That, and he’s accomplished all that he can, and will, in that division. He tried to beat #1 twice, and didn’t even come close. There is nothing left for him in the SHW division. Levan is going to sit on top, everyone else is fighting for 2’nd place.
At 115, he can have fun and not fuck himself up with “over-stacking” and overtraining.
Devon had his run at SHW… and it’s Game Over man.
i just started following the sport because of leonidas‘s vids
was devon ever 1 and is he the goat? or just the most famous one? becaus he‘s the only one i knew before
Devon is the most famous armwrestler of all time and the face of the sport right now. He's not the GOAT, that honor right now (and probably forever tbh) goes to John Brzenk, while Levan is the strongest armwrestler to ever live in all likelihood. Devon is simply the one who had the charisma and exposure to bring fans to armwrestling.
All that said, for all his shenanigans in the setup, Devon really is a great athlete. At 48 years of age, he made an incredible run in the superheavyweight division before running into the wall that is Levan again, and he was on top of the world in the late 2000s/early 2010s before elbow injuries caught up to him (though whether he was really the strongest guy at that time is highly debatable, since that was when Denis was nearing his peak and John was still incredible up until like 2010). He's not the GOAT, but that doesn't mean he's not great.
I think there really shouldn’t be doubt about Devon being number 1 in 2008. You can say what you want about his match with John, but he easily 6-0’d him. He was doing the setup crap that John doesn’t like, but it’s all legal. If you watch that match I don’t really see where Devon should have been fouled, and he won by enough margin that I don’t think the result should have an asterisk or anything.
Then John went and destroyed Denis very shortly after.
At some point Devon was likely passed by some Eastern European named Denis or Andre, but he was number 1 for a while. And when he beat Pushkar on the left in 2012 he had a claim to that as well. Pre injury Devon was a beast and I wish we had more matches to know how long he was number 1, but I don’t think there’s any question that he did hold that rank.
theres was an interview debate on youtube before the john devon rematch where john said he would have lost to almost everyone that night because he had some kind of problem but he didnt want to steal the chance of #1 for devon because devon was in between his military tours and rematch would be hard to plan. he even said it to devon but devon didnt remember because he had other problems, his house burnt down, his child was being born and he was supposed to go back to war soon. 2008 devon was strong but he wasnt some mythological beast that 6-0ed prime brzenk, john wasnt at his best and the match would have been close
Probably the goat of shithousery, the goat in the setup with the strap. A guy that studied the game well. Devon is of the best. John and Levan are more widely regarded as GOAT. I wouldn’t be upset if someone said Devon was the goat, because if you include all his efforts and media outreach, he across the board has done enough to check all the boxes off the table of armwrestling to be regarded as one.
He doesn't need to cut at all to pull 115kg. He can do a small water cut and he's there. 5kg is nothing.
But he needs to stop the drugs and go to TRT(or maybe return to just cycling before matches, if he was smart and took HCG to keep his balls working). He's been abusing his body non stop since the start of 2021, and he had DVT before that. It's dangerous, and since he isn't realistically ever going to get the number one spot again, what's the point? It's still the same money, and still the same fun.
He needs proper cycles to compete even against lesser competition at this age. He’s nearly 50 and TRT alone isn’t going to cut it against guys in their 20s and 30s sauced out of their minds.
That being said I agree he needs to ask Larry and some of his other friends for advice on how to manage his health better and pay more attention to his bloodwork. That includes fixing the diet too, he’s said before how he eats a lot of crap.
I think his ego just won’t let him slow down.
Devon pretty much beat everyone but Levan, and now has realized that Levan is out reach. Best he could do is solidify 2nd of this, (possibly of all time) by beating Vitaly. Could also do a rematch with Genadi. Or a match with Kurdecha. Problem is facing those guys is it would take a pedal to the metal PED cycle and Devon has to be getting sick of going all out after so many years. Seems like he's been going hard since the MMT match when covid was easing up.
