After taking out Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 and following it up by beating Umar Nurmagomedov just four months later, Merab Dvalishvili looks almost untouchable as the UFC bantamweight champion.
His superior wrestling, constant pressure, and never-ending gas tank have ensured that his opponents have literally run out of breath fighting him. And even though his skills might not have been as visually striking as some of his contemporaries, the dominance he displayed against Umar at UFC 311 had the entire MMA community singing his praises.
UFC commentator Joe Rogan, who called the fight on the fateful night, even remarked towards the later rounds that the Dagestani was completely tired, whereas it looked like ‘The Machine’ could have gone a few more rounds for fun.
As Merab prepares to defend the 135 lbs title against O’Malley at UFC 316, Rogan recapped their first fight on his latest podcast episode with Aaron Rodgers and exclaimed at the former champion’s misfortune. Notably, O’Malley had a hip injury going into the fight and wasn’t able to prepare as well as he would have liked.
“Imagine not being able to wrestle in camp and you gotta go face Merab,” Rogan said, adding, “He’s a f*cking animal, that guy is superhuman. The cardio that guy has is off the charts. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
But perhaps the biggest compliment Rogan gave the Georgian was, “Even Nurmagomedov, who’s also an animal, couldn’t keep him off of him. This motherf*cker is crazy.”
Having come from the Dagestani school of wrestling and trained under Khabib, Umar was expected to hold his own against the Georgian, but Merab practically showboated his way to a decision win.
So, what is the key to his superhuman cardio that seems to baffle even people like Rogan? Well, Rogan found out when Daniel Cormier went to visit the Georgian after his world title fight.
Rogan baffled by Merab’s training
After a huge win, especially if a fighter wins a world title, they take some time off to rightly celebrate their win and recover from the fight. Some fighters even stop training altogether for an extended period of time. But that’s what sets ‘The Machine’ apart from the others.
In the same podcast episode, Rogan spoke about what happened when Daniel Cormier went to visit the newly crowned champion. ‘DC’ thought he would go and congratulate the champ in person, but the former world champion was in a surprise.
“DC went to his house, to congratulate him, and DC made a video of it, he showed a video of Merab’s gym, he’s got this gym in his garage, pretty dope. And he’s like, this motherf*cker is out running, he just won the world title, and the next day he’s running,” Rogan recalled.
Interestingly, Merab has promised to show a bit of striking prowess against O’Malley in the much-hyped rematch. O’Malley, too, has claimed to have made improvements to his ground tactics, while promising a more aggressive strategy to stop the Georgian machine.
