Useless title defense

[Rampage_Jackson]

Made Merab more money and gave him more exposure than any other fight I'm sure he appreciated it.

 

[RockyLockridge]

I’ll be honest I hated it initially but now that Sean got smashed into irrelevance and it blew up in Dana’s face I’m loving it.

Im fine with it because it was quickly thrown in and doesn't delay anything.

TS says that sandhagen should have got this defense but sandhagen was coming off a loss to a lower ranked fighter than O'malley. merab already defended january, and now in june and it's only given time for sandhagen to get that win over figgy and make the fight make some sense. now these two can fight october novemeber, not at all dragged out.

 

[Dorkman]

It's not the first, it won't be the last. And our complaining won't change it. Just something you need to accept watching the product.

 

[FreedomCricket]

sandhagen is going to get battered

You mean humped, kissed, picked up, laughed at, pitter-pattered and decisioned?

Sandhagen is better everywhere than Suga. He actually has a chance to beat Merab.

 

[Dark Lord]

Just like Dustin Poirier and Renato Moicano were for Islam, hypocrite?

 

[MRT]

Not useless...it firmly settled the matchup.

It seems unreasonable to deny that Sean was not 100% in the first fight if he already had surgery planned/booked beforehand...plus he clearly hurt Merab late, which suggested a path for him if/when they met again.

Was Sean 'most deserving' of this title fight...of course you can argue that he was not...but it was not a 'useless defense'. I think that is disrespectful to both Sean and Merab.

To say Sean 'had nothing' in this matchup is an exaggeration too...his movement and TDD seemed improved...but Merab also showed improvements standing and his pressure was still too much to overcome.

The announcing was on point...unless you are a top tier BJJ guy who is particularly good off his back, the ability to get up is simply a prerequisite to competing with Merab, because he *will* take you down. Obviously this is no easy feat, and only an idiot would believer that Sean did not drill that position extensively...but Merab is Merab.

 

[the_details]

Not useless. It proved how many levels ahead Merab is at this point in time.

We already knew this.

Instant rematches should be for long reigning champs and/or where there was some controversy in the decision or it was razor close.

Everything else is a farce

I'm not even sold on the long reigning champion thing. The fact that a contender has to beat a champion twice to prove they are the new champ is unreasonable to me.

Corey vs sugar Corey will win

Whaohhhhhh..... Watch that hard R buddy. It's Suga.

Sean helps sell tickets so helped fill in while BW builds next contender. Settles the curiosity if Sean striking could find his mark with better lighting or if he has a bad initial camp or injury. Yan, Corey and Umar can fight next. Merab took limited damage so should be ready to defend before long.

Lets first assume that O'Malley sells tickets. Why would it be better for the division, or the promotion, for him to have an immediate rematch. For the division, an guy lower in the rankings would get to have a high profile fight against a former champion. If O'Malley is such a big star, he can main event even if he isn't champ, giving 5 round experience to a ranked guy as well. And the promotion would pay less to O'Malley if he isn't champion for that main event. So we lose out on a potential contender getting some shine if they beat O'Malley, the promotion gets a high profile main event on the cheap, and division gets to move forward more because a new fighter gets to fight for the title while another gets a shot at the former champ.

Not useless...it firmly settled the matchup.

It seems unreasonable to deny that Sean was not 100% in the first fight if he already had surgery planned/booked beforehand...plus he clearly hurt Merab late, which suggested a path for him if/when they met again.

Was Sean 'most deserving' of this title fight...of course you can argue that he was not...but it was not a 'useless defense'. I think that is disrespectful to both Sean and Merab.

To say Sean 'had nothing' in this matchup is an exaggeration too...his movement and TDD seemed improved...but Merab also showed improvements standing and his pressure was still too much to overcome.

The announcing was on point...unless you are a top tier BJJ guy who is particularly good off his back, the ability to get up is simply a prerequisite to competing with Merab, because he *will* take you down. Obviously this is no easy feat, and only an idiot would believer that Sean did not drill that position extensively...but Merab is Merab.

