This past Saturday night on the main card of UFC 298, we saw a pivotal matchup in the bantamweight division. Former two-division champion Henry Cejudo (16-4) was looking to get back to a title shot as he took on the suffocating “Machine” Merab Dvalishvili (17-4).
Cejudo was coming off a split decision loss to former champ Aljamain Sterling while Dvalishvili had won nine fights in a row. The first round started great for Cejudo who was able to rock Dvalishvili in the opening minutes of the fight. The rest of the round was extremely even but Cejudo got the first on all three scorecards.
In the second round, the unreal pace of Dvalishvili really started to take over. Dvalishvili is known for just wearing guys down with his pressure and pace. Cejudo proved to be no different. Dvalishvili was able to get multiple takedowns and he just had much more volume in the second round.
Entering the final round, Dvalishvili looked fresh while Cejudo looked gassed. Cejudo really pushed hard in the first half of the round but couldn’t get anywhere. Dvalishvili kept pushing and was able to get a takedown and had a lot of control time in the final round. All three judges gave Dvalishvili the win at UFC 298 .
UFC title shot next?
With the win on Saturday night, Dvalishvili has now won ten fights in a row. His last three fights have all come against former UFC champions and make no mistake about it, he’s ready for a title shot. Dana White confirmed in the post-fight press conference that Dvalishvili would get the next shot at the title.
Well, Dvalishvili won’t have to wait long to see who he will be fighting. In just a few weeks at UFC 299, Sean O’Malley will defend his title in a rematch against Chito Vera. Whoever wins that bout will have The Machine waiting for them. Even if O’Malley gets a first round knockout in his fight with Vera, I think Dvalishvili will be the betting favorite whenever he gets his title shot.
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