Yan should win this, Merab's last 4 have all been past prime OGs. Striking should be fairly easy as long as he keeps his distance to avoid the clinch. Would be sad if Yan lost via 3 split decisions in a row,
I think Yan is or at least WAS slightly overrated. Beat an ancient Faber and an ageing Aldo, and while I reckon those guys were still relatively elite (featherweight GOAT contender and probably the best UFC fighter to never win a belt respectively) and I suppose a solid albeit green contender in Sandhagen too - not to mention Aldo was winning that fight going into championship rounds as well. Now, though, it's AD2023, weird fight against Sterling in the rematch and should've declined the Suga Show 3-rounder as a) Suga was clearly better than his haters said and b) he was always going to be a massive A-side on the cards, and suddenly Yan is on a losing streak Merab, I believe, has really good cardio and Yan tends to dominate once his opponents begin to tire. Also Merab should be turned into dogfood for stinking up Aldo's final fight. Absolute *****. In fact the bantamweight division in 2021 was incredible and now it's just good. Why didn't the UFC push for something like a Cruz vs Aldo fight to please the hardcore fans? There was a ton of fights that could've been made. Imagine having TJ, Cody, Cruz, Cejudo, Aldo and newer contenders all in the top 10/15. Now it's boring ****ing decision-machines like Merab Anyway, I can see Merab winning via UD unless Yan pulls out something big, and if Sterling beats Cejudo and then O'Malley before bouncing to 145, I guess Merab would fight for the vacant title
Yan is now on a 3 fight L streak. And this time he was completely dominated. Some still claimed that he was the best Bantamweight, I guess they won´t do so any longer.
They’ll just claim he was robbed like they do after every loss. I recall a Jack Slack podcast awhile back where he made the point that Petr fans claim that he’s going to run through his opponents, but every time they end up debating which rounds in the fight he might have took.
So true. I guess they will shut up for a little bit and then come back with a vengeance once Yan gets a W under his belt.
Yan would be happier @ ONE. I don't think there is an anti-Russian bias in the UFC, but him and the company clearly don't gel well. Singapore is closer to home, has deeper divisions for small guys (and Yan imo is undersized for 135) and I have a feeling PED use is more even across the board. Merab had a similar bloated look to him like Chandler does and his output, even for a cardio guy, was suspicious. Looked completely fresh in the 5th round after pushing a crazy pace. I don't care about PEDs, as I'm a Jon Jones fan, but the problem with ineffective or even inconsistent drug testing is that you have Phil Heaths and Lance Armstrongs battering natural guys Also I hope the UFC has a serious chat behind closed doors with Merab because he is singlehandedly ruining what was the most stacked UFC division 18 months ago. This dude has no intention of fighting his teammate, the champ, Aljo, but is happy to keep beating top contenders (through an anti-crowd style might I add). He is basically a bodyguard at this point. Beats the legendary Jose Aldo by holding him against the cage and kneeing him in the thigh and beats the former 135 boogeyman by setting a new (divisional?) record for failed takedowns and barely lands a clean punch. If Aljo beats Cejudo, he'll fight O'Malley, and even if he beats O'Malley I don't see the UFC letting him go for champ-champ @ 145 any time soon. Plus I wouldn't be surprised if O'Malley got a quick rematch, which Aljo would be interested in financially, and even IF O'Malley won the 135 belt, his first defence will be Vera should he beat Sandhagen, as Suga has said this previously. According to Cejudo, the UFC want him to beat Aljo because he is a better matchup for Suga. tl;dr Merab won't be offered/accepting a title-shot until 2024 at the EARLIEST and is allowed to beat top 10 guys through an anti-crowd style It's like if Max Holloway and Volk were teammates, and Max kept destroying top-contender after top-contender so that Volk didn't have to fight them, all while refusing to fight Volk. Pathetic and I thought the UFC would matchmake better. I'm not salty as I DO think Yan is overrated, but it's sad to see a talented (albeit overrated) guy's career destroyed and the UFC's best current division ruined like this. The bantamweight top 3 is literally artificial at this point. It's crazy
Dana already threatened Merab. And honestly, UFC has been generous to Yan. Title shot within 2 years and he has had nothing but big opportunities. But yea, he might find more love in ONE.
Good. **** him. Though I do have to wonder why wait until now for Dana to say this...? Anyway, I like Yan but beating an ancient Faber and ageing Aldo (who was winning that fight going into the championship rounds) needs to be seen for what it really was