The matchup was already settled. Merab already beat him convincingly, and Merab was a -285 favorite going into the rematch.

Every fighter fights hurt. It's unreasonable to deny any fighter an immediate rematch with this logic. He should have had a tune up fight where he could piece someone up and call out Merab after.

It isn't that Sean had nothing. He had nothing new. His movement and TTD? I guess we can say his movement was better, there isn't a movement stat we can point to to quantify that. If you say he moved better, I'll take your word for it. But statistically, Merab had a 40% takedown ratio in the first fight and 41% in the rematch. A margin of error difference. O'Malley had a 52% Sig Strike ratio in the first fight, 54% in the rematch. Again, margin of error stuff. The difference is, Merab attempted 1 submission total across both fights, and it hit. Also, strikes at distance were very close in the rematch, 29 to 30, compared to 29 to 45 in the first fight. That's Merab to O'Malley, respectively. Merab landed the same amount of strikes at distance as he did in the first fight, but with 2 less rounds. So did he move better if he got hit more per minute and got taken down at a similar ratio?

He needed a tune up fight to try out his new hip and skills. Testing them against Merab has ended with him being forever tarnished as the guy who couldn't beat the guy.

 

[SuperAlly]

To say Sean 'had nothing' in this matchup is an exaggeration too...his movement and TDD seemed improved...but Merab also showed improvements standing and his pressure was still too much to overcome.

This entire post is just your own bias laid bare. But especially this section.

The stats have been shared. Sean was statistically and objectively worse in the grappling this time

 

[SuperAlly]

We already knew this.

I'm not even sold on the long reigning champion thing. The fact that a contender has to beat a champion twice to prove they are the new champ is unreasonable to me.

Whaohhhhhh..... Watch that hard R buddy. It's Suga.

Lets first assume that O'Malley sells tickets. Why would it be better for the division, or the promotion, for him to have an immediate rematch. For the division, an guy lower in the rankings would get to have a high profile fight against a former champion. If O'Malley is such a big star, he can main event even if he isn't champ, giving 5 round experience to a ranked guy as well. And the promotion would pay less to O'Malley if he isn't champion for that main event. So we lose out on a potential contender getting some shine if they beat O'Malley, the promotion gets a high profile main event on the cheap, and division gets to move forward more because a new fighter gets to fight for the title while another gets a shot at the former champ.

The matchup was already settled. Merab already beat him convincingly, and Merab was a -285 favorite going into the rematch.

Every fighter fights hurt. It's unreasonable to deny any fighter an immediate rematch with this logic. He should have had a tune up fight where he could piece someone up and call out Merab after.

It isn't that Sean had nothing. He had nothing new. His movement and TTD? I guess we can say his movement was better, there isn't a movement stat we can point to to quantify that. If you say he moved better, I'll take your word for it. But statistically, Merab had a 40% takedown ratio in the first fight and 41% in the rematch. A margin of error difference. O'Malley had a 52% Sig Strike ratio in the first fight, 54% in the rematch. Again, margin of error stuff. The difference is, Merab attempted 1 submission total across both fights, and it hit. Also, strikes at distance were very close in the rematch, 29 to 30, compared to 29 to 45 in the first fight. That's Merab to O'Malley, respectively. Merab landed the same amount of strikes at distance as he did in the first fight, but with 2 less rounds. So did he move better if he got hit more per minute and got taken down at a similar ratio?

He needed a tune up fight to try out his new hip and skills. Testing them against Merab has ended with him being forever tarnished as the guy who couldn't beat the guy.

Yeh, I take your point. If the champ was clearly beaten by the contender no need to immediate rematch. But I won't quibble if a guy who has multiple defences does get one. But it shouldn't be a standard.

