Hot Take Petr Yan showed the path to beating Khamzat.

[SalvadorAllende]

Merab and Khamzat are nothing alike other than they grapplefuck opponents.. they do it in a different way.

 

[188912345]

Khamzat has S-tier top control and takedowns.

Merabs top control is severely lacking.

Khamzat is also someone who will immediately take the back or go for a sub if given the opportunity, whereas Merab is more of a wrestler, not a well rounded grappler.

That makes it much easier to get up from Merab safely than to get up from Khamzat.

 

[Trabaho]

Merab and Khamzat are nothing alike other than they grapplefuck opponents.. they do it in a different way.

Khamzat is also a power striker, finisher. Merab shoots takedowns after takedown to gass out enemies and then dominate. Only thing is they are dominant wrestlers. Nothing else is the same. Besides the Dricus performance Khamazat always goes for a strong opening and tries to finish right away.

I mean new fans also gotta talk about the game to have fun and learn something. We´re on Sherdog not in the UFC Performance Institute Headquarters

 

[Eric Silva 2.0]

This is NOT an easy road. And, frankly, I think it’s possible that YEARS will go by before anyone does it to Khamzat.

But pay attention to the timing of Yan’s TDD.

He sprawled. Properly.

He rarely let it get to the point where Merab could advance position comfortably.

That is the key to beating someone like Khamzat. TDD needs to be immediate, aggressive, and ready for a counter-takedown.

I don’t see anyone at 185 who can do this right now, but if Khamzat eventually loses, I think it’s going to look a LOT like Merab/Yan II.

Khamzat's wrestling is much better than Merab's wrestling. Merab is a cardio king with endless takedowns. Khamzat doesn't have that kind of cardio but has lightning quick shots and levels above Merab's grappling.

 

[Conan the K-9]

He plans to move to 205 and maybe Ank can do that to him, maybe. Don't see anyone else at 205 that could do that to him

They will not fight each other.
He is already ducking Imavov, just because they are both muslims.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ufc/s/Q27YdxuEfV

 

[Nausicaa]

They will not fight each other.
He is already ducking Imavov, just because they are both muslims.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ufc/s/Q27YdxuEfV

That sucks, that's the most intriguing matchup at 205 for chimaev

 

[Only Here for Attachments]

Everyone references the Burns fight like it wasn’t 3 years ago and Khamzat hasn’t evolved.

Has he evolved past getting hurt by punches?

 

[HHJ]

I was hoping he predicted the elbowing of the forearms when Merab had his hands clasped but alas he did not

lol you can tell that fucked Merab up. He HATED that shit, and who wouldnt hahahah

 

[humdizzle]

they are different fighters

khamzat is much more skilled and has 1 shot power. Merab is a cardio machine with minimal skills other than just repeated TDs. Even the attempted subs on Yan were pretty low quality. You would never see sub attempts like that from khamzat or islam.

 

[VAfan]

eh, big difference between merab and khazmat. merab is cardio, khazmat is bestial. that's a whole different animal there, you could gameplan for years for that guy and it won't make any difference, he's doing what he wants with you.

 

[that Indian]

Khamzat's wrestling is much better than Merab's wrestling. Merab is a cardio king with endless takedowns. Khamzat doesn't have that kind of cardio but has lightning quick shots and levels above Merab's grappling.

Yea, to extremely simplify it, Khamzat is more of a fast-twitch fighter w much better technique while Merab is slower-twitch.

It's the difference between a guy like Topuria and Holloway, in terms of striking. Both effective, but do it differently.

Slower-twitch guys tend to age better though, provided they avoid cumulative head trauma.

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

Khamzat is also a power striker, finisher.

they are different fighters

khamzat is much more skilled and has 1 shot power. Merab is a cardio machine with minimal skills other than just repeated TDs. Even the attempted subs on Yan were pretty low quality. You would never see sub attempts like that from khamzat or islam.

He has landed a single powerful shot on Meerschart, let's not get ahead of ourselves calling him some power striker one shot finisher.

Yea, there's the Ikram uppercut a million years ago, Ikram proved against Bobby Knuckles he's chinny, giving Bobby his first finish since Jacare in 2017.

 

[HHJ]

He has landed a single powerful shot on Meerschart, let's not get ahead of ourselves calling him some power striker one shot finisher.

Yea, there's the Ikram uppercut a million years ago, Ikram proved against Bobby Knuckles he's chinny, giving Bobby his first finish since Jacare in 2017.