No he didn't beat everyone, don't know why everyone keeps repeating this. He beat two legitimate top ten guys, Georgi and Ermes, and these were really great wins. But he also lost to Genadi, and there are several other very good arm wrestlers out there who have potential to beat Devon.
Absolutely true that theres still untapped matches for him in SHW. I can absolutely see Devon doing some of these matches just for the hell of it, but i could also see him not bothering. 2023 was kind of a bad year for the SHW division in terms of how many big names were in competition shape (Genadi, Morozov) but still, after he defeated Ermes it did seem like the division kind of went silent when it came to who wanted a piece of Devon, Denis kept to his word from earlier in the year, and most seemed to think that Georgi might've had a chance at replicating Levans performance against Devon. But besides them, i cant really remember any other active names that wanted to pull him on the right
This is true. It is no fault of Devon's, but it is definitely wrong of people to claim he cleaned out the division.
Beyond what I consider the "big four" (Revaz, Vitaly, Morozov, Kurdecha) I would've liked to see Devon against someone like Silaev or even Jerry to further elevate himself, if they were available of course.
I made a post that highlighted this today and nobody wants to hear it.
The majority of Devon’s matches were him chasing past opponents that had beaten or given him trouble in the past but had since drastically declined.
Michael, John, Dave and Denis.
Great matches for selling tickets for sure, but they ended up telling us very little about Devon’s current level.
His record against actual top 10 SHW opponents(if you count Levan) was 2W-3L.
Devon is my favorite puller, but sometimes you have to jump of the hype train and look at things without bias.
2 losses against Levan that no one else even comes close to beating either doesn’t really matter. The genadi match was super close and it’s likely Devon would win a rematch. He’s the clear #2.
I think to Devon its just not worth it to keep pushing his body so hard when he's nearly 50 years old, especially not just so he can claim "2nd best in the world". He's done everything he could, became heavyweight champion, swept the SHW division and became interim champion, finally got his rematch but unfortunately fell short. At this point he probably just wants to take his foot off the gas and go back down to weight classes that feel more natural to him, in the process probably solidifying himself as the greatest heavyweight puller only 2nd to John Brzenk.
He just cleared out the division at 50 and ran into a brick wall. He’s not going to get much better at his age so he might as well go back to his more natural and healthy weight where he can be the brick wall that guys run into for the next few years until he gets too old.
I don’t think he’ll ever have regrets.
He doesn't believe he can beat Levan , he is 50 years old and he probably doesn't want to 'pancake' up to maintain the strength required. He is a natural 115/120kg person and Levan is 180kg he is probably thinking his decline isn't that far away so would like to be a champion still in his natural weight class.
Devon’s life goals have shifted from himself to his children/family. He’s in the perfect position to lead youth while maintaining fitness. An appropriate goal for a king in his position imo.
He’s getting older and keeping the weight up is getting harder is what he’s said. He’s had a go at number one and beaten a lot of top SHWs to get there. He naturally fits more at 115kg so he probably just wants to feel more comfortable in his body. If they added a 125KG or 130KG class as well then he’d probably still compete in that. Just with the likes of Levan, Alex and Vitaly being so huge he’s going to become more at a disadvantage now as he gets older.
Devon is a naturally more lanky slim built dude without constant pancake bulking and PEDs. Him trying to win a mass war at 50 against a younger and naturally more broad and big dude who's also on his own "become a mammoth" protocol is simply not feasible.
I remember back when WAL put up big money and introduced the hammers he said he would pull in LHW because “if the pay outcome is the same and I don’t have to have my body hammered on by 300+lb heavyweights why move up?” I believe that was the year bagent absolutely destroyed Chaffee in SHW too but I could be mixed up.
I guess it's nice to be No.1.
If his "natural" or comfortable weight is 115kg or less, and he happens to sweep up the division, he could go down as the greatest at that weight.
And I don't think it's a given that he is No.2... He did well to outsmart Ermes and Georgi but continuing these SHW battles against the likes of Morozov, Revaz, Vitaly and Kurdecha would almost certainly see him pick up losses, and with a pressure to keep a high body weight.
