Yan must win. The Merab Meta Is Killing Bantamweight

[SuperNerd]

One guy objectively hunts for finishes and the other hunts for control time. You can prefer the control, but don't pretend the striker is the one making the fight dull.

Grapplers who hunt for submissions and ground and pound are exciting. But Merab isn’t doing that. He isn't passing guard to find armbars or raining down elbows. He's stalling positions to burn the clock.

He is willing his opponent away. Give him that

 

[prime_lobov]

Yan has plenty of power and a far better chance of winning than zero. He might still get out-worked and clinched/worn-down in the rematch, but coming in with the experience of having already fought Merab and now being healthy and able to use both arms will put on a much better performance in the rematch I'm certain.

Yan doesn’t have plenty of power. The chances of him knocking out Merab, or even rocking him, are astronomical.

 

[Xanzito]

I hate it too sherbro, but everyone knows what he's about to do, and no one can stop it. So.... tough shit for us JBG disciples.

 

[CasualBot]

The what?

The uber-meta-twit ?

 

[Krimzon]

sherdog once told me that to defend a takedown, all the defender has to do is to throw a flying knee

lol

 

[chinarice]

One guy objectively hunts for finishes and the other hunts for control time. You can prefer the control, but don't pretend the striker is the one making the fight dull.

Grapplers who hunt for submissions and ground and pound are exciting. But Merab isn’t doing that. He isn't passing guard to find armbars or raining down elbows. He's stalling positions to burn the clock.

We can agree to disagree, thanks.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

Yeah I heard the same thing when I said Yoel Romero is boring. Any fight I watch of Petr is the same. Also, having no answer for a guy pushing you against the cage? Booooooorrrinng

Yoel Romero in his prime could be boring in one sense, as for long stretches of his fights his strategy was to conserve energy and hunt for openings to blitz with life-altering violence.

It’s a question of if the anticipation for the almost always delivered unexpected dynamic offense enraptured you or not.

Yan fights are all unique - he tries to fight conservative early and probe letting opponents attack so he understands their approach, then adjusts accordingly. Every opponent has different skills and styles, so the adjustment will always need to be fine-tuned to each opponent in real-time. That’s the genius of Yan’s fighting IQ at its best.

Against Merab he fought with one good arm and injured his leg early. Having a bad night while injured against one of the most exhausting fighters to ever exist in his arguably best performance ever is a lot to hold against Yan.

Pretty harsh take for all the beautiful violence he’s given us over the years.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

Yan doesn’t have plenty of power. The chances of him knocking out Merab, or even rocking him, are astronomical.

Yan had dropped, hurt or rocked every opponent he’s ever fought except Merab.

Obviously it’s going to be a tough task, but the odds are far from astronomical.

Marlon Moraes dropped Merab like 3 times in row inside a minute in the midst of a losing streak. He’s fighting smart and putting on great performances to avoid damage like that more, but it’s always a realistic possibility against elite fighters.

 

[The XL]

Merab is extremely active and actually gives his opponents a lot of chances that he doesn't have to by engaging in prolonged periods of striking and by not securing top position as well as he should and probably could. He's not like Khamzat and Islam in that regard. Merab is a lot more fun to watch.

 

[Mmmmmmma1234]

In a sport like basketball they created a shot clock cuz a team could go up by a few points and then just play keep away to run out the clock.

People dont watch fights in order to see one guy hold or "control" another. Just like people dont watch basketball to see grown men play monkey in the middle.

I been saying that for years mma needs a rules change similar to a shot clock for holding positions.
Although Merab theoretically would not be in alot of trouble here since he gets alot of the takedowns, excluding the Aldo fight.

 

[The XL]

There's nothing funnier than the stupid defeated look on the face of an "elite" mma fighter getting tossed around by a manlet who's barely breaking a sweat. Shit is pure comedy. And miss me with the "its boring" bullshit when there's 11 other fights and 8 finishes on the same card, like you're just not being satiated with enough violence. If it's so boring and predictable you'd think people wouldn't bother staying up to 1:30 am to watch it. Hope Yan actually shows up this time, he owes up for sucking hot boiled ass last time and putting on a shitty performance for us hard streaming fans who deserve better.

