Merab Dvalishvili thinks Jose Aldo is also to blame for their UFC 278 fight not being fan-friendly.
Dvalishvili won a lackluster decision over Aldo in Salt Lake City, Utah in a fight that was primarily Dvalishvili pushing Aldo up against the Octagon. It was a disappointing fight that even Dana White ripped Dvalishvili for his performance.
“First of all, I love Jose. I don’t want to sh*t on Jose. But Jose had zero offense tonight,” White said at the UFC 278 post-fight press conference. “And Merab didn’t go after it like a guy that looks like he wants to fight for the title. And when asked the question about his friend holding the title and what did he want to do, he never really answered the question. I always say this: We’re the bells and whistles guys (in the UFC). We lay it out there for him, we give him the opportunity to shine, and it’s up to you to get out there and do it. That didn’t happen tonight.”
After the event, Merab Dvalishvili then was asked about his performance, and fans thinking it was boring. According to the now third-ranked bantamweight, he says some blame also has to go to Jose Aldo because he didn’t do anything.
“It was hard to time it to take him down. He was defending my takedowns good, and I wanted to be ready for his striking. I was winning the fight, and it’s his job to move and do something,” Dvalishvili said after UFC 278.
Even though White and fans were disappointed with the fight, Dvalishvili still got the win and extended his win streak to eight, and is likely a win or two away from fighting for the title.
Never heard of the guy until the other night. People were calling him a killer lol.
Nothing more annoying than a fighter that is known for his gas tank and has announcers jerking him off for how fit he is, and then be boring as shit and not do anything.
Love Merab
Mood killer
His only recent stoppage was moraes who had his soul taken away many fights ago
So he’s just another flavor of the week?
Banana flavored
That’s cuz he is in his other fights but he was fighting Aldo someone who was not only levels up in comp but had a bad style for him. Styles can cancel each other out sometimes as we know and this was only a 3 rounder. Medab would have won more convincingly over 5 and Aldo is one of my favs but he gassed in r2 and didn’t do anything after that. Aldo lost the fight. Merab was trying to do something at least.
Nothing more annoying than fans that are idealistic and don’t understand context and judge fighters off one fight, the fight with the worst stylistic matchup for him. Imagine judging Aldo off this fight or Connor.
He is a high output/cardio grappler than will also brawl. Of course Aldo was gonna be trouble for him. He’s also still improving.
He’s this guy if anyone remembers
Got mounted guillotined, was wiggling out the last 30 seconds of the fight, the ref let it go until the end, and then they cal called it a stoppage
Fucked up IMO
“highlights”
“Leaned his way to victory. Refs need to separate stale positions quicker. Especially if happening repeatedly. Earlier each time. It’s fighting guys! Not saying anything about Mirab he did what he had to / won the match. The ref should separate tho to potentially get a real finish.”
“The Notorious” was also quick to state that he did not believe the problem to be Merab Dvalishvili or his style, but rather the refereeing style. McGregor has expected a big showing from his opponent, and former foe Jose Aldo, and clearly believes the refereeing did him no favours.
He was dreadfully boring against John Dodson as well. Rear waist cinch for 3 rounds. Only real exciting fight was the Marlon fight because Marlon almost killed Merab and then gassed bad.
The problem with Merab is that he has cardio and takedowns but has no power, no technical standup, no submission game, no dangerous GnP game (gassed Marlon aside). So his path to victory is to spazz or stall the fight out. And thats not appealing for most fans.