UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili has consistently shown improvement while adding new weapons to his arsenal, but don’t expect him to suddenly change his approach to fighting no matter how many
promises he makes about knocking out his opponents.
Ahead of the third defense of his title with his next fight booked at UFC 320, Dvalishvili promised that he was “looking for the knockout” against Cory Sandhagen while acknowledging that his striking has grown a lot in recent years. Best known for his wrestling and relentless pace, Dvalishvili would likely surrender his best chance to win by simply standing and trading with Sandhagen, who is one of the nastiest and most skilled strikers in the division.
But Dvalishvili’s head coach John Wood says that as much as they always want to add to his arsenal, they’re not suddenly going to abandon the clearest path to victory.
“It’s funny because I do these interviews and then I say something about ‘oh man, Merab, his striking, he can knock people out, his submissions, he is subbing people in the gym, he is this, he is that, he is getting better.’ And then I get a bunch of shit ‘you’re going to change his style!’” Wood told MMA Fighting. “We’re not changing anything. Nothing changes. What he does every single day, what you see in the cage is what he’s going to continue to do, we are just adding on. We’re adding layers to that.
“There will never be a point in time where I tell Merab ‘hey, go out and knock this guy out. Just go, keep standing, don’t go to the ground.’ That’s not going to happen. That’s not our style. Will it happen by just the fact that it happens because Merab is such a gnarly dude to be in the cage with that somebody’s going to get exhausted or he does hit them hard, he is going to catch somebody someday and he is going to knock them out? Is he going to submit more people? Yes, all those things are going to happen but it’s not at the sake of changing the fighter. It’s not at the sake of we’re not changing the style.”
While he’s never going to stop learning or developing as a fighter, Wood says that Dvalishvili is well aware of what it takes to win and put on the most dominant performances possible.
Usually that involves blending his wrestling, aggression and non-stop pace to break his opponent’s will and Dvalishvili showed his ability to finish fights after he submitted Sean O’Malley in his latest title defense.
Wood expects there’s going to come a day where Dvalishvili scores a vicious knockout but that doesn’t mean he’s changing his approach to go headhunting in every fight moving forward.
“There is no ‘if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.’ See all those comments all the time,” Wood said. “No, of course it’s not broke. We’re trying to make it better. We’re trying to keep going on. Here’s the thing, if we don’t sub Sandhagen, great, it’s not for lack of trying. Maybe Sandhagen was able to stop everything or he’s just so good because he is one of the best guys in the world, it doesn’t present itself.
“I’ve seen it a million times. A wrestler gets a knockout, all of a sudden realizes ‘holy shit I can throw these things, this is easier!’ I could name 10 guys right off the bat that have done that, that have knocked somebody out, and they go out and knock them out again, and all of a sudden, that’s their shift [in style]. We’re not doing that. We’re not going away from what got us to the dance. We’re just adding to it and if those things come naturally, then they come.”
Wood admits that perhaps the scariest thing about Dvalishvili is the way he’s still evolving as a fighter and he’s not even remotely closed to a finished product.
Despite already reigning as the UFC’s 135-pound champion and one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world, Wood says Dvalishvili is still leveling up with every training camp they spend together.
“I think we’re at 60, 70 percent of what we can see from Merab,” Wood said. “We’re not even close to touching that ceiling. The things that I’ve seen him do in this camp are mind-blowing. The things I’m seeing him do with people, the things I’m seeing him pull off, it’s like everybody [says] where did that come from? Where is this new Merab?
“He’s not out there trying to be a kickboxer. He’s not out there trying to be a jiu-jitsu guy. He’s doing what he’s doing, he’s just now recognized the fact that when someone is ready to be out of there, he’s going to appease them and try to sub them, try to give them a way, you’re tired, get out of here. That’s it.”
Wood also cautions anyone reading too much into what Dvalishvili says before his fights because talking about a knockout to hype an event and actually abandoning his game plan in hopes that he can score a highlight reel finish are two totally different things.
“If anybody knows by now the stuff that Merab says and does in the media, if you’re still ‘oh my god he said this or did that or his head’s cracked open, he can’t fight, he’s injured!’ Everybody relax, it’s OK,” Wood said.
“The goal is to finish fights. Now I have a man and a fighter who knows and believes he can finish fights. That is a scary thing. When you have a guy that is that talented and that motivated and that relentless, he’s going to finish fights. Is he going to finish every fight? I doubt it. I don’t think everybody finishes every fight but would we like him to? Yeah, absolutely, that’d be awesome.”
