UFC 306 marked a new chapter for Merab’s Dvalishvili as he snagged the bantamweight title from Sean O’Malley.
Merab showed his grappling skill set in the cage as he took down O’Malley countless times during the five-round match. Many fighters commended Merab’s grappling skills, including Firas Zahabi, Georges St-Pierre’s coach. The coach was impressed with Merab’s skills, but he advised him to improve his style so that he would not become obsolete.
“Merab’s wrestling is just too superior. It’s way better,” Zahabi said on the Tristar Gym YouTube channel. “O’Malley is very good in the striking. Better than Merab, but Merab’s wrestling was too much. The differential in wrestling was way too high.”
“On the ground, guys, I’ll tell you something, Merab never finishes,” Zahabi said on the Tristar Gym YouTube channel. “Look, I love Merab… I love his personality. I love the craziness. and I love the fact that at the beginning of Round 1, Merab is yelling at O’Malley’s corner. … He’s a very charming, lovable character. Dana White called him a moron. He’s like, ‘Ahhh, that guy’s a moron.’ … The only one thing you can predict about Merab is that he’s going to shoot that takedown. His cardio is unmatchable.
“The good thing about Merab, his cardio is amazing. His personality is amazing. The bad thing about Merab, he doesn’t finish — he doesn’t even get close to a finish.”
Zahabi was with St-Pierre throughout his career and coached him through his impressive championship run. With his experience in coaching, Zahabi believes Merab should start adding stoppages and improve his striking so fans don’t turn against him.
His finishing record is abysmal, I’ve got to be honest,” Zahabi said. “I’m telling you guys, I love the guy. He’s a world champion. I think he’s awesome. However, his finishing rate — imagine you can take down almost everybody you’ve ever fought, and you literally only have one submission. That doesn’t make any sense. … You’re literally taking everybody down, how come you never finish?
“He needs to have in-depth, super-deep courses on how to finish — submission, ground-and-pound — he has to change his style. And he can do it. He’s a very talented, intelligent guy. He needs to do it, because if he doesn’t do it, the fans will get sick of him. … They’ll get sick of him running around the ring and just taking people down. They’re going to get sick of that. He has to entertain the crowd, he has to show finishing ability. If he doesn’t, it could be disastrous to his career.”
Zahabi believes Dvalishvivli should focus more on other fighting styles to include diversity and also be more entertaining to the fans.
