or less literally everyone lol

 

[HHJ]

Did Tyson Fury kick Usyk in the liver?


My point is, they're very different shots.
Many fighters, in both MMA & kickboxing, nickname the liver 'The Off Button.'
Body-punches to the liver hurt, and have ended many boxing matches.
Kicks to the liver - multiply that impact my two.
And Merab took two in that fight.

If Merab had instantly collapsed from either of those liver body kicks, no one outside of Sherdog would have said 'Wow, he's not as tough as we thought.'

A 6ft 9 guy punching you in the liver might as well be a kick

 

[El Fernas]

Its TDD, once his cage grinding and TD's didnt work he didnt had much to show for, standing up Yan was just better, more effective.

 

[Killhippies]

MMA fighters have a terrible habit of neglecting body work. It's almost always leg/calf kicks and head hunting.

Yes, I think because the footwork isn't there for many MMA fighters so they don't feel confident throwing it as it does leave the head exposed slightly longer if you can't step out of the pocket in time. Yan has the boxing fundamentals to get away with it.

Though, even if the footwork isn't there, I would like to see more fighters utilize it against takedown heavy fighters. The lower hands at the time of the strike can help with the reaction time when stuffing a takedown so it has another great benefit in throwing it here and there.

 

[Blastbeat]

there's a saying in boxing - someone might have an iron chin, but no one has an iron body

 

[GearSolidMetal]

A 6ft 9 guy punching you in the liver might as well be a kick

I'd bet money that Yan's kick landing flush to Merab's liver had more pounds-per-square-inch impact than Tyson Fury's liver-punch to Usyk.

 

[Bearknuckle]

No, not letting him grapplehump you is the #1 ability that won yan the fight. Merab spammed 100 takedowns,