Originally <a href='/showthread.php?p=18298726'>posted</a> on 04/04/2013:

Completely serious. Come at me.

Pat Curran is a vastly superior technical striker with elite defence, some of the best striking defence in MMA. He's also the most well-rounded guy in that division, has very solid wrestling, and a fantastic BJJ game.

What you get in Shamhalaev is a guy with an incredible combination of speed and knockout power. He's one of the best natural knockout artists below 185. Unfortunately, when you take away his speed, he doesn't have much else. He has very questionable cardio and weak takedown defence. He also seems to lack a ground game to speak of. His technique on the feet is lacking, especially for someone who is supposedly a "Muay Thai world champion", and he's always searching for the big right hand, gradually degenerating into throwing it without set-up the longer the fight goes. Curran has an extreme reach edge, a big height edge, a big technical striking edge, and he is so unbelievably disciplined in his approach that there's never a risk of it turning into an all-out brawl. Outside of his ability to avoid the big knockout shot with his elusive movement, he also has a great chin. He won't have any trouble getting the fight to the floor or easily out-striking Shamhalaev on the feet in the later rounds, and he's technical and intelligent enough to avoid the early danger. He's too slick and too disciplined to fall for Shamhalaev's speed-based counter shots, and once you get past that, there isn't much left to his game. Hope you liked the breakdown Hannibro, figured I'd write one for once instead of just posting my play.

Lock it up cousins. Curran, large, all day.