Merab Dvalishvili is only three successful takedowns away from becoming the first with 100 total for a UFC career.
Dvalishvili enters his UFC 320 bantamweight title defense against Cory Sandhagen on Oct. 4 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) with 97 completed takedowns inside the octagon. He already holds the all-time record to himself after passing Georges St-Pierre’s longstanding record of 90 earlier this year, and now the triple digit milestone is within reach.
Although Dvalishvili (20-4 MMA, 13-2 UFC) has already stated that his plan for Sandhagen (18-5 MMA, 11-4 UFC) is to strike and score a knockout victory, he thinks it’s very possible he gets to 100 or even beyond in this fight. Ultimately, however, he said it will come down to how long Sandhagen can survive.
“I think I will have this 100 takedowns after this fight,” Dvalishvili told MMA Junkie. “I’m not going to focus on that because I’m going to focus more on striking, but I think it will come naturally, you know? When I finished Sean O’Malley at the end of the third round, I was missing something. I wanted to do more takedowns, more fighting.
“Let’s see how our fight goes. If we fight five rounds, easy: I will get three takedowns – easy. I will hit the 100 takedowns. No problem.”
Dvalishvili, No. 4 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie pound-for-pound rankings, is going for more than just takedown history at UFC 320. If victorious, he will become the eighth champion in UFC history to record three title defenses in a calendar year after beating O’Malley in June and Umar Nurmagomedov in January.