Problem is, it went from guys like Izzy getting an immediate rematch for being a long time champ to just about anyone who holds the belt even for 1 fight. Awful.

 

[the_details]

But I won't quibble if a guy who has multiple defences does get one.

I will. It holds up the division.

 

[MRT]

It isn't that Sean had nothing. He had nothing new. His movement and TTD? I guess we can say his movement was better, there isn't a movement stat we can point to to quantify that. If you say he moved better, I'll take your word for it. But statistically, Merab had a 40% takedown ratio in the first fight and 41% in the rematch. A margin of error difference. O'Malley had a 52% Sig Strike ratio in the first fight, 54% in the rematch. Again, margin of error stuff. The difference is, Merab attempted 1 submission total across both fights, and it hit. Also, strikes at distance were very close in the rematch, 29 to 30, compared to 29 to 45 in the first fight. That's Merab to O'Malley, respectively. Merab landed the same amount of strikes at distance as he did in the first fight, but with 2 less rounds. So did he move better if he got hit more per minute and got taken down at a similar ratio?

He needed a tune up fight to try out his new hip and skills. Testing them against Merab has ended with him being forever tarnished as the guy who couldn't beat the guy.

I think there is not a *ton* of value in trying to quantify everything (funny enough, that is coming from a stats guy lol)...but I will suggest that noting similar stats between fights as evidence that Sean had nothing new, or did not exhibit any improvement over the first fight, potentially ignores any changes/improvements that Merab displayed.

Merab was 3 of 4 with TDs over the first two rounds of fight 1, netting him 4.5 minutes of control time. He was only 2 of 8 over the first two rounds of this one, for less than half the control time, with Sean denying all 4 in the 2nd. That suggests some improved TDD at least early on.

Another difference is in Merab's standup. Despite Sean keeping it standing in the 2nd, Merab showed a much higher volume of sig strike attempted, attempting more that round that Sean did the entire fight. That disparity in volume did not exist the first time around while the fight was standing. If we compare round 2 this time with round 3 in the last fight, rounds in which as all of Merab's TDs were denied (4 this time, 5 last time), the difference is that Merab got busier this time.

Also worth noting that despite all his control time in the first fight, Merab attempted zero subs...there was much 'hold against fence, knee Sean's legs'. Here, there was a bit of that, but despite electing to not to try and take Sean's back as he got up in the third, he took him back down and promptly sunk a choke. Doesn't that suggest some difference or improvement for a guy known as a decision machine?

To be fair, I will have to rewatch both fights to really compare various elements...in the moment, I thought Sean looked better in some ways...but Merab did too and it is fari to say that made the difference...something that may not be so easily borne out in certain stats.

 

[MRT]

This entire post is just your own bias laid bare. But especially this section.

The stats have been shared. Sean was statistically and objectively worse in the grappling this time

Context-free stats do not tell the whole story...and, as I said above, comparing stats to deny that O'Malley was any different or better potentially ignores that Merab did something different or better too. It takes a deeper dive than just looking at the numbers to make a solid comparison. x

I will freely admit that I might be biased in my take and would need to rewatch both fights with a specific eye on various elements to do a really good comparison. *In the moment* though, O'Malley did seem to show some improvements, but Merab's standup looked better too. When Sean was able to keep the fight standing, Merab upped his sig. strike volume compared to the last time. Even simply attempting a sub (and succeeding) was a difference for Merab...he had *10 minutes* of control time in the first fight with *zero* sub attempts. This was not just a complete 'rinse and repeat' of the last fight.


The real issue though is that this was not a 'useless defense' for Merab, as has been claimed. Beating a fully healthy opponent, who 100% game planned only for you, with the benefit of already having fought you, yet you still turn them away, and even more more decisively...that answers all questions. It was a solid defense for Merab that no doubt upped his status. It also changed the BW landscape. Cory is likely next, with Umar no doubt seeking a rematch (and likely needing to win a fight to get one). Pantoja may enter the picture too. Sean is probably looking at moving up to 145 unless he wants to stick around and try to win *at least* two fights (I would say three, at minimum) to sniff a title shot as long as Merab is champ.

