This match will not be for the World Title but to me it is as interesting as Andrey Pushkar vs Dmitry Trubin World Title Armfight. These two athletes met years ago at the Arnold Classic. Neither of them were as their best ever shape but stil Denis Cyplenkov was the clear favorite at that event. Something surprising happenned and Michael beat Denis on that day at the A side after a very tough battle. Most likely Denis did not have any experience about the way that Michael pulled and he was not able to finish him. He got tired and Michael just finished him with a dead wrist as far as i remember. Since the Arnolds is a two day event they pulled their final match on next day and Denis was able to beat Michael twice to win the event. I remember Michael was saying that the way that he pulls puts so much stress on his arms and once his arm is cold he can not perform as good anymore. He explained his loss against Denis on that day.

Since that time Michael became much better in what he is doing and it became very very hard to beat him in his game. Recently he lost against Trubin but Trubin had everything that someone needs to beat Michael Todd and still it was a very very hard Armfight. What i realised on that day was that if you want to beat Michael then you must have the right skills, intelligence, so much power, a big heart and you must not make ANY mistake. Michael may lose but for sure he makes you pay the price and for sure he does not miss any mistake of his opponent. I am not a fan of his pulling style but i accept that it is a huge challenge to defeat him.

From other side Cyplenkov progressed a lot since he pulled Michael at the Arnolds. He transferred his raw power into armwrestling. He is much more experienced puller today. The only problem may be his absence since 2014. I am not sure how much he has lost since his retirement but i am sure that he is knowledgable enough to come to that event as good as he needs to be.

If we do some technical analyses of this Armfight there may be a few options for Denis to apply against Michael while Michael will do what he does best. Denis may have a low grip and tries to supinated side press Michael. Not sure if his lower wrist tendon will handle such pressure that will come between his own side pressure and Michael’s back pressure. I give only 30% chance to this strategy to bring success.

The other strategy will be doing something similar that Michael does. The match will most likely go to that point because Denis has succesfully applied this move many times before. His powerful arm strength can maket he most powerful wrists at least in neutral position and he brings the game into an unorganised battle. That is basically what Michael also does and the danger for Denis is that Michael is much more experienced in such unorganised battles. But as usuall it is the strength that may determined the winner no matter who is more experienced. One thing is for sure that if there is not a huge power difference between the two athletes then Michael will most likely win the Armfight. But there is a possibility Denis to be clearly stronger and win the match.

My prediction is 3-3

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