A lot of fans are going to be tuning into the main event of UFC 306 expecting Merab Dvalishvili to come out and fight with a very high work rate.
The bantamweight contender is one of the best fighters in the sport when it comes to weaponizing his conditioning, especially over five rounds.
His grappling and relentless output is sure to be a difficult problem for the sniper-like striking of Sean O’Malley but Dvalishvili’s teammate has a different option in mind.
The former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling pointed to one of O’Malley’s past fights as a good example of how the opposite strategy can be effective against “Suga”.
Aljamain Sterling Points Out How Pedro Munhoz Had Success Against Sean O’Malley By Letting Him Go First
O’Malley’s best skillset is far and above his counter-striking, as we saw in his title defense against Marlon Vera and his bantamweight title win over Sterling.
On that night at UFC 292, “Funkmaster” made a mistake in trying to press the action and was caught during his takedown entry.
In a recent interview with Jake Noecker for Home of Fight, Sterling spoke out about how being reserved so that you aren’t giving the counter-striker many opportunities to land shots or make reads, could be an option for his long-time friend and training partner.
He pointed to O’Malley’s fight against Pedro Munhoz at UFC 276 as a good example of this.
Though the fight was declared a no-contest in the second round after Munhoz couldn’t continue from an eye poke, he won the opening stanza on two of the three scorecards by fighting with a much more calculated and controlled approach.
“I think it’s gonna come down to a patience game. I think if Merab implements the same game plan that I used in the first round, just make it a slow fight, let O’Malley be the one to make mistakes. He’s used to people chasing him and he’s a very good counter fighter so don’t give him what he needs which is what the game plan was in our fight.
“So just speaking to Merab, letting him know those are his keys to victory. You watch his fight with Pedro Munhoz, it’s a very slow paced fight, not much happens if you don’t give him what he wants and I think anyone who’s an analyst in the sport knows what he’s good at, knows what he needs to have to have success. You take those tools away from him then he doesn’t really, I don’t want to say he doesn’t really have much but we haven’t seen that side of him. Having to be the aggressor when his opponent is not hurt.”
Read also: Sean O’Malley’s Coach On Henry Cejudo: ‘Thinks He’s God’s Gift…’
