Merab Dvalishvili has been warned that he’ll be meeting his match in the cardio department should he get his desired next opponent.
Dvalishvili continued his charge toward legendary status at the UFC 316 pay-per-view in early June, where he extended his tally of successful title defenses to two.
In the main event, Dvalishvili submitted Sean O’Malley to make it two wins over ‘Sugar’ in his last three fights. They were split by the Georgian’s first defense, which was against Umar Nurmagomedov this past January.
With that, ‘The Machine’ is riding a record 12-fight win streak at 135 pounds and is being widely tipped to continue his dominance en route to securing the most defenses in UFC bantamweight history.
His expected next challenger, however, believes he has all the tools to stop that from happening.
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Cory Sandhagen insists Merab Dvalishvili’s famed cardio won’t factor into their title clash
Soon after Dvalishvili’s triumph in Newark last month, focus turned to his likely next assignment opposite ex-interim title challenger Cory Sandhagen.
Sandhagen defeated Deiveson Figueiredo, a former two-time flyweight kingpin, in the main event of UFC Des Moines in May to stake his claim.
‘The Sandman’ is known for his striking and will unsurprisingly be a huge underdog against Dvalishvili. But while speaking to MMA Crazy during International Fight Week in Las Vegas, the top contender explained what separates him from the champ’s past rivals.
“I’m really excited. I finally get my shot at actually having an opportunity to prove I am the best in the world,” Sandhagen said.
“I’m not gonna buy into the narrative that Merab is this unbeatable thing. I don’t think that he is. I think that I have some of the best conditioning as well, so he’s not gonna be able to get me tired like he has been able to with the other guys.
“I’m gonna go out there and I’m gonna make Merab deal with me, not the other way around,” Sandhagen added. “I’m just not an O’Malley. You’re not gonna take me down and hold me down. I’m not an Umar, where I’m gonna get tired in round four and five.
“I’m gonna be there the entire five rounds, I’m gonna be able to grapple with you, and then you’re gonna have to deal with a lot of striking. That’s not gonna be fun for Merab, because he can get a little bit sloppy at times.”
Cory Sandhagen gave a simple explanation on how to beat Merab Dvalishvili
Moments after Dvalishvili’s second successful title defense, Joe Rogan questioned on the broadcast how the bantamweight king could possibly be defeated in his current form.
Backstage at Prudential Center, Sandhagen gave a simple answer to Rogan’s query in an interview with ESPN — by knocking him out.
“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 added when asked how to stop ‘The Machine’ that is Dvalishvili. “That’s it, you’ve just gotta knock that guy out.”