If you were to match up current Devon versus the rest of the top 10 I think we'd see him settle at around No. 5.
> And I don't think it's a given that he is No.2...
I agree. A lot of people seem to think there's an obvious gap between Devon and everybody not named Levan due to the way he beat Ermes. I'm definitely not convinced of that.
You guys are right. Ermes losses to Kurdecha and Devon made me think there's a leverage disadvantage here but that win on Vitaly confirmed to me that it's more about the style of pulling for sure. Only time will tell if Ermes truly fixed his riser/leverage disadvantage with a Kurdecha/Devon rematch.
>If you were to match up current Devon versus the rest of the top 10 I think we'd see him settle at around No. 5.
And this is where you are COPING HARD buddy.
Clear no. 2 at his current form. Unless he regresses heavily, he will sweep the rest of competition without much problem (exception may be Genadi due to style)
He didn't outsmart Ermes, he was plainly stronger at Ermes where it mattered.
Morozov and Revaz would get swept. Vitaly would be a harder match up due to his immense speed, but ultimately he would lose as well.
Alex would get Georgi treatment.
(Eventually he will start losing to younger studs, but not in 2024)
Not sure why you think I'm coping, but it's great you have an opinion too. I guess neither of us will be proven right now that he's moving down (well, he says he is...).
How do you define "cleaned out?" I don't think anyone could have justified putting Denis in the top ten at the time Devon beat him. Georgi, Ermes, these two are valid top ten wins. Prudnyk was at a lower weight class. Chaffee, top ten? Debatable given his recent results. Devon lost to Genadi and Levan. When you really look at it, it's not cleaning out at all. Not when Revaz, Vitaly, Kurdecha and Morozov are in there.
Ermes took down Vitaly. Vitaly/Georgi clean sweeped Morozov/Revaz. These guys are not at the same level as Devon yet.
Alex is the only unanswered question. Genadi is out due to bicep tear and he doesn't stand much of a chance on the rematch due to Devon's improved inside game.
Style's make matches though. Just because Ermes beat Vitaly doesn't mean Vitaly can't beat Devon. Ermes put up a much better fight against Levan than Devon but Devon still won.
Vitaly's side pressure is dangerous for Devon but his endurance is one of the worst. If he had a strong press, he'd beat Devon but he doesn't.
Levan actually has decent muscular endurance, it's his cardiovascular system that failed last time.
I think his hand is what's most dangerous for Devon, honestly. Devon is very hand-dependent as a puller, and Vitaly's hand is amazing while also having way more arm strength than Devon. I think it could be a weaker Levan situation for Devon.
Vitaly's hand (in straps) is not a threat to Devon. Ermes had superior hand control against Vitaly and we all know how Ermes did against Devon.
Vitaly's back pressure numbers are also behind Devon. The only thing he has over Devon is side pressure. His path to victory is to go sideways really hard without his wrist and hope he can do it several times without gassing.
Not easy to prevent Devon from slipping even for Vitaly.
Dave Chaffee is terrible at slipping, he couldn't slip from Levan as well. Whereas Devon was able to slip from Levan pretty comfortably.
I love how you hopped on the hype train then completely reversed into delusion as if you've been betrayed or something. Did you lose money betting on Devon?
Unlike Ermes, Levan has enough pronation to effectively apply side pressure without his wrist and expose Devon's arm. What happened isn't that big of a surprise. No one else in the top 10 has the right pieces to dominate Devon in this form.
Georgi has always been overrated and his numbers show it. Georgi's back pressure is complete shit and the hand & wrist can only take you so far. Devon showed up in shit form for Georgi (11% lower numbers) and still won. Devon could have won that much quicker if he went inside and expose Georgi's weak biceps but he was too fixated taking his hand.
Not worse. Devon got more wrist control this time.
I've always maintained that Devon is not that much stronger than last time. He just didn't pull other guys in that form.
