Merab Dvalishvili coach John Wood believes Sean O’Malley will mentally break faster than he will physically.
Dvalishvili gets his long-awaited bantamweight title shot against O’Malley in the main event at UFC 306 on Sept. 14 at the Sphere in Las Vegas. While Dvalishvili has previously vowed to knock O’Malley out, Wood has a more realistic prediction for the fight. The Syndicate MMA head coach believes Dvalishvili will take over after the second stanza, applying his signature pressure to eventually rope in a unanimous decision win. Wood also believes that getting to “Sugar” mentally will be easier than breaking him physically.
“A smart man’s bet? I would say five-round unanimous decision Merab,” Wood recently told Red Corner MMA. “I think we take control after the second and it’s all gas with Merab, but it’s gonna be technical gas. And I think we put the kind of pressure on Sean that he just can’t deal with. Not that he can’t deal with – physically breaking him is gonna be hard, but mentally I think we can get there. And I think Merab will grind this fight out in a five-round decision.”
Wood also praised Dvalishvili for being a highly coachable fighter. According to the former middleweight fighter, Dvalishvili implements his teachings well in each fight, although it might initially appear that “The Machine” isn’t processing it well. And Wood says the proof of that lies in the Georgian’s recent wins over top-tier opponents.
“He learns very good and he listens very good,” Wood said. “It’s funny because we’ll be in the room, and I’ll be teaching him something, we’re working in private and it doesn’t seem like he’s getting it. The very next day he’ll do it perfect live. You’ve to kind of learn to teach things, but he’s a guy that will do what you tell him to do. Also too, because it’s been proven for the last few fights, he’s had easier times with harder opponents now in each fight for the last three or four fights.”
Currently riding a 10-fight winning streak, Dvalishvili’s last three wins have come via dominant unanimous decisions over former champs Henry Cejudo, Petr Yan and Jose Aldo.
