Merab Dvalishvili remains on top of the bantamweight division following an impressive showing at UFC 316.
Dvalishvili submitted Sean O’Malley in their rematch with fans questioning whether he’s the greatest fighter in the history of the bantamweight division.
While O’Malley has been called out by a former opponent, ‘The Machine’ has also set his sights on his next title defense.
The champion wants to fight four times this year with Dana White seemingly supporting the idea of Cory Sandhagen facing Dvalishvili next.
In his post-fight interview, the Georgian sent a message to ‘The Sandman’ when he was shown to be in attendance in Newark, New Jersey, claiming that the #4-ranked contender is the “most deserving”.
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Cory Sandhagen was surprised that Sean O’Malley decided to try and move more against Merab Dvalishvili
In an attempt to reclaim the bantamweight title, Sean O’Malley made some big changes in his life to prepare for his rematch with Merab Dvalishvili.
Despite this, ‘Suga’ was finished this time around, having gone to a decision with ‘The Machine’ at UFC 306 last September.
Cory Sandhagen gave his thoughts on the fight in an interview with ESPN MMA shortly after the main event where he highlighted one of the changes that O’Malley made.
It was clearly a part of the challenger’s game plan to try and move more to stop Dvalishvili from dictating the action like he did the first time around.
Given how the bantamweight champion is known for having one of the most relentless gas tanks in the sport, Sandhagen was surprised to see O’Malley take this approach.
“I was kind of surprised that O’Malley decided to move as much as he was. That’s a very tough thing to do against a guy that’s going to press like that. When Merab decides to get aggressive, he gets aggressive and I’m looking forward to that, man. Merab is the best guy in the division, he’s maybe one of the best guys in the UFC and I want to take that guy out.”
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Cory Sandhagen believes there’s one way to beat Merab Dvalishvili
During the interview, Cory Sandhagen was asked how to deal with ‘The Machine’ of Merab Dvalishvili.
We’ve seen that even in a close fight with Umar Nurmagomedov, the constant output from the bantamweight champion can overwhelm his opponents over five rounds.
Sandhagen has a lot of experience when it comes to fighting over five rounds but even he doesn’t believe that he can match Dvalishvili’s work rate.
Instead, his answer to the remarkable output that the champion brings to the table is to nullify it entirely by putting him away.
“Yeah, you gotta knock that guy out. That’s it. You just got to knock that guy out.”