Merab Dvalishvili’s next challenger has simple answer after Joe Rogan questioned how he beats the champ

Joe Rogan had one question after the UFC 316 main event — who could possibly beat Merab Dvalishvili?

‘The Machine’ continued his charge toward greatness in the UFC on Saturday night, when Dvalishvili submitted Sean O’Malley in round three.

The result marked the Georgian’s second win over ‘Suga’ in the space of eight months and moved his reign beyond two successful defenses, leaving him one away from tying Aljamain Sterling’s divisional record.

Rogan isn’t sure anyone can stop Dvalishvili from achieving that feat — and then some.

“Who is gonna beat this guy?” Rogan questioned during the UFC 316 broadcast. “Cory Sandhagen is a very technical fighter. He’s going to formulate a gameplan he thinks will be the best-case scenario to deal with that force of nature. But, what do you do?

“Sandhagen is very intelligent,” Rogan added. “He’s going to formulate a gameplan. The question is: is there a gameplan that would even work?”

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Cory Sandhagen reveals simple way to beat Merab Dvalishvili after UFC 316

Unsurprisingly, the man next tasked with dethroning Dvalishvili sees a route to victory.

Sandhagen was cageside at UFC 316 and got a shoutout from the broadcast, likely setting the stage for his first undisputed title shot in the promotion.

After Rogan questioned Sandhagen’s chances, the bantamweight contender gave a simple answer when asked how Dvalishvili can be defeated during an interview with ESPN.

“Merab did an awesome job. I kind of anticipated that Merab was going to look better in this fight,” Sandhagen said.

“Merab is the best guy in the division, maybe one of the best guys in the UFC. I want to take that guy out.

“You’ve gotta knock that guy out,” Sandhagen said when asked how to stop ‘The Machine’ that is Dvalishvili. “That’s it, you’ve just gotta knock that guy out.”

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Cory Sandhagen has lost once since an interim UFC title shot in 2021

While he’s yet to challenge for the undisputed crown, Sandhagen does have some experience fighting in the UFC with gold on the line.

The 33-year-old’s one and only title shot to date came in competition for the interim bantamweight belt in October 2021. Sandhagen was outpointed by Petr Yan across five rounds in Abu Dhabi.

Since that thrilling contest, ‘The Sandman’ has worked his way back toward the title with four wins in his last five fights.

The one defeat on that run came against recent title challenger Umar Nurmagomedov and he’s since bounced back from that setback by stopping flyweight legend Deiveson Figueiredo in May.

Sandhagen will likely next have the chance to pull off what would no doubt be a mighty upset against a Dvalishvili who is fast putting himself high up in the bantamweight GOAT debate.