T.J. Dillashaw didn’t anticipate Merab Dvalishvili to look that dominant in his first UFC championship battle.
Dillashaw, a former UFC bantamweight champion, was taken away by how Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) appeared in opposition to Sean O’Malley in the principle occasion of UFC 306 earlier this month in Las Vegas. Dvalishvili took the 135-pound title from O’Malley (18-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC), outpointing him in a unanimous determination.
“It’s not that I didn’t anticipate it,” Dillashaw mentioned on the Jaxxon Podcast. “I knew that it was very shut on the betting odds and after I needed to go and decide this battle, I knew that Merab had an opportunity to simply strain the f*ck out of him. The man is the Tasmanian Satan. He by no means stops and continues to shoot photographs. I knew it was a chance, however I believed – particularly after watching how O’Malley has composed himself and the way nicely he’s completed on his toes utilizing his feints, distance and angles – I believed he’d be capable of preserve that distance and management, be onerous to take down and spark him. That’s what I believed may occur, as nicely.
“I didn’t suppose it was going to be this simple for Merab. Merab made him look weak – very weak.”
Dillashaw does suppose O’Malley has the approach to beat Dvalishvili, and isn’t ruling him out to win ought to they rematch sooner or later.
“O’Malley has the abilities to beat this man. He simply didn’t use them,” Dillashaw mentioned. “You possibly can feint to freeze him, get exterior his shoulder, so the takedowns should not there.”
Dvalishvili now holds wins over a number of former champions together with Jose Aldo, Petr Yan, Henry Cejudo, and now O’Malley. Though not official, many anticipate him to make his first title protection in opposition to undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov.
In defeat, O’Malley got here up brief in his second title protection try. Previous to the loss, his solely different defeat was a 2020 damage TKO to Marlon Vera. He gained the title in opposition to Aljamain Sterling in August 2023 and defended in opposition to Marlon Vera in March.
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