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However, he hasn’t had any issues with controlling his opponents against the fence. He isn’t the cleanest wrestler, struggling to get the fight to the mat more than expected in his UFC run. It’s hard to identify an obvious weakness in Rakhmonov. That does create questions about his ability to go the distance, but his studious approach leads most to speculate he’d be fine. In fact, he’s only entered the third round once. Despite that measured approach, Rakhmonov has yet to go the distance in a fight. Second, Rakhmonov takes a more measured approach in his fighting, concentrating a bit more on defense than Chimaev. In fact, Rakhmonov doesn’t have a strong grasp of the English language quite yet. First, he isn’t nearly as cocky on the mic as Chimaev. As for why Rakhmonov hasn’t been getting the same amount of attention as Chimaev is twofold. He’s not quite as tall as the Chechen fighter, but he does have a slightly longer reach. Rakhmonov possesses a similarly intimidating physical frame to Chimaev.
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He didn’t get it, but he did get someone who could very well have just as much upside as Chimaev in Rakhmonov. He was also ballsy enough to continually ask for a fight with Khamzat Chimaev. He has wins over former UFC champions Robbie Lawler, Johny Hendricks, and Carlos Condit. He’s tied for the most wins in the welterweight division in UFC history, sharing that honor with Georges St-Pierre. There’s no doubt Magny is one of the most disrespected members of the UFC roster. I wouldn’t be surprised if it proves to be a FoTY candidate, but I won’t be so bold as to predict that. However, Tsarukyan has the edge in physical gifts and is no dummy in his own right. Gamrot has never been finished and is one of the most intelligent fighters on the roster. This should be a closer fight than many are predicting. The fact the fight is five rounds is new territory for Tsarukyan, but very familiar for Gamrot. Despite that, he’s got the rougher edges and it isn’t hard to see Gamrot outslick the aggressive Armenian. A jab has developed, allowing him to set up his power shots. Despite a likely edge on the feet for Gamrot, Tsarukyan has progressed on the feet as well. He may not be quite as powerful, but he’s shown he has enough power in his fists that he needs to be respected. There’s no doubt Gamrot is the more polished striker. He may not be able to outmuscle Tsarukyan the way he did Jeremy Stephens, but it isn’t hard to see him utilizing his ability to scramble to catch Tsarukyan off-guard. Of course, there’s a question of whether Gamrot’s lighter frame will prove to be a disadvantage against the bricked up frame of Tsarukyan. His wrestling is still his primary weapon, his jab doing an excellent job of disguising his shots thanks to his lightning fast ability to dive on his opponent’s legs. Instead of utilizing his jab to just probe at his opponent’s defense and chip away, Gamrot began throwing it with a purpose and following it up with more power shots. The Pole quickly adapted after losing his debut to Guram Kutateladze. Of course, that was due to Gamrot fighting so many of those contests in KSW that he appeared to suffer a bit of a shock to the system when he migrated over to the UFC and opened up fighting three round contests. The former two-division champion is on the small side for lightweight – some believed he would have been better off plying his trade at featherweight – but he has also built his game perfectly around fighting in five-round affairs.
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Given his prominent run in KSW, Gamrot has been on the radar MMA fans for a long time. Of course, Tsarukyan isn’t facing Makhachev he’s facing Gamrot. Couple the mean streak he has shown – his GnP in his most recent contest was absolutely brutal – with his improvements and it isn’t ridiculous to predict he’d be able to produce a different outcome should he rematch Makhachev. While Tsarukyan can do that, he’s also proven himself to be a fine scrambler who has refined his technique the deeper his UFC career goes. Looking at him, given his stout frame, you’d think he was just a bulldozer reliant upon his brute strength. Outside of Makhachev’s KO loss to Adriano Martins, no one has given the seeming heir apparent to the lightweight crown a better run for his money. Tsarukyan established himself as a hell of a ground fighter right from that debut with Makhachev. Tsarukyan has been an exception to the rule following his competitive debut against Islam Makhachev. More often than not, those fighters end up not being able to live up to the hype. There have been several occasions when a young fighter puts on a spirited performance against an established opponent and obtains a lot of hype in the process, despite suffering a loss.