Merab Dvalishvili eyes record after UFC 320 win, but his trainer hints at super fight

Now sharing the record for most successful title defences in the division, Dvalishvili is enjoying a run of form that has him tied with close friend Aljamain Sterling.

‘The Machine’ has held onto his belt through three defences since taking over just over a year ago.

If he were to face Umar Nurmagomedov or Petr Yan again, as has been suggested, and come out on top, he would stand alone as the most accomplished champion in bantamweight history with four defences to his name.

But according to his coach John Wood, there is growing interest in moving up a weight class for a featherweight bout against Alexander Volkanovski.

Speaking on Submission Radio, Wood shared his thoughts on what such a matchup could look like.

“I love that fight. You know Volkanovski might have a little more clean standup, but we’re getting there, man.

“The pace of Merab, even in a bigger weight class, is just so hard to deal with. It’s a really interesting match because they’re both so god**** tough and both so god**** good.”

Merab Dvalishvili breaks another record at UFC 320

Already over the 100-takedown mark in his UFC career, Dvalishvili set another remarkable record during his title defence against Sandhagen.

‘The Machine’ landed 20 successful takedowns in the fight, breaking the previous bantamweight record of 16 set by Sean Sherk against Hermes Franca.

He also came close to equaling Khabib Nurmagomedov’s overall UFC record of 21 takedowns in a single fight, falling just one short of the mark ‘The Eagle’ set against Abel Trujillo.