Media Umar claims Merab is ducking; He considers fighting someone else before Ramadan

[TR1]

I have no respect for religious extremists that allow their religion to dictate their behaviour. Believe what you want, but when you start only eating certain foods and observing ridiculous starvation rituals, you have taken things too far. I include the cult of vegans in this as well.

If Umar can't fight during Ramadan, and Merab is willing to wait & schedule a fight during Ramadan to avoid him, then that's Umar's own fault. Umar can join the civilized secular world and fight during Ramadan, or he can punish himself and have noone but himself to blame.

Literally every human culture up through modern days has had elements of fasting. Don't be so dramatic.

 

[Pechan]

Imagine whining because the champ is not accommodating to your made up man in the sky bullshit.

 

[huhwhat]

merab : quack quack quack

 

[MarioLemieux]

Isn't there videos of Merab throwing fits of rage when it's brought up that he has fight Umar?

Umar already has the title as far as I'm concerned because he already beat Merab in his head.

 

[svmr_db]

Umar didn’t deserve a #2 fight and now he doesn’t deserve a title shot either. He should beat one more guy imo to solidify his claim.

Compare this to Belal who had to win like 10+ fights to get a TS.

Lol like I said before, the time to complain was when Umar got the opportunity to fight Sandhagen in the first place. Not now. He got in there and beat Sandhagen, title shot earned. Trying to get him to fight anyone else definitely implies some salt and / or some biases.

Doesn't matter who it was, if Patchy Mix was just signed from Bellator & he was the one who beat Sandhagen on that night instead of Umar he would've earned a title shot too, regardless of having no other wins at the top of the division.

 

[moosaev]

Well merab just fought in september, it's not really fair to expect him to fight in less than 4 months. march april is an appropriate return time for him.

They can’t fight in February? That’s 5 months off. Merab tweeted that he was willing to rematch O’Malley in December. This is a blatant duck lol. The only reason this board isn’t in an uproar and calling Merab a ducker is because of DDS, Dagestan Derangement Syndrome.

 

[moosaev]

Most champions these days don't even average one fight every six months. You're expecting Merab to turn around and fight with 5 months between fights just because it accommodates his opponent? Sorry but Merab owes nothing to Umar.


That's not true. For the most part they won't even do training camp during Ramadan. Which means they won't fight for 3-4 months of the year given the need for 2-3 months of training camp after Ramadan.

Ramadan is over in April 2025. I bet Merab would be willing to fight Umar in April. Why isn't Umar suggesting April? Oh that's right, he won't even train during Ramadan. Not Merab's fault or problem. That's an Umar problem.

Merab tweeted that he’s willing to fight O’Malley in December, so why can’t he fight Umar in January or February lol?

 

[SalvadorAllende]

Umar didn’t deserve a #2 fight and now he doesn’t deserve a title shot either. He should beat one more guy imo to solidify his claim.

Compare this to Belal who had to win like 10+ fights to get a TS.

It does not matter... Dana said Umar was next and the fight has not been signed.

The fact that Umar wants to fight another contender is refreshing.. do you prefer a guy like Leon Edwards who sat on his #1 contender status for over 14 months?

 

[WillyWill]

Who is Merab going to fight then?

Suga > Merab just beat him
Umar > #2 ranked and ready
Yan > booked against Figgy in December
Cory > coming off a loss against Umar
Figgy > fighting Yan in December
Vera > just lost to Figgy (and Suga before)
Cejudo > just lost to Merab (and Aljo before)
Song > just lost to Yan
Bautista > just dry-humped Aldo to a split

Even if you'd don't think Umar "deserves" it, there is literally no one else to fight. If he doesn't fight Umar before March that means he'll be on the shelf since middle of September to April+, which is like 9 months after a fight where he took very little damage.

Enough of this "deserves" or "doesn't deserve" bullshit - if you're the champ you fight whoever the UFC wants you to fight, just like Poatan fought #8 ranked Khalil who had 0 top 10 wins.

Looking at the top 10 no one "deserves" it more than Umar unless Figgy beats Yan, but then he wouldn't be ready to fight in 3 months later in March anyways!

Systematic-ducking engaged....lame.

Nah, if youre the champ you've earned your right to call your shots a little bit. Sure, you can be *that guy* that just says yes - and are loved by SOME of the hard core fans - or you can be that guy who is strategic in his career and capitalizes on this small window of maximum earning potential. And yes, some of the hard cores may hate you for it.

I like Merab more than i thought i ever would, even if he is just prolonging the inevitable by losing to Umar. Merab strikes me as a VERY hard worker and if i were him id reap some of the fruits of my labor.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

Nah, if youre the champ you've earned your right to call your shots a little bit. Sure, you can be *that guy* that just says yes - and are loved by SOME of the hard core fans - or you can be that guy who is strategic in his career and capitalizes on this small window of maximum earning potential. And yes, some of the hard cores may hate you for it.

I like Merab more than i thought i ever would, even if he is just prolonging the inevitable by losing to Umar. Merab strikes me as a VERY hard worker and if i were him id reap some of the fruits of my labor.

Just being champ doesn't mean shit, it's about how you become champ/what you've done in the process.

If you're an action-fighter/fan-favorite that the UFC Brass loves you've got some leeway in picking opponents/fight dates, if not you really don't. If you don't play ball with them they are going to make things heavily weighted for your opponent(s) going forward, it's a business that is circus more than sport so if you aren't selling tickets/PPV's or growing an undeveloped region they've got little reason to protect you as you see fit.

