Amirkhani vs. Knight

This is the official discussion thread for Amirkhani vs. Knight. Let's see what you've got.

Should be a fun one.

I hope I'm wrong, but I'm just getting the feeling that amirkhani comes out funky and finds a way to avoid the brawl.

Tale of the tape: Jason is 25, 5’10, with a 71.5 or 72 inch reach. Makwan is 29, 5’9 or 5’10, with a 72 inch reach. Who’s the superior striker? Answer: neither are known for tko/ko’ing opponents but I’d have to give the slight edge to Jason Knight due to aggression, volume, & endurance as he is the more active fighter of the two. Makwan will probably have ring-rust… similar to what happened to him when he fought Arnold Allen. His endurance started to fade by rd 3, his striking became more labored & sloppy, & Arnold was able to land counter-punches on him. I believe Jason will be able to catch Makwan off-guard with a clean one-two combination when Makwan is tired. Summary of Jason Knight’s striking: orthodox stance, flat-footed, as the fight progresses he abandons technique & defense, virtually no feints as the fight progresses in the later rounds, walks forward pressuring opponents to engage him in a brawl, throws wild haymakers… very sloppy boxing… kinda looks like his arms are flailing around, high volume punches… overall he has a high work rate, rarely moves his head off the center line… he absorbs a lot of shots to the head, chin tuck, both arms tucked in close to his rib cage to protect against bodykicks & takedowns, throws a few kicks here & there… his most effect kick is his right high kick, constantly throws a one-two combination… problem is that he does not set-up his shots so majority of the time his opponents are able to move away or counter him, his punches are a bit too predictable as he only head hunts & no set-up, likes to use his left hand to pull his opponent’s right hand down, & frequently mixes his strikes with takedowns. However, similar to how he does not set-up his strikes, he also doesn’t set-up his takedowns either… at best he’ll throw a jab or after his one-two combination he’ll shoot in for a takedown. He shoots for a takedown too far away & is easily defended… bad judgement in distance… very reckless… can get himself KO’ed like that. Mostly use aggression & power to score a takedown… not so much in terms of technique. Although he isn’t the most technical striker or known for KO power, he is somewhat of a dangerous striker because 1.) likes to brawl 2.) good chin… willing to absorb shots in order to land one of his own. 3.) good endurance… high volume & high pace fight 4.) mix strikes with takedowns… even if he isn’t that great in level-changing on opponents. 5.) throws a lot of power shots 6.) constantly marches forward pressuring opponents + high volume = can eventually break opponents down. A terrible matchup for jason knight in the striking department would be someone that has a lot of footwork, angles, endurance, decent chin, decent in counter-striking, decent takedown defense, excellent in scrambling, & superior boxing… either in offense, defense, or both. Perfect example would be someone like dominick cruz, tj dillashaw, frankie edgar, & we saw Gabriel Benitez get the better of Jason Knight in the striking for all 3 rounds. Summary of Makwan’s striking: southpaw stance, hands low, doesn’t move his head off the center-line especially when he throws punches, throws a lot of kicks… especially body kicks & push kicks, doesn’t throw too many combinations with his hands, decent at counter-punching opponents, his striking isn’t dangerous if he can’t land takedowns or if opponents immediately stand back up. In his first 2 ufc fights he won in the first round by taking both opponent’s off guard with a flying knee & punches in the opening round. Don’t think he’ll take Jason Knight off guard in the opening round with aggression… Jason Knight would probably be more than happy to brawl with him in the opening round. Who’s the superior grappler? Answer: neither, hard to tell… both come from a grappling background before transitioning into mma. I would give the mma grappling slight edge to Makwan. MMA wrestling - Makwan. Makwan comes from a wrestling background… been wrestling as a kid. MMA jiu-jitsu - neither… both have a lot of wins via submission. Neither has ever been submitted. Don’t think either will submit the other although it is possible one will tap. I think the deciding factor in the grappling department will come down to who has better endurance… I’m going with Jason Knight. If they grapple in the 3rd round, Jason might get the better of the grappling exchanges because of his endurance while Makwan has ring-rust.

I actually think Knight gets a mid to late submission on Amirkhani. He's tapped out some very credible grappler in the past, and has one of the best and most active offensive guards in the division. I watched a recent interview with him and he seems right mentally. He was sick as a dog in the Benitez fight and had all kinds of issues going into it, and literally had no energy, and in the fight with Lamas makes no excuses, but he has been working on his head movement and just got caught clean. I think we'll see the old Jason Knight here, and he's prepared for Makwan's wrestling game. Think he pressures, gets the better on the feet, and Amirkhani eventually leaves something out there in a scramble and gets caught in a triangle or armbar.

Ridiculously tough pick, for me, this. Amirkhani could definitely out-wrestle him to a UD, but I can see Knight's scrappiness winning him 2/3 judges, split decision.

This is going to be a good scrap. I got Amirkhani making good use of his time off to improve and catches Knight in a good spot. Take the dog in this fight

I'm super pumped for this scrap. Knight is a dog, he's coming to fight. Makwan needs to avoid a dogfight. If Makwan's in Knight's head he might take this, but if Knight's got Makwan emotional I expect he'll starch him.

Well, no scrambles on the ground because all Amirkhani could do was stall in top position and do literally nothing on the ground. Maybe I should've anticipated that. Still almost got knocked out twice and submitted once. He won't gain any fans with that kind of performance.

Really thought Jason Knight won, to be honest. The stalling on Amirkhani's part shouldn't be rewarded. At least Knight was moving and doing stuff while on the bottom. And that's on top of the fact Knight dropped and seemingly put Amirkhani out twice in R1. 

I don't know. One of those examples of a fight where the dude who spent alot of time on top should not have been rewarded for it. Because while there, he did literally nothing.