Merab Dvalisvili knows what's at stake for Henry Cejudo in his next fight.
Coming out of a three-year retirement, the former two-division UFC Champion decided to make another run at the title in 2023. Unfortunately, he couldn't get it done against then-champion Aljamain Sterling, who handed him a decision loss at UFC 288.
There's not much for the 37-year-old Olympian to accomplish at this point of his career, other than becoming a two-time champion at bantamweight. As a result, Cejudo confirms his plans to retire with a loss to his next opponent Dvalishvili.
'The Machine' expects nothing less as this is all too familiar territory for him --- fighting yet another former UFC Champion:
"If he loses against me, of course he's going to retire," Dvalishvili said at the UFC 298 media day. "He knows he has to beat me, otherwise, he’s done. He’s fighting to beat me and he wants the belt.
"Same thing when I fought Jose Aldo. He was on a three-fight win streak when he beat Chito Vera and other contenders. If he beat me, he was supposed to fight for the title. But I beat him, and he didn’t want to go back down to the ladder and climb again. It’s the same thing again. Jose Aldo, after me, retired. I think it’s the same thing for Henry.”
Dvalishvili did mark the end of Jose Aldo's legendary career after edging out a decision win at UFC 278 full of offensive wrestling, clinch work and pressure.
While it worked for him against the striking specialist, Aldo is no Olympic Gold Medalist in wrestling, and Dvalishvili knows this. The Georgian phenom would admit Cejudo is the better wrestler, but that doesn't mean he can't still stop him at UFC 298.
"I'm not focused of [taking him down] because it's a fight," Dvalishvili continued. "He is better wrestler than me. He is Olympic gold [medalist]. I'm sure if [it was] wrestling, he will beat me in wrestling rules, but in MMA, I think I will do very well against him because it's MMA. It's a fight, it's a totally different game and I'm focused on win the fight.
"I'm not focused on taking him down, because it's a fight, it's not wrestling tournament, it's not Olympic game. We understand that he has a gold medal, I know, but in MMA, all I want to do is just win... even if I have to just kicking all day, I will do that."
This matchup between Henry Cejudo and Merab Dvalishvili has huge title implications at bantamweight, with a win likely landing one of the fighters a shot at the winner of UFC Champ Sean O'Malley vs. Chito Vera at UFC 299.
If you use any quotes from this article, please leave an H/T to MMAKnockout.com for the transcription.
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