The Merab Dvalishvili that fans have come to know and love isn’t going anywhere.
As he prepares to enter his fourth world title fight in just over a year at UFC 320 next week, bantamweight champion Dvalishvili (20-4 MMA, 13-2 UFC) has been talking up his chances of knocking out Cory Sandhagen (18-5 MMA, 11-4 UFC) in the co-main event at T-Mobile Center.
“I know that he's been saying that he's gonna strike,” Sandhagen told the New York Post. “That's not true, and if that is true, that is a horrible idea. Don't do that, Merab."
“The Machine” has risen to the top of the sport thanks in no small part to his relentless wrestling and freakish endurance. And while some fans worry he may be about to abandon the style that took him to the title, his head coach at Syndicate MMA, John Wood, insists that isn’t the case.
“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’s this, he’s 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.”
Since losing his first two UFC bouts in 2017 and 2018, Dvalishvili has rattled off a 13-fight winning streak that earned him the bantamweight title and three successful defenses.
That run includes victories over former champions Jose Aldo, Petr Yan, and Henry Cejudo. While all of those wins came via the judges’ scorecards, the 34-year-old did notch his first stoppage since 2021 when he submitted Sean O’Malley at UFC 316 in June.
Despite the relative lack of finishes on his résumé, the Georgian remains one of the most entertaining fighters on the roster. And according to his coach John Wood, there’s no reason to make sweeping changes just to satisfy the fanbase.
“There is no ‘if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.’ I 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.”