Stop trying to convince us that Khamzat isnt the greatest thing that has ever been gifted to MMA.

 

[Trabaho]

He has landed a single powerful shot on Meerschart, let's not get ahead of ourselves calling him some power striker one shot finisher.

Yea, there's the Ikram uppercut a million years ago, Ikram proved against Bobby Knuckles he's chinny, giving Bobby his first finish since Jacare in 2017.

listen Crnogorac. Who gave you permision to contradict me online ? Who do you think I am ? What you talking bout power me getting ahead of myself, you wanna call me dumb and incompetent ?

Ok now the actual answer of course I made a bad joke with you. Šala mala. Glupiranje .


He got good power. He is overwhelming people with grappling and his striking is also stay in the face pressure and not be slick and pick shots or set strikes up, it's entirely straight forward and simple. He isn't to me top tier striking skills and distancing. But he is good and can hit hard. Merab got pillows. Khamzat is explosive.


Pozdrav kolega

 

[FrappeDuRocma]

Merab's takedowns are not even close to Khamzat's. His purpose is to tire you, by chaining them relentlessly, he does not care about efficiency, he will shoot with no plan to end the fight, since his BJJ is not that good and his striking is average. His true weapon is cardio.

In the other hand, Khamzat wants to take and keep you down, in order to finish you.

 

[Pierce 34]

Look up his BJJ credentials. His grappling is way better than his striking. Also, he's bigger than Khamzat. Robocop does have flaws, but he's exactly the one that would present the most difficult matchup for Khamzat at MW.


I don't think he stands a chance. I envision the outcome would be similar to Khamzat vs Kevin Holland.

I don't see a BJJ type beating these type of wrestlers

 

[Deathmask]

It's really not that hard.

- See red
- Just stand up
- Profit

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

listen Crnogorac. Who gave you permision to contradict me online ? Who do you think I am ? What you talking bout power me getting ahead of myself, you wanna call me dumb and incompetent ?

Ok now the actual answer of course I made a bad joke with you. Šala mala. Glupiranje .


He got good power. He is overwhelming people with grappling and his striking is also stay in the face pressure and not be slick and pick shots or set strikes up, it's entirely straight forward and simple. He isn't to me top tier striking skills and distancing. But he is good and can hit hard. Merab got pillows. Khamzat is explosive.


Pozdrav kolega

Svako dobro brat moj, uvek je sala svacena

Yes, I'll give it to him that he certainly is no pillow puncher, but I wouldn't call him a concussive KO artist. He landed 500 shots on DDP and barely hurt him and as I pointed out, Meerschart is his only clean KO in the UFC, if not his only real clean strike. Guy likes windmilling, but it's okay when you have stupid good wrestling, possibly the best in the business.

Will be interesting if anyone at 185 can stop the takedown before he fucks off to 205, Imavov is no joke and I feel looking past him could be fatal for Khamzat, but we shall see after Ramadan.

I don't see a BJJ type beating these type of wrestlers

I think that was proven a long time ago. The wrestler will just sit in half guard for 25 minutes.

I don't think you even need a BJJ threat to beat Khamzat, though it certainly could theoretically help, you just need a sprawl that can survive the majority of his shots.

If Poatan can sprawl his TDs, he's going to get obliterated, for example, even with a negative ground threat.

It's really not that hard.

- See red
- Just stand up
- Profit

 

[Crash-override]

Khamzat has evolved, no doubt — but the fundamental dynamic is still the same. Elite BJJ fighters force Khamzat out of his game. Burns proved that already, and if they ran it back today, nothing about that matchup suddenly changes. Khamzat still isn’t controlling Burns on the ground the way he did DDP, not now, not ever.

A perfect real-world example of how a stylistic matchup of this kind plays out is Ben Askren vs. Demian Maia.

Same as werdum vd Cain

 

[fries in the bag]

This is NOT an easy road. And, frankly, I think it’s possible that YEARS will go by before anyone does it to Khamzat.

But pay attention to the timing of Yan’s TDD.

He sprawled. Properly.

He rarely let it get to the point where Merab could advance position comfortably.

That is the key to beating someone like Khamzat. TDD needs to be immediate, aggressive, and ready for a counter-takedown.

I don’t see anyone at 185 who can do this right now, but if Khamzat eventually loses, I think it’s going to look a LOT like Merab/Yan II.

don't ever compare khamzat to fraudrab

fraudrab:
- short
- 5 losses
- 24% finish rate

khamzat:
- 6'2"
- 0 losses
- 80% finish rate