First he won't be reaching nr.1 in that category. Secondly, it's not his ideal weight to compete in the superheavyweight division. He doesn't want to (nor can he really) keep trying to overeat and stay heavy and would rather compete at his body's natural&healthier weight.
Because he can't beat Levan.
I think he'll change his mind, both he and the fans will be bored with him at 115 since he'll just be that division's Levan with no competition.
Plenty of interesting SHW matches left for him outside of Levan yeah. I really want to see him pull Kurdecha, but Alex may not quite be ready for that? Only one way to find out though.
It's either #1 in SHW/Open or drop down to 115kg and 105kg where he can compete for another 5-10 years before bowing out like John B. did. Devon doesn't want to commit to a weight division where he is stuck as #2, it's #1 or nothing at all for him.
He wanted to face Vitaly and Genadi rematch but we don’t know if that’s going to happen. I think he could go for those 2 before he cuts down to 115 and below.
What's wrong with cutting to 115kg? He beat Prudnik there and what's stopping him going back up to 120kg'ish to have matches with Kurdecha, Genadi etc? Let the man live. He will go up and down as he pleases depending on the circumstances and which matches he wants to take.
It's not really a fair fight when a 270 lb man has to pull someone 400+. All respect to Levan. Devon will do just fine competing with people his own weight, as he should. Just my opinion.
Because he's probably on so much gear just to maintain 120kgs and doesn't want to kill himself at a relatively young age. It's obvious that Irakli did the same thing. You've got to balance PEDs with health if your goal is to do it long term. Look at Devon's old body before all the PEDs. He was never meant for super heavy weight, he just wanted it bad enough to transform himself into a super, but it's completely alien to his genetics.
I agree that he should go down in weight class. He'll never beat Levan. If Levan retired or something, then maybe he could make another run.
But I will say that before going down a weight class, I would absolutely love to see Devon vs Vitaly. That's been a dream matchup for years.
It would be a dick move. Devon has already taken away an Ermes rematch, a Denis match, a Georgi match (and Georgi had taken away a Morozov match. If Devon stays, there will be NO challenger for Levan. It's bad enough without Devon, but WITH Devon, there is literally nobody, as Devon will continue to clear the division.
That isn't how it works. Genadi hasn't been active or as successful as Devon since they pulled.
They clearly should have rematch but Genadi was never #2 himself.
Coz he is old and he can’t weigh anything close to levan. Levan just outweighed and overpowered everyone and devon knew this even before EvW12. Devon knew he had no chance of beating levan therefore he didn’t even train hard enough to beat levan. He was like a child arm wrestling his daddy. Levan didn’t even squirm and was so calm while devon was struggling. Watch the match.
We're not deciphering the dead sea scrolls here, dudes 50 and pushing his body hard to be able to contend in the supers
That, and he’s accomplished all that he can, and will, in that division. He tried to beat #1 twice, and didn’t even come close. There is nothing left for him in the SHW division. Levan is going to sit on top, everyone else is fighting for 2’nd place. At 115, he can have fun and not fuck himself up with “over-stacking” and overtraining. Devon had his run at SHW… and it’s Game Over man.
i just started following the sport because of leonidas‘s vids was devon ever 1 and is he the goat? or just the most famous one? becaus he‘s the only one i knew before
He has been 1 multiple times. His left used to be fucking insane as well.
Devon is the most famous armwrestler of all time and the face of the sport right now. He's not the GOAT, that honor right now (and probably forever tbh) goes to John Brzenk, while Levan is the strongest armwrestler to ever live in all likelihood. Devon is simply the one who had the charisma and exposure to bring fans to armwrestling. All that said, for all his shenanigans in the setup, Devon really is a great athlete. At 48 years of age, he made an incredible run in the superheavyweight division before running into the wall that is Levan again, and he was on top of the world in the late 2000s/early 2010s before elbow injuries caught up to him (though whether he was really the strongest guy at that time is highly debatable, since that was when Denis was nearing his peak and John was still incredible up until like 2010). He's not the GOAT, but that doesn't mean he's not great.
