T.J. Dillashaw was impressed with Merab Dvalishvili’s performance at UFC 306.
‘The Machine’ cashed in on his first shot at UFC gold, delivering a dominant five-round performance against ‘Sugar’ Sean O’Malley to claim the bantamweight division’s top prize.
Going into the bout, the odds were fairly close with O’Malley being slightly favored to come out on top. Instead, Dvalishvili shut down the ex-champ’s offense with a barrage of smothering takedown attempts and control time. Most educated fight fans knew that Dvalishvili’s contrasting style could win the day against O’Malley, but not many expected him to be as dominant as he was.
That includes Dillashaw who was surprised by how easy Dvalishvili made it all look.
“It’s not that I didn’t expect it,” Dillashaw said on the JAXXON Podcast. “I knew that it was very close on the betting odds and when I had to go and pick this fight, I knew that Merab had a chance to just pressure the f*ck out of him. The guy is the Tasmanian Devil. He never stops and continues to shoot shots.
“I knew it was a possibility, but I thought – especially after watching how O’Malley has composed himself and how well he’s done on his feet using his feints, distance, and angles – I thought he’d be able to keep that distance and control, be hard to take down and spark him. That’s what I thought could happen, as well.
“I didn’t think it was going to be this easy for Merab. Merab made him look weak – very weak” (h/t BJPenn.com).
Merab Dvalishvili Eyes title fight with Umar Nurmagomedov… maybe
What comes next for Merab Dvalishvili remains to be seen, but all signs point toward ‘The Machine’ defending his title against No. 2 ranked contender Umar Nurmagomedov — assuming the Dagestani star doesn’t grow impatient and move onto another opponent in the interim.
Truth be told, Dvalishvili isn’t even all that interested in facing Nurmagomedov considering his lack of top 15 wins, though that’s not entirely Nurmagomedov’s fault. The undefeated fighter has struggled for years to lock in opponents, but a dominant decision victory over Cory Sandhagen appears to have been enough to score him his first title shot.
