Merab Dvalishvili's coach makes major prediction about UFC champ's future fights after Sean O'Malley rematch win

Merab Dvalishvili's coach opened up about his ward's future octagon outings following the rematch win against Sean O'Malley. He emphasized Dvalishvili's lack of knockouts and voiced faith in the reigning champion's ability to secure finishes in his next contests.

Dvalishvili made his second bantamweight title defense at UFC 316 last weekend in a rematch against O'Malley. 'The Machine' put on a dominating performance, similar to their first encounter at Noche UFC 306 last year, and submitted the former champion toward the end of the third round.

In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Dvalishvili's head coach, John Wood, said that fans should expect a lot more finishes from the 34-year-old in his upcoming matchups:

''Mark my words, this won't be the first and only submission. There will be knockouts. There will be TKOs. He's still getting better. And I think that, you know, Sean did better, but I mean, Sean defended takedowns in the first one, Sean defended things in later in the rounds in the first fight. And as, as a coach, it's my job to, like I said, figure out what in a rematch what they think they're going to do better. And we have to change and adjust and change those strategies and change those timings. And it worked out perfectly.''

Check out John Wood's comments below:

With this impressive victory at UFC 316, Dvalishvili extended his winning run to 13 fights, joining the likes of Jon Jones, Demetrious Johnson, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Max Holloway, and Georges St-Pierre. However, only two of his wins have come via finishes.

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John Wood backs Merab Dvalishvili to defeat Cory Sandhagen in potential matchup

Cory Sandhagen is expected to challenge Merab Dvalishvili next for the bantamweight throne as Dvalishvili voiced his desire to face 'The Sandman' following his win over Sean O'Malley at UFC 316.

In a recent interview with Submission Radio, John Wood gave his take on the potential fight. Wood feels Sandhagen will be a tough opponent but believes the reigning champion will prevail:

''Cory is a great fighter, and I enjoy watching him. I think he's a very entertaining fighter, and I think he's got a lot of tools, and a lot of things that are going to be tough to deal with. But I do not believe it's going to be anything different than Merab has seen before. I think it's stuff we are going to have just a fine time with, and it'll be a fun fight. But I can tell you this: Merab's going to come out ahead on that one.''

Check out John Wood's comments below (16:59):