Oleg Zhokh is without any doubt the strongest pound for pound left hand puller in the history. Since 2011 he is undefeated in his own weight class and has beaten many of the top heavyweight pullers. Him to pull 3 weight categories and giving a nightmare to Devon Larratt while weighing only 75 kg was amazing. Since then he has beaten many top heavyweight pullers.

It is not easy to get a grip with the thick hand of Zhokh and his wrist and brachiradialis are incredibly strong. Once he curls his wrist he becomes near impossible to be beaten unless you have an amazing hook strength. It is not easy to beat Zhokh with an outside style. I am guessing Dmitry Trubin will try to toproll Zhokh. I hope that he will have alternative plans to defeat Zhokh just in case that his main plan does not work.

If I were strong enough to face Zhokh in a Vendetta I would not try to hook or toproll Zhokh but would apply back pressure which will be followed with a side pressure. Zhokh is doing everything with his amazing wrist strength. Once he curls his wrist in, he multiples the effect of his brachiradialis. It is very hard to toproll his wrist but is very possible to keep his wrist at neutral position with a good back pressure before the GO. By keeping his wrist neutral it is possible to slow down his move. His brachiradialis goes in to effect once his wrist is curled in. So, keeping his wrist neutral before the go and a powerful side hit over his inactivated brachiradialis may result with a quick win for anyone who is able to apply such movement. Trubin is strong guy with good abilities. It is all about him to apply what he has or not. Not sure he can beat Zhokh with technical battle as technical battle is depending on strong forearm and Zhokh is superior genetically.

These 2 guys have pulled each other many times and they know each other very well. I am sure that they have their own game plans. On the paper Zhokh looks favorite to me unless Trubin comes there with an unstoppable force or with a very smart and effective technical plan.

I remember Mazhgan Shamiev has defeated Zhokh with a lightning hook movement in 2015 Zloty Tur. Some thought that it was only because Zhokh was not ready at the GO but Mazhgan and Lithuanian puller Mantas Asmonas had over minute long battle at the quarter final and Mazhgan still gave Zhokh about 20 seconds long match in the final. So it makes me believe that Mazhgan beat Zhokh without any excuse. Can Trubin do such thing against Zhokh? Not sure because I don’t remember him pulling in such way before but he has enough of times to adopt such technique. Of course speed will be important as well. I remember Ivan Matyushenko has beaten Zhokg in similar way that Mazhgan did. So looks like a quick forward inside pressure is the weakness of Zhokh but again not anyone can do such thing effective enough to beat Zhokh.

I wish both pullers the best!

Engin Terzi