Merab dvalishvili is currently in the legendary Hot Streak – some people are comparing him to perhaps the best fighter of all time.
Following Dvalishvili’s dominant victory over Cory Sandhagen at the UFC 320 last Saturday, Kenny Florian spoke with the incredible performance of the bantamweight champion and one of his co-hosts John Annick and coaches Raylongo. “The Machine” currently has 14 consecutive battles, finishing fourth for the longest winning streak in UFC history, pursuing only Islam Makhachev (15), Kamal Usman (15) and Anderson Silva (16).
Florian discussed what he would do in his division and compared Dvalishvili with former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, who was undefeated in 29 professional battles.
“I think his biggest threat lies outside the 145 pound division,” Florian said. Annick & Florian Podcast. “I heard (Coach John Wood) talk about the possibility of rising to 145. I don’t know if it’s in the near future, but I haven’t seen anyone so far.
“Otherwise, I don’t know. (dvalishvili) is a 135-pound Khabib.”
Dvalishvili actually surpassed Nurmagomedov’s UFC victory, and “The Eagle” retired after winning his third straight lightweight title defense in 2020 in his 13th fight for promotion. Nurmagomedov showed no signs of slowing down when he called it a career, but was motivated to leave the competition after his mother promised not to continue fighting after his father and coach Abdulmanap’s death.
Like Nurmagomedov, Dvalishvili is famous for his unstoppable wrestling, but he also shows rapid improvements in all aspects of the game. Beyond that, Longo believes there are victory qualities owned by simply essential dvalishvili from Georgia.
“What you can’t train is an intangible asset,” Longo said. “He loves what he’s doing. I think he’s part of something like Mike Tyson now. Corey said the coach said, ‘He’s human too. He’ll get as exhausted as everyone else’s.’ Yeah, I don’t know about that.
“He’ll end up getting tired, but you have to break him. Can you make him tired more than you? It’s a question and he’s too comfortable there, so it’s difficult. He has a great view of life.
Anik is also unsure how much dvalishvili could build his legacy at 135 pounds, given that Dvalishvili has already fought and beat the harvest of current candidates, including Petr Yan, whom he proposed to face in a rematch this December (4).
If Dvalishvili achieves that feat, Anik believes that the next lineup of challengers is not ready to stop Dvalishvili’s dominance.
“If he remains the champion, there will definitely be someone who will be hit in Round 1 as their first competitor is not as good as Corey Sandhagen,” Anik said. “He was 20 out of 37 on takedowns. He threw 399 strikes.
“In particular, you can think of some of these performances where all the attacks just came back and the guy didn’t have a shot. MERAB has probably seven of the most impressive performances in the top 10 in terms of MMA’s overall offensive volume. …It’s so amazing to see this guy.
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Social Media Dow
The best knockout of the week.
Stop after stopping.
In my opinion, Corey Sandhagen won one of the best performances of his career, but still wasn’t too close to defeating Merab Dvalishvili. That is the harsh reality of the situation.
I think it’s a bit reductive to compare Merab to Khabib. Because they are both wrestlers who put together crazy winning streaks, the truth is that if Dvalishvili can continue this for several more years, I don’t think he would argue that he will always have an opportunity to surpass Khabib on the list. – Lee
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