 

[SuperAlly]

Context-free stats do not tell the whole story...and, as I said above, comparing stats to deny that O'Malley was any different or better potentially ignores that Merab did something different or better too. It takes a deeper dive than just looking at the numbers to make a solid comparison. x

I will freely admit that I might be biased in my take and would need to rewatch both fights with a specific eye on various elements to do a really good comparison. *In the moment* though, O'Malley did seem to show some improvements, but Merab's standup looked better too. When Sean was able to keep the fight standing, Merab upped his sig. strike volume compared to the last time. Even simply attempting a sub (and succeeding) was a difference for Merab...he had *10 minutes* of control time in the first fight with *zero* sub attempts. This was not just a complete 'rinse and repeat' of the last fight.


The real issue though is that this was not a 'useless defense' for Merab, as has been claimed. Beating a fully healthy opponent, who 100% game planned only for you, with the benefit of already having fought you, yet you still turn them away, and even more more decisively...that answers all questions. It was a solid defense for Merab that no doubt upped his status. It also changed the BW landscape. Cory is likely next, with Umar no doubt seeking a rematch (and likely needing to win a fight to get one). Pantoja may enter the picture too. Sean is probably looking at moving up to 145 unless he wants to stick around and try to win *at least* two fights (I would say three, at minimum) to sniff a title shot as long as Merab is champ.

They aren't context free

Merab is more a chain wrestler and repeat attempt guy, so "stuffing" a few "takedowns" isn't that meaningful

We watched the bouts so we have the context and Sean got taken down as often, if not more, 2nd time around

The only significant difference was Merab had more success with striking fight 2 to 1

 

[BOTTICELLI]

Healthy Umar

 

[the_details]

I think there is not a *ton* of value in trying to quantify everything (funny enough, that is coming from a stats guy lol)...but I will suggest that noting similar stats between fights as evidence that Sean had nothing new, or did not exhibit any improvement over the first fight, potentially ignores any changes/improvements that Merab displayed.

Merab was 3 of 4 with TDs over the first two rounds of fight 1, netting him 4.5 minutes of control time. He was only 2 of 8 over the first two rounds of this one, for less than half the control time, with Sean denying all 4 in the 2nd. That suggests some improved TDD at least early on.

In the first fight, Sean stuffed all 5 of Merab's TD attempts in round 3. His round 2 performance in fight 2 isn't unique. Hell, in fight 1, round 3 was after he got taken down in round 2 and surrendered over 3 minutes of control time. It's more impressive that after getting handled like that for the better half of a round, he denied 5 attempts in the next round.

As for Merab's improvement... Yeah, he got better. That's why he finished Sean. That's why the striking was more even.

 

[Ramon Antonio]

knee to merab face

Agree, but Merab will take it and still take him down.

 

[AL-Tappo McSnappo]

Agree, but Merab will take it and still take him down.

I see Sand man doing this to Merab

 

[mkess101]

Agree, but Merab will take it and still take him down.

And Corey will scramble like a honey badger and not get tired unlike almost everyone else Merab fights. He'll get up, Merab will chain wrestle, and there will be a shit ton of back and forth action. And maybe Merab just gets enough TD's and top control to win, very possible. Corey will absolutely have his moments though. Count on it.

 

[Last Falconry]

merab is going to fold sandhagen in half six times and place him gently in the bin. the odds on that fight are going to be astronomical

 

[Ramon Antonio]

And Corey will scramble like a honey badger and not get tired unlike almost everyone else Merab fights. He'll get up, Merab will chain wrestle, and there will be a shit ton of back and forth action. And maybe Merab just gets enough TD's and top control to win, very possible. Corey will absolutely have his moments though. Count on it.

But in the end he will lose.