1:24 - this the the best way to deal with a merab you have to hurt him to slow him down i fully agree, umar was doing that with his boxing then just started kicking him and wasting cardio he doesn't have once merab keep pushing foward Had he boxed merab for 3 rounds and stood toe to toe with him instead of fighting on his backfoot he would have done more damage than he did and won all the ealier rounds, then he could have spent the last two rounds conserving energy and pick up a 3-2 decision victory
In my opinion, there's no way an opponent can reasonably expect to outlast Merab in a five round, high paced fight. His gas tank, pressure, and pace are simply too much and are very unlikely to be matched by any fighter in his division at the moment. First off, I'll immediately say that if a bantamweight can't defend the takedown, it is very unlikely that he will be the one to dethrone him. the being said, In my opinion there's two ways to beat him. the first option would be to catch him with something early and put him away, plain and simple. the second (and much more likely) path to victory would be to do what Umar did, defend the takedown and out strike him from the outside, but manage to do it for 3 full rounds without gassing out. After that, even if you succumb to the pressure and pace like they all do, you'll win on the scorecards as long as he doesn't get the finish which is likely to happen if you look at his track record.
0:38 - i disagree. Haven't you noticed merab shoots less and is more accurate with his takedowns nowadays? Its been a thing since his fight with cejudo he no longer just shoots like that and only did it to umar once he started to notice his tank was running low He uses it smarter nowadays and actually conserves cardio better even though he doesn't really need too 😂😂 His success rate is a lot higher than it used to be and he uses his hands more nowadays so even his striking cardio is far better than what it used to be
@JustFactsCombat his striking has definitely improved a lot but he still extremely wrestle heavy. He had to break down Cejudo and Umar more because they have great wrestling skills but if he goes in with a striker like O'Malley he'll be more wrestle heavy and that's not a bad thing.
@KingOfCrackdown5095 I also feel he uses his strikes better to set up takedowns nowadays too which makes it harder to anticipate the fake ones, it's a trick I saw work on umar well he kept falling for it after a while like you perfectly demonstrated in this video so that is a big improvement from just shooting 30 takedowns to ware on opponents defensively That's what makes this harder to implement but your point is correct to be merab 100% you have to fight to hurt him and not just get around his cardio, another thing I felt would have worked for umar was attempting more subs when merab went for takedowns of course when it's clear he can lock something in, easier said than done but umar has good chokes and guillotines it would have made merab more cautious of attempting to take him down
1:24 - this the the best way to deal with a merab you have to hurt him to slow him down i fully agree, umar was doing that with his boxing then just started kicking him and wasting cardio he doesn't have once merab keep pushing foward
Had he boxed merab for 3 rounds and stood toe to toe with him instead of fighting on his backfoot he would have done more damage than he did and won all the ealier rounds, then he could have spent the last two rounds conserving energy and pick up a 3-2 decision victory
Easier said than done
@@Lifesituations8000 definitely
In my opinion, there's no way an opponent can reasonably expect to outlast Merab in a five round, high paced fight. His gas tank, pressure, and pace are simply too much and are very unlikely to be matched by any fighter in his division at the moment. First off, I'll immediately say that if a bantamweight can't defend the takedown, it is very unlikely that he will be the one to dethrone him. the being said, In my opinion there's two ways to beat him. the first option would be to catch him with something early and put him away, plain and simple. the second (and much more likely) path to victory would be to do what Umar did, defend the takedown and out strike him from the outside, but manage to do it for 3 full rounds without gassing out. After that, even if you succumb to the pressure and pace like they all do, you'll win on the scorecards as long as he doesn't get the finish which is likely to happen if you look at his track record.
0:38 - i disagree. Haven't you noticed merab shoots less and is more accurate with his takedowns nowadays? Its been a thing since his fight with cejudo he no longer just shoots like that and only did it to umar once he started to notice his tank was running low
He uses it smarter nowadays and actually conserves cardio better even though he doesn't really need too 😂😂
His success rate is a lot higher than it used to be and he uses his hands more nowadays so even his striking cardio is far better than what it used to be
@JustFactsCombat his striking has definitely improved a lot but he still extremely wrestle heavy. He had to break down Cejudo and Umar more because they have great wrestling skills but if he goes in with a striker like O'Malley he'll be more wrestle heavy and that's not a bad thing.
@KingOfCrackdown5095 I also feel he uses his strikes better to set up takedowns nowadays too which makes it harder to anticipate the fake ones, it's a trick I saw work on umar well he kept falling for it after a while like you perfectly demonstrated in this video so that is a big improvement from just shooting 30 takedowns to ware on opponents defensively
That's what makes this harder to implement but your point is correct to be merab 100% you have to fight to hurt him and not just get around his cardio, another thing I felt would have worked for umar was attempting more subs when merab went for takedowns of course when it's clear he can lock something in, easier said than done but umar has good chokes and guillotines it would have made merab more cautious of attempting to take him down
Shit why didn’t I think of that? - suga