Merab Dvalishvili is still not comfortable with the lifestyle of being UFC champion.
Dvalishvili (20-4 MMA, 13-2 UFC) defends his bantamweight title against Cory Sandhagen (18-5 MMA, 11-4 UFC) in the UFC 320 co-main event Oct. 4 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Despite his dominance inside the octagon, Dvalishvili admits it’s still an adjustment process for him being on top.
“No, I’m definitely not comfortable,” Dvalishvili told MMA Junkie. “Every fight in UFC is very important for me even (when) I was not fighting for the belt or now I’m fighting for belt. Every fight, doesn’t matter. Even my first fight in the UFC or my third fight, I’m treating every fight same. I have same goal and same motivation.
“I’m even more motivated, but it’s just when you’re the champion, you become popular. You’ve got more distractions, more people. You have more opportunities, and of course, I have family, I have friends, I have teammates, coaches, neighbors. You have to split the time for everyone, which is hard, and I’m trying to deal with this, figure it out.”
Dvalishvili will look to notch his third bantamweight title defense of the year against Sandhagen, and still hopes he can squeeze one more fight in before the end of the year.
“I want to ask (the UFC) favor to fight fourth time this year if I win,” Dvalishvili said. “First, I have to win this fight. I’m very focused because like I said, I don’t think it’s going to be an easy fight for me. If I win this fight, I want to come back quick and give Petr Yan his fight because he’s like the clear contender right now, and he’s the most deserving guy in my weight class.”