Seeing 6 foot tall Sandhagen being physically overwhelmed and dominated by 5'4 Merab who was barely even trying was equal parts impressive and hilarious.

 

[Natural Order]

Dude has seemingly become one of my favourite fighters.

Always smiling and laughing.....while absolutely running a train on everybody and anybody. Would be nice if he had a bit more killer instinct with the GnP while having such control, but still pretty fun to watch. Might have the most apt nickname ever too. His gas tank is something to behold. Easily the best the sport has ever seen. Dude fights the same in round 5 as round 1, every time. Doesn't appear to lose energy. Defies physics and biology.

I bet he's got some X-Men like mutation where his body doesn't produce lactic acid.

Either way, I'm enjoying the Merab show.

 

[chinarice]

Yoel Romero in his prime could be boring in one sense, as for long stretches of his fights his strategy was to conserve energy and hunt for openings to blitz with life-altering violence.

It’s a question of if the anticipation for the almost always delivered unexpected dynamic offense enraptured you or not.

Yan fights are all unique - he tries to fight conservative early and probe letting opponents attack so he understands their approach, then adjusts accordingly. Every opponent has different skills and styles, so the adjustment will always need to be fine-tuned to each opponent in real-time. That’s the genius of Yan’s fighting IQ at its best.

Against Merab he fought with one good arm and injured his leg early. Having a bad night while injured against one of the most exhausting fighters to ever exist in his arguably best performance ever is a lot to hold against Yan.

Pretty harsh take for all the beautiful violence he’s given us over the years.

I didn't say he was a bad fighter. I just don't find him a particularly exciting one.

 

[DoctorStoppage]

Merab’s fights suck. Always funny to see the bar/party clear out when his fights start

 

[prime_lobov]

Yan had dropped, hurt or rocked every opponent he’s ever fought except Merab.

Obviously it’s going to be a tough task, but the odds are far from astronomical.

Marlon Moraes dropped Merab like 3 times in row inside a minute in the midst of a losing streak. He’s fighting smart and putting on great performances to avoid damage like that more, but it’s always a realistic possibility against elite fighters.

Moraes was also a monster striker. He fully slept Aljo for example. Petr is more of a decision guy. I don’t see him being able to hurt Merab.

 

[asdf122345]

Just slam your money on Merab.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

I didn't say he was a bad fighter. I just don't find him a particularly exciting one.

That’s fine, I just don’t understand on what basis - he has an incredibly high degree of technical skill in everything, his style is adaptive kickboxer, he has good output and can fight in all styles, he always comes to hurt his opponent and is ultra-violent. Even when opponents try to stall him out or point-fight he still works his ass off to adapt and change the fight.

Tough to see what there is to dislike from an entertainment standpoint.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

Moraes was also a monster striker. He fully slept Aljo for example. Petr is more of a decision guy. I don’t see him being able to hurt Merab.

But he’s literally dropped or hurt every opponent he’s fought except Merab.

So this more about Merab’s ability to take/avoid heavy damage then Yan’s ability to hurt people.

He has plenty of power and it’s been shown many times with a variety of different strikes.

 

[josh345]

Merab vs Sandhagen was nothing like Khamzat vs DDP, why are you acting like it was

I actually didn't mind that fight and thought sandhagen was looking good until he got rocked in round 2 and the fight changed. Some people had it 2-2 going into the last round. Merab is a beast though who just wilts people.

 

[BowserJr]

I been saying that for years mma needs a rules change similar to a shot clock for holding positions.
Although Merab theoretically would not be in alot of trouble here since he gets alot of the takedowns, excluding the Aldo fight.

I think a takedown plus nothing should be considered a draw in points/effectiveness