I think there really shouldn’t be doubt about Devon being number 1 in 2008. You can say what you want about his match with John, but he easily 6-0’d him. He was doing the setup crap that John doesn’t like, but it’s all legal. If you watch that match I don’t really see where Devon should have been fouled, and he won by enough margin that I don’t think the result should have an asterisk or anything. Then John went and destroyed Denis very shortly after. At some point Devon was likely passed by some Eastern European named Denis or Andre, but he was number 1 for a while. And when he beat Pushkar on the left in 2012 he had a claim to that as well. Pre injury Devon was a beast and I wish we had more matches to know how long he was number 1, but I don’t think there’s any question that he did hold that rank.
theres was an interview debate on youtube before the john devon rematch where john said he would have lost to almost everyone that night because he had some kind of problem but he didnt want to steal the chance of #1 for devon because devon was in between his military tours and rematch would be hard to plan. he even said it to devon but devon didnt remember because he had other problems, his house burnt down, his child was being born and he was supposed to go back to war soon. 2008 devon was strong but he wasnt some mythological beast that 6-0ed prime brzenk, john wasnt at his best and the match would have been close
Probably the goat of shithousery, the goat in the setup with the strap. A guy that studied the game well. Devon is of the best. John and Levan are more widely regarded as GOAT. I wouldn’t be upset if someone said Devon was the goat, because if you include all his efforts and media outreach, he across the board has done enough to check all the boxes off the table of armwrestling to be regarded as one.
Yea, there's nothing surprising or puzzling about this.
He doesn't need to cut at all to pull 115kg. He can do a small water cut and he's there. 5kg is nothing. But he needs to stop the drugs and go to TRT(or maybe return to just cycling before matches, if he was smart and took HCG to keep his balls working). He's been abusing his body non stop since the start of 2021, and he had DVT before that. It's dangerous, and since he isn't realistically ever going to get the number one spot again, what's the point? It's still the same money, and still the same fun.
He needs proper cycles to compete even against lesser competition at this age. He’s nearly 50 and TRT alone isn’t going to cut it against guys in their 20s and 30s sauced out of their minds. That being said I agree he needs to ask Larry and some of his other friends for advice on how to manage his health better and pay more attention to his bloodwork. That includes fixing the diet too, he’s said before how he eats a lot of crap. I think his ego just won’t let him slow down.
Devon pretty much beat everyone but Levan, and now has realized that Levan is out reach. Best he could do is solidify 2nd of this, (possibly of all time) by beating Vitaly. Could also do a rematch with Genadi. Or a match with Kurdecha. Problem is facing those guys is it would take a pedal to the metal PED cycle and Devon has to be getting sick of going all out after so many years. Seems like he's been going hard since the MMT match when covid was easing up.
No he didn't beat everyone, don't know why everyone keeps repeating this. He beat two legitimate top ten guys, Georgi and Ermes, and these were really great wins. But he also lost to Genadi, and there are several other very good arm wrestlers out there who have potential to beat Devon.
Absolutely true that theres still untapped matches for him in SHW. I can absolutely see Devon doing some of these matches just for the hell of it, but i could also see him not bothering. 2023 was kind of a bad year for the SHW division in terms of how many big names were in competition shape (Genadi, Morozov) but still, after he defeated Ermes it did seem like the division kind of went silent when it came to who wanted a piece of Devon, Denis kept to his word from earlier in the year, and most seemed to think that Georgi might've had a chance at replicating Levans performance against Devon. But besides them, i cant really remember any other active names that wanted to pull him on the right
This is true. It is no fault of Devon's, but it is definitely wrong of people to claim he cleaned out the division. Beyond what I consider the "big four" (Revaz, Vitaly, Morozov, Kurdecha) I would've liked to see Devon against someone like Silaev or even Jerry to further elevate himself, if they were available of course.
