Merab
Dvalishvili’s head coach is confident that the champ will
retain his title against Umar
Nurmagomedov.

Dvalishvili will put his bantamweight title on the line against
Nurmagomedov in the co-main event at UFC 311
on Jan. 18 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California. Many
expect Nurmagomedov’s elite wrestling to be Dvalishvili’s toughest
test to date. While
Syndicate MMA head coach John Wood doesn’t expect an easy night
at the office for Dvalishvili, he believes “The Machine” will get
his hand raised.

According to Wood, Dvalishvili’s cardio is going to be the game
changer like it has been against most of his previous opponents.
While Wood envisions a tough couple of rounds in the beginning, he
believes “The Machine” will take over as the fight goes to deeper
waters.

“He just has a different pace, a different cardio that is such a
big weapon,” Wood recently told Home of Fight. “And I expect Umar
to be able to deal with some of those things. But come, third,
fourth, fifth round, I think it’s gonna be a Merab fight… I expect
a hard couple of rounds. But I expect Merab to do what he does and
take over and put that grind and that pace on. And we fully expect,
we’re gonna get taken down, we’re gonna get punched, we’re gonna
get kicked. But we’re gonna get back up, we’re gonna be OK… I see
it being like a basic Merab Dvalishvili fight where I don’t think
[Umar] will be able to keep pace, and I think that we’re walking
out of that cage with that belt wrapped around his waist.”

Dvalishvili won the title with a dominant unanimous decision win
over Sean O’Malley at UFC
306 in September 2024. The Georgian was initially loathe to
fight Nurmagomedov, accusing the undefeated Dagestani of being
gifted a title shot because of his cousin, Khabib
Nurmagomedov.

IMAK ADMIN

By IMAK ADMIN

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