Merab Dvalishvili may simply have an excessive amount of power.
The UFC’s cardio king (sorry Khabib) is legendary for his countless gasoline tank, which has repeatedly allowed him to make extraordinary opponents look fairly pedestrian. He can push a ridiculous tempo and shoot takedowns continually for 25 full minutes, wanting like he’s able to do it once more by the point the post-fight interviews roll round. He carries that very same power in his private life, the place Dvalishvili is constantly doing loopy issues like leaping into frozen lakes and filming skits about his upcoming opponents.
No one can say it isn’t working for him. “The Machine” is driving an all-time nice 12-fight win streak over some distinctive competitors, and he’s the defending UFC champion. Nonetheless, simply days away from his title rematch with Sean O’Malley within the UFC 316 primary occasion, he’s already speaking about his subsequent opponent?
“Appears like Cory Sandhagen is prepared for me.”
Merab Dvalishvili is already setting his sights on a fast turnaround after #UFC316 along with his subsequent title challenger in thoughts. pic.twitter.com/JfV0FwthZB
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) June 1, 2025
“I need to be busy,” He instructed MMA Junkie. “I shall be completely happy if I struggle two extra instances this yr. It appears to be like like Cory Sandhagen is prepared for me. We by no means fought one another, he’s a fantastic contender. He’s fought all people, he has a great fashion, is an efficient fighter everyone knows. He’s beat numerous guys in our division, and I don’t thoughts to take one other fast turnaround struggle after which struggle yet another finish of this yr both in New York or my new house Las Vegas.”
A part of Merab Dvalishvili’s urgency is probably going resulting from his prolonged rise to gold. By the point Dvalishvili had received seven in a row, no person was enthusiastic about going through “The Machine.” Subsequently, he was solely in a position to struggle as soon as in 2022 and 2023. Maybe he’s merely attempting to make up for misplaced time now that he has the belt and all people desires a bit of him?
On the identical time, we’ve seen extraordinarily energetic schedules negatively have an effect on earlier champions like Israel Adesanya and result in eventual regrets. If “Suga” catches Dvalishvili this weekend, this interview is out of the blue a nasty search for the Georgian champion.
