T.J. Dillashaw was impressed with Merab Dvalishvili’s performance at .
‘The Machine’ cashed in on his first shot at UFC gold, delivering a dominant five-round performance against ‘Sugar’ Sean O’Malley to claim the bantamweight division’s top prize.
Going into the bout, the odds were fairly close with O’Malley being slightly favored to come out on top. Instead, Dvalishvili shut down the ex-champ’s offense with a barrage of smothering takedown attempts and control time. Most educated fight fans knew that Dvalishvili’s contrasting style could win the day against O’Malley, but not many expected him to be as dominant as he was.