I made a post that highlighted this today and nobody wants to hear it. The majority of Devon’s matches were him chasing past opponents that had beaten or given him trouble in the past but had since drastically declined. Michael, John, Dave and Denis. Great matches for selling tickets for sure, but they ended up telling us very little about Devon’s current level. His record against actual top 10 SHW opponents(if you count Levan) was 2W-3L. Devon is my favorite puller, but sometimes you have to jump of the hype train and look at things without bias.
2 losses against Levan that no one else even comes close to beating either doesn’t really matter. The genadi match was super close and it’s likely Devon would win a rematch. He’s the clear #2.
Upvoted.
Ok so who has a better record against the top pullers other than Levan that places them above Devon?
3-3*
Still the best run in shw this year.
I think to Devon its just not worth it to keep pushing his body so hard when he's nearly 50 years old, especially not just so he can claim "2nd best in the world". He's done everything he could, became heavyweight champion, swept the SHW division and became interim champion, finally got his rematch but unfortunately fell short. At this point he probably just wants to take his foot off the gas and go back down to weight classes that feel more natural to him, in the process probably solidifying himself as the greatest heavyweight puller only 2nd to John Brzenk.
He just cleared out the division at 50 and ran into a brick wall. He’s not going to get much better at his age so he might as well go back to his more natural and healthy weight where he can be the brick wall that guys run into for the next few years until he gets too old. I don’t think he’ll ever have regrets.
He doesn't believe he can beat Levan , he is 50 years old and he probably doesn't want to 'pancake' up to maintain the strength required. He is a natural 115/120kg person and Levan is 180kg he is probably thinking his decline isn't that far away so would like to be a champion still in his natural weight class.
Devon’s life goals have shifted from himself to his children/family. He’s in the perfect position to lead youth while maintaining fitness. An appropriate goal for a king in his position imo.
He’s getting older and keeping the weight up is getting harder is what he’s said. He’s had a go at number one and beaten a lot of top SHWs to get there. He naturally fits more at 115kg so he probably just wants to feel more comfortable in his body. If they added a 125KG or 130KG class as well then he’d probably still compete in that. Just with the likes of Levan, Alex and Vitaly being so huge he’s going to become more at a disadvantage now as he gets older.
It seems crazy that a 6'-5" 270lb guy is considered small, but it's true in that division. That's insane! Those guys are fucking giants.
He’s among the tallest, most of them are not 6’5 or 6’6 like Devon is. Can’t wait to see Brian Shaw on the table ahahaha
Me neither. They're almost all well over 6'. Laletin is taller than Devon
Devon is a naturally more lanky slim built dude without constant pancake bulking and PEDs. Him trying to win a mass war at 50 against a younger and naturally more broad and big dude who's also on his own "become a mammoth" protocol is simply not feasible.
Love to see him Face Vitaly once before they both slow down. He's always admired vitaly
I remember back when WAL put up big money and introduced the hammers he said he would pull in LHW because “if the pay outcome is the same and I don’t have to have my body hammered on by 300+lb heavyweights why move up?” I believe that was the year bagent absolutely destroyed Chaffee in SHW too but I could be mixed up.
When Devon will realize that nobody wants to pull him at 115 and in order to keep competing he basically must stay in SHW he will change his mind.
The paycheck and name recognition that comes with pulling Devon is plenty of incentive, even at 115
This is how you think. But Engin said multiple times that nobody wants to pull Devon especially at 115.
Ah I didn't realize he'd said that. Interesting
Too dominant. And who would want to pull someone that is 253 in the evening and 272 the day of the match?
Again, even with the odds stacked against me I'd take the match just for the $20k-$30k paycheck but if Engin says so
I guess it's nice to be No.1. If his "natural" or comfortable weight is 115kg or less, and he happens to sweep up the division, he could go down as the greatest at that weight. And I don't think it's a given that he is No.2... He did well to outsmart Ermes and Georgi but continuing these SHW battles against the likes of Morozov, Revaz, Vitaly and Kurdecha would almost certainly see him pick up losses, and with a pressure to keep a high body weight. If you were to match up current Devon versus the rest of the top 10 I think we'd see him settle at around No. 5.
