Ray Longo has a pretty good handle on what type of skills Merab
Dvalishvili brings to the table.
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Before Dvalishvili moved his training to Las Vegas, he worked with
the Serra-Longo Fight Team in New York. As Dvalishvili prepares to
challenge Sean
O’Malley for the bantamweight crown in the UFC
306 main event on Saturday at The Sphere in Las Vegas, Longo
offered some insight into what “The Machine” will have to do in
order to leave with a title belt in his possession.
“He’s going to have to eat some punches to win this fight –
period,” Longo said on “The Anik & Florian Podcast.” (transcription
via MMAjunkie.com)
“O’Malley is a sharpshooter. If you go in there thinking you’re not
going to get hit or you’re just going to do this or do that, I
think that’s a huge mistake.”
O’Malley vs. Dvalishvili Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order
Now!
While Dvalishvili is the most dangerous wrestler O’Malley has faced
thus far during his promotional tenure, the Georgian standout
hasn’t squared off against someone with the standup prowess of the
reigning champion.
The most peril Davlishvili has faced on the feet during his current
10-bout winning streak came against Marlon
Moraes at UFC 266, when he was dropped in the opening stanza.
It remains the only knockdown Dvalishvili has suffered during his
UFC career to date.
Because of that experience, Long believes Dvalishvil will be aware
of the challenges O’Malley presents.
“If I tell you how many times I worked on getting underneath the
left hook with him [before the Moraes fight] – and that’s exactly
the punch he got hit with. “I said, ‘You’re going to have to walk
through fire at some point in this fight.’ That’s exactly what he
did. It’s going to be kind of the same thing. Merab knows what he’s
up against,” Longo said.
“I think O’Malley is really good. I don’t think O’Malley has ever
faced anybody with the pressure of Merab, and I don’t think Merab’s
fought anybody with the length and the accuracy and the power of
O’Malley.”