Islam Makhachev Claims Usman Nurmagomedov Has Better Striking Than Dustin Poirier

In his last fight, Islam had so much meldonium in his system, he was practically glowing. I think it is going to be a rough night for Poirier
 
Kowboy On Sherdog said:
Usman is pretty elite

nurmagomedov-usman-nurmagomedov.gif
Click to expand...
Watching benson getting footed to the face is immensely satisfying
 
kingmob6 said:
Poirier's striking is robust, but its pretty one dimensional.

Usman is a natural martial artist, with a diverse skillset. He is a better striker, however, it doesn't mean he is more effective. Time will tell. I have noticed though that his defense holds up so far in fights, he doesn't get hit often, while Poirier stands in the fire and puts himself at risk. I would agree with Islam conditionally.
Click to expand...

The issue with these discussions is how unclear they are. Usmans biggest command of his striking is his grappling...he controls range well and fights long but a big reason as to why that is, is because he's a dominant takedown artist and guys don't want to close distance and give themselves to getting tied up and taken down. On the inside Usman is pretty bad, as is Umar and Islam. They don't move their head much, they can't really throw punches from boxing range effectively and you can just tell they're uncomfortable when forced to exchange there...there's even an emphasis to avoid I've heard both Khabib and Abdulmanap speak on, they feel it's key to mitigating risk.

You saw with Islam, when a guy like Volk could stop the takedowns semi reliably and was willing to close distance...he was not hard to find, even though he gave up all advantages and had to take all the risks vs the bigger, younger man. Similarly if to a lesser extent the smaller, far less experienced Saidyokub had the most success we've ever seen vs Umar because he could defend a lot of the grappling so he was willing to go forward, get inside the kicks and try to make something happen...he made it competitive and even dropped Umar too. Their games are super enveloped for MMA, you can't really extrapolate "their striking" in my opinion, but in a zero grappling allowed match? I think there's a great chance Poirier can consistently weather the kicks, get inside and break Usman down. I think Shabliy had a good chance to beat Usman but that gym doesn't like their fighters taking hard fights, they are smart about matchmaking.

Usman definitely wins in an MMA bout though, Poiriers second guessing closing distance every second of the fight while getting diced up with kicks because once he closes the distance he will get tied up and taken down. And also Usman is way younger, bigger and fresher.
 
biscuitsbrah said:
Watching benson getting footed to the face is immensely satisfying
Click to expand...
Haha I forgot about that. This guy has elite level striking and can't even stay standing off a head kick(not that I can do better).

He is a great MMA fighter, but I wouldn't be calling him a great striker. He is just offensively good with the wrestling threat to cover his holes.
 
biscuitsbrah said:
Watching benson getting footed to the face is immensely satisfying
Click to expand...

maximus__ said:
Haha I forgot about that. This guy has elite level striking and can't even stay standing off a head kick(not that I can do better).

He is a great MMA fighter, but I wouldn't be calling him a great striker. He is just offensively good with the wrestling threat to cover his holes.
Click to expand...
nurmagomedov-henderson-kick.jpg
 
Poirier doesn't have much of a kicking game, although he does target the lead leg quite often so yeah, Usman's kicking game is far more creative and skilful.

However, Poirier is a far better boxer amd has the ability to shut your lights out, Usman doesn't have that, not yet anyway.
 
Man compliments close relative and training partner against a complete stranger who is his future opponent.

I am in awe.

Some of ya’ll never touched grass to make thread titles like that.
 
I can see Poirier catching
Makhachev, if Makhachev feels confident is his striking. I honestly think this fight is going to be a little more competitive than what people are expecting, people are expecting Makhachev to look & fight like Nurmagomedov, he doesn't. Even their takedowns and approach to getting the fight to the ground is entirely different.

I'm going with Poirier on this one.
 
Milenkovic said:
He pissed hot for Cold and Flu medication
Click to expand...
I heard it was an IV and they forgot to submit the exemption for his fight. They kept it on the down low because of the controversy with Islam.
Bellator doesn't have one governing agency, you have to submit your exemptions directly to the local agency.
 
Well I mean that goes without saying. Usman could come to UFC right now and become champ fairly easy assuming Islam is not around. There's not a single fighter in the top 10 that I can see him struggle against.
 
JustOnce said:
That's not true at all. And the kid pissed hot already wtf.

Not only that their striking style is so different, might as well bring in khabib to prepare for Poirier. As a matter of fact, there might be more similarity between the two.

Usman is good but what makes him great is his grappling. I think Umar is better.
Click to expand...
you really believe your heroes in mma are clean as randy the natural couture
or are u telling us that your naive
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,239,567
Messages
55,637,418
Members
174,866
Latest member
john_k47

Share this page

Back
Top