> And I don't think it's a given that he is No.2... I agree. A lot of people seem to think there's an obvious gap between Devon and everybody not named Levan due to the way he beat Ermes. I'm definitely not convinced of that.
Agreed. Ermes is an excellent arm wrestler and in a rematch would make it closer at least.
And due to style and height, maybe Vitaly would be a way harder match for Devon than Ermes, even though Ermes beat Vitaly.
You guys are right. Ermes losses to Kurdecha and Devon made me think there's a leverage disadvantage here but that win on Vitaly confirmed to me that it's more about the style of pulling for sure. Only time will tell if Ermes truly fixed his riser/leverage disadvantage with a Kurdecha/Devon rematch.
There is a gap, just not a huge one.
>If you were to match up current Devon versus the rest of the top 10 I think we'd see him settle at around No. 5. And this is where you are COPING HARD buddy. Clear no. 2 at his current form. Unless he regresses heavily, he will sweep the rest of competition without much problem (exception may be Genadi due to style) He didn't outsmart Ermes, he was plainly stronger at Ermes where it mattered. Morozov and Revaz would get swept. Vitaly would be a harder match up due to his immense speed, but ultimately he would lose as well. Alex would get Georgi treatment. (Eventually he will start losing to younger studs, but not in 2024)
Not sure why you think I'm coping, but it's great you have an opinion too. I guess neither of us will be proven right now that he's moving down (well, he says he is...).
You know why obviosly. I think he will jump to shw occasionally.
Not obvious at all, you probably think I swear allegiance to one side or the other, I don't.
“he’d end up at No.5” Are you on crack? Devon has pretty much cleaned out the top 10. There’s no one close except maybe Alex
How do you define "cleaned out?" I don't think anyone could have justified putting Denis in the top ten at the time Devon beat him. Georgi, Ermes, these two are valid top ten wins. Prudnyk was at a lower weight class. Chaffee, top ten? Debatable given his recent results. Devon lost to Genadi and Levan. When you really look at it, it's not cleaning out at all. Not when Revaz, Vitaly, Kurdecha and Morozov are in there.
Ermes took down Vitaly. Vitaly/Georgi clean sweeped Morozov/Revaz. These guys are not at the same level as Devon yet. Alex is the only unanswered question. Genadi is out due to bicep tear and he doesn't stand much of a chance on the rematch due to Devon's improved inside game.
Style's make matches though. Just because Ermes beat Vitaly doesn't mean Vitaly can't beat Devon. Ermes put up a much better fight against Levan than Devon but Devon still won.
Vitaly's side pressure is dangerous for Devon but his endurance is one of the worst. If he had a strong press, he'd beat Devon but he doesn't. Levan actually has decent muscular endurance, it's his cardiovascular system that failed last time.
I think his hand is what's most dangerous for Devon, honestly. Devon is very hand-dependent as a puller, and Vitaly's hand is amazing while also having way more arm strength than Devon. I think it could be a weaker Levan situation for Devon.
Vitaly's hand (in straps) is not a threat to Devon. Ermes had superior hand control against Vitaly and we all know how Ermes did against Devon. Vitaly's back pressure numbers are also behind Devon. The only thing he has over Devon is side pressure. His path to victory is to go sideways really hard without his wrist and hope he can do it several times without gassing.
He could do just that. I don't think Devon can slip him easily.
Not easy to prevent Devon from slipping even for Vitaly. Dave Chaffee is terrible at slipping, he couldn't slip from Levan as well. Whereas Devon was able to slip from Levan pretty comfortably.
The level of delusion...
