MMA is no longer the purest form of combat sports

[Marko Polo]

Merabs performance last night was in some parts like Guida vs Maynard. For most of the fight I was watching Merab dancing around out of the range shadow boxing like Rin Nakai. It’s pretend fighting. Hes completely refusing to engage for prolonged periods of time so his opponents become frustrated and maybe even bored. That’s his main offence.

Its not like Belal who has an insane pace too - he stays in the pocket slipping and trading, Merab spends half the round avoiding the fight then starts to threaten with pressure, backs off, does it again. It’s mind numbing for the spectator and there’s nothing stopping any up and coming fighter from training that exact same style. If every guy trained like that, we wouldn’t have a sport anymore.

Both the last 2 “fights” were atrocious. I don’t even blame the fighters really, we’ve had 20+ years with this rule set and we’re at the point now where fighters and coaches are so refined that they know exactly what they need to do to stink out wins with minimal risk and entertainment factor.

I was backing O’Malley obviously, but I’m not a huge fan of the guy, I just appreciate his approach to fighting. With that said, Merab didn’t steal any fans last night.

The only consolation is you know Dana is pissed. But I’m with Dana on this one. That type of “fighting” is a massive FU to everyone who paid to watch and to be there.

 

[Squall Leonhart]

Doesn’t matter if it works

 

[Flower2dPeople]

If there were no ref, O'Malley would still be on his back until Tuesday or until Merab cums.

 

[HHJ]

Crybaby Casual Sunday

 

[Subline]

 

[Fossor]

It is easy to fix - let them grab the fence.

 

[Ares Black]

Ok, what is the purest form of combat sports?

 

[HHJ]

Its not like Belal who has an insane pace too - he stays in the pocket slipping and trading, Merab spends half the round avoiding the fight then starts to threaten with pressure, backs off, does it again. It’s mind numbing for the spectator

This is what won him the fight. Its not how Merab usually fights. He tricked O'malley and didnt give him the openings Sugar had trained for. Wasnt "mind numbing" to me and a very opponent specific gameplan.

 

[Alpha_T83]

Doesn’t matter if it works

Except it does matter. The UFC is sports entertainment.

PRIDE had better rules with point deductions for avoiding combat and quick standups without passing guard. Those rules were better than the UFC's current rules. Hopefully we see rule changes in the future.

 

[Alpha_T83]

If there were no ref, O'Malley would still be on his back until Tuesday or until Merab cums.

Actually I disagree. O'Malley looked the fresher of the 2 in the last round.

If there was no ref and no time limit, I think O'Malley outlasts Merab. I was surprised to see Merab look tired in round 5. He took some deep breaths and looked up at the clock a couple times.

 

[HHJ]

Actually I disagree. O'Malley looked the fresher of the 2 in the last round.

He almost finished merab in the 5th

Sean coud def adjust to do better in a rematch

 

[Khaosan]

Ok, what is the purest form of combat sports?

 

[SKYNET]

Ok, what is the purest form of combat sports?

I came here for that, and this as my reply

 

[Hdfi]

MMA is less restrictive and less "artificial" than all the other combat sports.

 

[HHJ]

If people are confused what the purest form of combat sports is @BEATDOWNS is the man to speak to

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

It's BKFC's time to shine

 

[SuperNerd]

Sumo.

They don't let women touch the ring. Not even female medics

 

[TITS]

 

[SKYNET]

Key and Peele or Chappelle would have a smash hit skit featuring todays Power Slap contestants at a 25 year reunion coping with symptoms of CTE.

It's actually going to be sad af when we arrive there but they are comedic geniuses and they would make it work today

 

[BabyBlue_Bomber]

You can criticize Dvilishvili’s approach to the fight all you want, but O’Malley did even less than Dvilishvili did…

O’Malley really didn’t start fighting until the last round, and by that point the fight was already in the bag, so Dvilishvili could play it safe and give the round away.