Can Merab Dvalishvili Keep His 11 Fight Winning Streak Alive Against the Undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov?
One of the most intriguing stylist matchups takes place in the Co-Main Event this Saturday at UFC 311. Merab Dvalishvili is the defending Bantamweight Champion holding a record of 18-4 and currently is on a 11 fight win streak. His opponent Umar Nurmagomedov is undefeated with a record of 18-0 and is ranked number two in the Bantamweight Division. I will break down how each fighter can pull off their victory and how I believe the fight will play out.
Starting off with the challenger Umar, he at times has looked unstoppable as he has mowed through his competition to earn this title shot. The biggest concern is that he has not yet faced the best the division has to offer to truly see where his skill set lies. His last time in the octagon was a one sided unanimous decision victory over at the time the number one ranked Bantamweight Cory Sandhagen. It was his first true test against a real title contender and he showed areas of excellence but also weaknesses that can be exploited. Sandhagen wasn’t known to that point as someone who can defend takedowns at a high clip and he was able to stuff eight of his 13 takedown attempts and when he did get taken down he almost immediately got back to his feet. If his wrestling isn’t as good as we had previously thought he is in for 20+ takedown attempts coming his way from Merab. A major positive in that fight was Umar being able to outstrike Cory on the feet. If Umar is able to stop the takedowns I can see him being able to catch Merab relatively early.
On the other hand the Champion Merab had a completely different rise to his first title defense. He fought legends, former champions and almost everyone in the top five. He was able to finally realize UFC gold in his last fight in UFC’s Las Vegas Sphere against the former champion Sean O’Malley. He dominated that fight from the opening minutes and showcased his otherworldly cardio and superior wrestling. He has fought some good wrestlers in his career in Henry Cejudo and Petr Yan. He was able to impressively overwhelm them and dominate them repeatedly in the wrestling exchanges. The biggest concern for Merab in this fight is he was completely shut down against Jose Aldo in the wrestling exchanges. If Umar is able to stuff the takedowns and keep the fight on the feet it would be a real problem. However, The energy it takes to stop Merab is going to take so much out of Umar that eventually his defense will break and Merab could take control and completely drown him.
This fight could go either way but I feel like Merab is going to show a different level in his striking that we have not seen up to this point. I feel like he can stun Umar when he lands which would make the takedowns opportunities more presentable. In terms of pace and conditioning Merab is second to none and I could definitely see him take Umar into deep waters and put him in a place he has never been before. I think this fight will go the distance with Merab Retaining his Championship. It’s going to be an amazing fight, one you sure do not want to miss!