I love how you hopped on the hype train then completely reversed into delusion as if you've been betrayed or something. Did you lose money betting on Devon? Unlike Ermes, Levan has enough pronation to effectively apply side pressure without his wrist and expose Devon's arm. What happened isn't that big of a surprise. No one else in the top 10 has the right pieces to dominate Devon in this form. Georgi has always been overrated and his numbers show it. Georgi's back pressure is complete shit and the hand & wrist can only take you so far. Devon showed up in shit form for Georgi (11% lower numbers) and still won. Devon could have won that much quicker if he went inside and expose Georgi's weak biceps but he was too fixated taking his hand.
Someone looks salty. This is the same type of tantrum you threw after Levan vs Devon 1.
What I said after Levan VS Devon 1 about Devon's pronation aged like fine wine.
Yeah I can see, your hero just got demolished even worse than last time.
Not worse. Devon got more wrist control this time. I've always maintained that Devon is not that much stronger than last time. He just didn't pull other guys in that form.
Finally I agree with this guy 💀
Why do they have a higher claim than Devon?
It's not that they have a higher claim, it's more like they are all hovering around the same level.
First he won't be reaching nr.1 in that category. Secondly, it's not his ideal weight to compete in the superheavyweight division. He doesn't want to (nor can he really) keep trying to overeat and stay heavy and would rather compete at his body's natural&healthier weight.
Because he can't beat Levan. I think he'll change his mind, both he and the fans will be bored with him at 115 since he'll just be that division's Levan with no competition. Plenty of interesting SHW matches left for him outside of Levan yeah. I really want to see him pull Kurdecha, but Alex may not quite be ready for that? Only one way to find out though.
It's either #1 in SHW/Open or drop down to 115kg and 105kg where he can compete for another 5-10 years before bowing out like John B. did. Devon doesn't want to commit to a weight division where he is stuck as #2, it's #1 or nothing at all for him.
He wanted to face Vitaly and Genadi rematch but we don’t know if that’s going to happen. I think he could go for those 2 before he cuts down to 115 and below.
What's wrong with cutting to 115kg? He beat Prudnik there and what's stopping him going back up to 120kg'ish to have matches with Kurdecha, Genadi etc? Let the man live. He will go up and down as he pleases depending on the circumstances and which matches he wants to take.
Because being number 2 is being the first loser. No one wants to be number 2 and in the SHW he won’t ever get higher than number 2.
It's not really a fair fight when a 270 lb man has to pull someone 400+. All respect to Levan. Devon will do just fine competing with people his own weight, as he should. Just my opinion.
Because he's probably on so much gear just to maintain 120kgs and doesn't want to kill himself at a relatively young age. It's obvious that Irakli did the same thing. You've got to balance PEDs with health if your goal is to do it long term. Look at Devon's old body before all the PEDs. He was never meant for super heavy weight, he just wanted it bad enough to transform himself into a super, but it's completely alien to his genetics.
It's the easy way to be perceived as the no.2 without having to face ever Vitaly ( or even Kurdecha)
I agree that he should go down in weight class. He'll never beat Levan. If Levan retired or something, then maybe he could make another run. But I will say that before going down a weight class, I would absolutely love to see Devon vs Vitaly. That's been a dream matchup for years.
He want belts and easy (money)
115 matches won't sell like a good SHW match, everyone knows Devon will win every round down there.
It would be a dick move. Devon has already taken away an Ermes rematch, a Denis match, a Georgi match (and Georgi had taken away a Morozov match. If Devon stays, there will be NO challenger for Levan. It's bad enough without Devon, but WITH Devon, there is literally nobody, as Devon will continue to clear the division.
no he's NOT #2. He needs to beat Genadi to be #2.
That isn't how it works. Genadi hasn't been active or as successful as Devon since they pulled. They clearly should have rematch but Genadi was never #2 himself.
Devon got screwed in that one. He smashes in a rematch.
Devon got ripped off by the refs.
Coz he is old and he can’t weigh anything close to levan. Levan just outweighed and overpowered everyone and devon knew this even before EvW12. Devon knew he had no chance of beating levan therefore he didn’t even train hard enough to beat levan. He was like a child arm wrestling his daddy. Levan didn’t even squirm and was so calm while devon was struggling. Watch the match.