This has nothing to do with Merab not being a hard worker or "deserving" anything - "deserves" got nothing to do with it, it's just how the game is played.

 

[StanTheMan]

Umar is already in Merab's head. The quacking couldn't be stronger. We've seen the interviews. Fighting in Ramadan is just the icing on the Duckshvili cake. LMFAO

 

[gracie_barra_samurai]

Ramadan's like March 1st.

Merab can't fight in February?

Why does he seem so shook of Umar?

 

[Portland8242]

Why the fuck should Merab be pressured to fight on Umar's timeline? Who's the one who holds the belt? Who's the one who had to fight like 4 former champions and still get passed up for fucking Chito Vera before they got their title shot and who's the one who got to skip the entire rankings to get a top-5 guy?

These Dagi's just want everything tilted in their favor and play the victim when the opposing party doesn't play ball.

 

[Alpha_T83]

Merab tweeted that he’s willing to fight O’Malley in December, so why can’t he fight Umar in January or February lol?

Dude fighters talk shit and propose fight dates they don't intend to keep all the time. Merab also tweeted that he would fight O'Malley at MSG in November. He's trolling him. When he says this stuff, he knows UFC 309 is already headlined by Jon Jones, and Dana isn't going to put him on that card.

McGregor has been tweeting about an upcoming fight every few months and just tweeted that he's apparently fighting Dan Hooker in February. Look how often McGregor fights and see if this Hooker fight actually happens.

Every fighter does this. There's a world of difference between what fighters tweet, and the fight contracts they're actually willing to sign.

 

[Goutfather]

umar should take another fight anyway.

 

[Alpha_T83]

Literally every human culture up through modern days has had elements of fasting. Don't be so dramatic.

Having an "element of fasting" or a "history of fasting" isn't the problem. GSP did intermittent fasting. But he did it while training and showed up to fight.

What is a problem is when you are so brainwashed that you devoutly follow antiquated rituals and refuse to eat or even drink water during the day for a whole month, and refuse to even do your job during that month. That I don't respect.

 

[moosaev]

Dude fighters talk shit and propose fight dates they don't intend to keep all the time. Merab also tweeted that he would fight O'Malley at MSG in November. He's trolling him. When he says this stuff, he knows UFC 309 is already headlined by Jon Jones, and Dana isn't going to put him on that card.

McGregor has been tweeting about an upcoming fight every few months and just tweeted that he's apparently fighting Dan Hooker in February. Look how often McGregor fights and see if this Hooker fight actually happens.

Every fighter does this. There's a world of difference between what fighters tweet, and the fight contracts they're actually willing to sign.

If Dana offered Merab the O’Malley rematch do you think Merab would insist on having it no earlier than March? Of course not lol. Dude, stop being obtuse, we all know what’s going on here.

 

[Alpha_T83]

If Dana offered Merab the O’Malley rematch do you think Merab would insist on having it no earlier than March? Of course not lol. Dude, stop being obtuse, we all know what’s going on here.

OK bro. Whatever you say.

Umar is an MMA fighter that wants to be a UFC champion, and as far as I'm concerned that should mean fighting any time you are told to fight, including Ramadan. When you consider that Umar probably won't even train during Ramadan, he will have 3-4 months every year that he can't even fight.

Umar is doing this to himself. If it was just one month, Umar could easily fight Merab in April, making it almost impossible for Merab to duck him. But if Merab says "I'm fighting in March", the UFC can't force him to fight earlier. The UFC aren't going to have Merab wait until June-July so Umar can have 3 months of training camp after Ramadan. That's completely unreasonable and as far as I'm concerned it's unprofessional.

 

[World eater]

I have no respect for religious extremists that allow their religion to dictate their behaviour. Believe what you want, but when you start only eating certain foods and observing ridiculous starvation rituals, you have taken things too far. I include the cult of vegans in this as well.

If Umar can't fight during Ramadan, and Merab is willing to wait & schedule a fight during Ramadan to avoid him, then that's Umar's own fault. Umar can join the civilized secular world and fight during Ramadan, or he can punish himself and have noone but himself to blame.

I would just add to this a bit. You can train and fight during Ramadan. It is obviously harder, but many do it. There are caveats to it, as UFC fighters can be considered both “warriors” and “travellers” and be an exception. But even if not, many muslim fighters fought in this period, including Pereira and Khabib. Somehow, lately, it became widely accepted that they can’t fight during this time. Ank himself accepted a fight in this period for UFC 300, but later turned it down because of “reasons”.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

Lol like I said before, the time to complain was when Umar got the opportunity to fight Sandhagen in the first place. Not now. He got in there and beat Sandhagen, title shot earned. Trying to get him to fight anyone else definitely implies some salt and / or some biases.

Doesn't matter who it was, if Patchy Mix was just signed from Bellator & he was the one who beat Sandhagen on that night instead of Umar he would've earned a title shot too, regardless of having no other wins at the top of the division.

They would still bitch if Mix came in and subbed Sandhagen claiming he got a cherry-picked style match-up and isn’t proven yet.

All despite no other available/legit contenders - there is literally no rhyme or reason to their logic outside of liking Merab.

He seems like a nice guy (if very stupid - see Ice Lake dive for details), but no one can explain why he realistically deserves 8 months with no injuries to fight again.

If he’s in his prime/champ now is the time to fight as often as possible if uninjured and 5 months is plenty of time, unless he’s ducking what he sees as a tougher fight than Yan/Figgy winner, as there is literally no one else.