Merab Dvalishvili is one of the most important wrestlers in the MMA. He has UFC records for most hits, landing with 92 in 14 games. Former college wrestler Colby Covington is the second among active fighters, with 70 landers landing, ranking seventh in promotional history. Covington has three more battles in UFC than Dvalishvili.
Dali Shivili made an average of 15.6 hit attempts in nine UFC battles throughout the entire three rounds. In three professional and five rounds, the average shooting percentage doubled to 31.3 times. By comparison, Georges St-Pierre was the second champion fighter, landing at 90, making an average of 7.8 attempts and 12 UFC fights.
At first glance, Dvalishvili's weird statistics may indicate that the UFC men's bantamweight champion has only one strategy - falling down an opponent on the mat to keep them away from the defender - but the 34-year-old has many more ways to do it.
Indeed, Dvalishvili relies on his strong wrestling background, but the loopholes in his wrestling heavy combat style require him to blend in other areas of the game to keep the UFC's most talented department.
Here are three deceptive statistics to help the machine improve fame and dominate the champions.
Dvalishvili's batting record (which only grows when he continues to fight) is well known, but what is not discussed is his 158 failed elimination attempts. The 58.2% percentage of downgrade accuracy is not the top ten in UFC history, but it can be said that the attempt he missed was the driving force behind his heavy fighting style of wrestling.
For any fighter, it can land like Dvalishvili, and the opponent must continue to get up after being put on the mat. Get up and defend the opponent inevitable: more attempts. And defending the knockdown exhausted energy. So imagine how much a tired opponent must feel when facing a fighter who averages nearly six successful shots per battle.
Former champion Petr Yan knows the difficulties of knocking down Dvalishvili in the octagon better than anyone else. Yan's record 11 hits of 11 shots landed by Dvalishvili during the March 2023 round. Dvalishvili's 49 attempts to hit the ball in that five-round battle were also UFC's record.
In the previous battle, Dvalishvili tried to bring José Aldo to the mat 16 times, but did not land. He still won all three rounds.
All discussions about Dvalishvili’s ability to wrestle and grab is lost, according to UFC statistics.
Opponents always manage to get back on their feet, which allows the MMA champion to dip into his amateur gold glove boxer. Whether the opponents were defending the elimination attempt or opening up for a strike, or Dvalishvili created wrestling opportunities through landing strikes, his combination of batting and ruthless wrestling made each of his past 12 opponents fit.
In the match against Yan, all three judges won each of the five rounds of the battle, in favor of Dvalishvili. He also had a clean scan of the judge's scorecard with 12 battle streaks on John Dodson, Gustavo Lopez, Brad Katona and Terrion Ware.
The key to Dvalishvili leading his division was his aerobic exercise. Considering that one of his 12 UFC wins came through the finish line, the Georgian could go into the octagon, which beats Bell (8.3%) in each battle.
Dvalishvili's ability to keep hitting strikes and shoot shots in the last round of the rear wheel can only highlight his stamina. When the opponent's energy and fighting energy begin to disappear, that's when Davali Shivili wants to entertain the crowd.
We saw examples of such performances in his recent battles with Sean O'Malley and Umar Nurmagomedov. After two hits in the first round, Devalishvili put O'Malley on the mat again in the second round and kissed O'Malley in the back with a ridiculous gaze. A few days later, he posted on social media “Show him who his dad is”. Throughout the battle, Devalishvili laughed at the challenger several times in the title battle against Nurmagomedov.
Despite the undisputed MMA fans’ continued victory over the fighter, Dvalishvili’s unique blend of pace, shock, batting and acting skills has allowed him to break through and become a fan favorite – even though his 11 out of the 12 wins of Millennials were achieved through unanimous decisions.