Demetrious Johnson gave his thoughts on a fantasy matchup having experienced what both men bring to the table.
During the incredible year that he’s having as the bantamweight champion, some have already questioned whether Merab Dvalishvili is the greatest fighter in the history of the weight class.
This weekend at UFC 320 in Las Vegas, ‘The Machine’ makes his return for his third title defense of the year.
If Dvalishvili beats Cory Sandhagen the way he’s been talking about in the build up to the co-main event, there’s a serious conversation to be had.
One fighter who is well situated to comment on how the UFC’s current 135 pound champion would fare against the other GOAT contender is Johnson.
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Demetrious Johnson believes Merab Dvalishvili would beat Dominick Cruz in dream matchup
In a recent interview on The Ariel Helwani Show, Demetrious Johnson spoke about his experience of training with Merab Dvalishvili for a YouTube video.
While Dvalishvili was impressed by Johnson’s skillset even now that he’s retired, the feeling was mutual between the two elite fighters.
However, ‘The Machine’ isn’t the first bantamweight champion that ‘Mighty Mouse’ had come up against.
On October 1 of 2011 in Washington D.C., Johnson challenged Dominick Cruz for the 135-pound title before the flyweight division was brought into the UFC.
Johnson said that while he rates Cruz’s takedown defense very highly, he also didn’t expect Dvalishvili to dominate Henry Cejudo in their grappling exchanges.
The former flyweight king pointed to his recent training with the current champion and his ability to always dictate the fight as his reasoning for picking the Georgian in this hypothetical matchup.
“Just for how many champions Merab has beaten, I’m going to have to go Merab. Not saying that Dom can’t beat him but I think Merab is just a different animal. He’s able to implement the same style against everybody… Merab will just walk across the void and force that fist fight and he’s game to do that.”
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Sean O’Malley’s thoughts on Merab Dvalishvili’s next fight support Demetrious Johnson’s breakdown
While Dominick Cruz possessed great footwork and an ability to stay a step ahead of his opponent’s, Demetrious Johnson argued that Merab Dvalishvili would counter this.
A fighter who expected to be able to utilize similar strengths, only to be beaten by ‘The Machine’ on two occasions, is Sean O’Malley.
O’Malley recently shared his final thoughts on UFC 320’s co-main event via his YouTube channel, where he echoed a lot of what Johnson said about Dvalishvili’s strengths when predicting why he’ll beat Cory Sandhagen.
“He [Sandhagen] does have really good footwork and I’d like to think that myself, I have pretty good footwork. Merab just found a way to get a hold of me multiple times and I know I’m tricky to take down but he just found ways to get in.”
That being said, O’Malley did admit that he’s constantly gone back and forth on his prediction for the fight.