Merab Dvalishvili Dominates Cory Sandhagen at UFC 320
Merab Dvalishvili continues his winning streak, successfully defending the UFC bantamweight championship with his fourteenth consecutive victory. In the co-main event of UFC 320 in Las Vegas, Dvalishvili demonstrated his superiority against Cory Sandhagen. Dvalishvili (21-4), defending his belt for the third time, took total control in the second round. He took Sandhagen down with a flurry of punches and achieved eight takedowns out of 13 attempts. In that round, Dvalishvili landed 33 significant strikes, compared to Sandhagen’s two.From that moment on, Sandhagen remained primarily defensive. Although he didn’t wear down like other opponents of Dvalishvili, he never posed a serious threat to the champion. The judges scored the fight 49-45, 49-45, and 49-46.
The most outstanding part of Dvalishvili’s game is his wrestling. Over the five rounds, he was relentless with his pressure, attempting 37 takedowns and landing 20, a UFC record for a championship fight and the second-most in any Octagon bout. It was the fifth fight in which Dvalishvili achieved 10 or more takedowns, and he extended his own UFC record for total takedowns, which is now 117. Dvalishvili’s winning streak is the fourth longest in UFC history.Remember, I said my plan was to knock him out. Almost, almost. Now I think people will also respect my striking.
Merab Dvalishvili
