EPO or Genetics? Georges St-Pierre’s Trainer Weighs In on Merab Dvalishvili’s Legendary Cardio
EPO or Genetics? That’s the question surrounding Merab Dvalishvili’s bottomless gas tank inside the Octagon.
UFC 311 saw ‘The Machine’ score his first successful defense of the bantamweight title, outworking previously undefeated Dagestani star Umar Nurmagomedov in the evening’s co-main event. Nurmagomedov went into the bout as a greater-than-2-to-1 favorite to come out on top and end Dvalishvili’s reign early. However, the Georgian has other plans.
After surrendering the first two rounds on two of the three judges’ scorecards, Dvalishvili began to wear on his opponent, using his legendary cardio to slowly take over the bout and extend his own unbeaten streak to 12.
Firas Zahabi thinks Merab Dvalishvili has been graced with great genetics
Discussing Dvalishvili’s mind-blowing cardio, TriStar Gym proprietor and former GSP coach Firas Zahabi believes that ‘The Machine’ has been graced with good genetics and was quick to disregard the notion that Dvalishvili could be utilizing EPO or another type of performance-enhancing substance.
“His conditioning is just unreal, you know. I’ve seen guys get caught on drugs, and EPO, who didn’t have cardio like him. I’m not saying he’s on EPO, I’m just saying that even if you are on EPO, you just don’t have that level of cardio,” Zahabi said on the TriStar Gym YouTube channel.
“I’m not saying any of these guys are doping. I don’t think Mayweather dopes at all, or that Merab is doping. I’m just saying, like, it’s genetic, okay? Because you can go and do their workout, you can go and try to copy them—it’s useless. It’s totally useless. Okay, it’s got to be genetic. It’s got to be genetic. It can’t be, ‘Oh, this guy’s doing a secret formula.’ That would blow my mind. That would really blow my mind. That would really shock me. No, it’s genetic.”
The win over Nurmagomedov moved Dvalishvili’s record to 12-2 under the UFC banner, 19-4 overall.
