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#4 Anthony Rocco Martin vs. Ramazan Emeev
It’s been a long time since we last saw Ramazan Emeev; the Dagestani is 3-0 in the UFC, but hasn’t fought in over a year due to a combination of injuries and Visa issues. A powerful striker, Emeev has an impressive record and hasn’t tasted defeat since 2014, but this is a pretty major step up in competition for him.
Anthony Rocco Martin was last seen in a tough loss to Demian Maia. ‘Rocco’ was unable to stop the master grappler in the first two rounds and then simply couldn’t do enough to finish the Brazilian in the third round. Outside of that though, he’s been perfect at 170lbs, defeating Jake Matthews with his powerful grappling game and using his striking to beat Sergio Moraes and Ryan Laflare.
Faced with a striker as powerful as Emeev, it’s likely that Martin will want to impose his will on the Dagestani by taking him to the ground, rather than standing and trading with him. ‘Gorets’ isn’t a total novice on the ground – he escaped some dangerous positions in his fight with Alberto Mina – but Martin is an extremely skilled grappler capable of taking out all but the best on the mat.
For me then this comes down to whether Martin can get Emeev to the ground. If he can then I suspect it’ll be his fight to lose, he’s very heavy from the top, is more than capable of catching dangerous chokes and other submissions, particularly power-based ones like the kimura, and his top control alone could easily wear Emeev out.
If he can’t do that? He’s definitely in danger as Emeev hits extremely hard, but then Martin has shown a seriously tough chin in his prior fights – he’s never been KOd and took some serious punishment from Matthews and Rashid Magomedov too – and it’s not like he’ll be at a size disadvantage despite Emeev dropping down to Welterweight from 185lbs, as Emeev is more stocky while Martin is longer and lankier. And Martin’s striking has improved immeasurably over his recent fights and he looked fantastic standing in that win over Laflare.
For me, Martin is the fighter with more ways to win this fight and so I’m taking him, while also acknowledging that Emeev definitely has a puncher’s chance. I’ll take Martin to wear out the Dagestani and take a decision.
The Pick: Martin via unanimous decision
