Merab Dvalishvili lauded as ‘Cain Velasquez of bantamweight division’ after Noche UFC title win
Off the back of his impressive title victory in the main event of Noche UFC over the course of the weekend, newly-minted champion, Merab Dvalishvili has been described as the bantamweight version of former heavyweight kingpin, Cain Velasquez, by the veteran’s head coach, Javier Mendez.
Dvalishvili, who headlined UFC 306 over the course of the weekend at the Las Vegas Sphere, managed to scoop the undisputed bantamweight crown in his title grudge fight with Montana striker, Sean O’Malley — out-wrestling and grappling the Contender Series alum en route to a unanimous judging win.
The victory came as Tbilisi native, Dvalishvili’s second of this year following a prior win over former two-weight champion, Henry Cejudo — and marked his eleventh consecutive win at 135lbs.
Merab Dvalishvili compared to Cain Velasquez after Noche UFC title victory
And already weighing up potential title defenses against former flyweight champion, Deiveson Figueiredo and as well as Umar Nurmagomedov, Merab Dvalishvili has received comparisons to the above-mentioned Mexican-American, Velasquez by American Kickboxing Academy head coach, Mendez.
“What he (Merab Dvalishvili) has is this incredible cardio,” Javier Mendez told Submission Radio. “That’s a big part that’s in his advantage. I don’t know of anybody in the bantamweight division I see that has that type of advantage.”
“He has got an incredible gas tank,” Mendez explained. “He’s kind of like a reminder of Cain Velasquez in the bantamweight division.”
Twice winning the undisputed heavyweight title during his Octagon tenure, AKA staple, Velasquez managed to win the titles in outings against both Brock Lesnar and then Junior dos Santos as part of their trilogy fight series.
And in other notable promotional wins, Salinas native, Velasquez has turned in notable wins over the likes of ‘Bigfoot’ Silva, Minotauro Nogueira, Travis Browne, Cheick Kongo, and Ben Rothwell en route to his championship charges in the UFC.
