T.J. Dillashaw thinks Merab Dvalishvili left a win on the table against Petr Yan.
Yan beat Dvalishvili for the second straight time at UFC 333 on Oct. 24, rallying to retain the bantamweight title and win their trilogy. Dvalishvili took the early rounds with pressure and set a UFC record with 58 takedown attempts, but landed only five.
UFC 333 RECAP w/ TJ Dillashaw, Michael Bisping, Marcus McGhee, Bear Degidio
The only thing is that Merab doesn’t have another way to beat Yan. The way he can slow him down from throwing punches is by shooting a shot. The way that he can score points is by getting a takedown. He’s not going to outstrike Yan unless, which, I don’t understand why he has not done this, he does a great job using his hands to get takedowns.
He gets you to believe in your hands and he shoots a shot. He’s the best in the world at getting on the legs. He’s a f—ing nightmare to fight. But imagine if he is now using his takedowns to set up his strikes. Why is that not part of his f—ing game?
He would be even more of a nightmare if he’s like faking a shot. You saw how much Yan would have to f—ing sprawl. Get him to sprawl and then fire off. Bring the knee up the middle, bring in kicks, setting up your combos off your shots. If he was able to do that, he could have won this fight.
Dvalishvili, who won his first meeting with Yan, is staying busy. He’ll compete on the RAF mats against Marlon Moraes on Nov. 14 in Abu Dhabi.
