What Makes Merab Dvalishvili a Machine? (Studying His Style)

The Basics/Questions today I'm going to be a fighting nerd and I'm going to try to find out why Morales villy is a machine what's up guys so in this video I'm going to be studying the style of UFC bantamweight Contender one of the best UFC bantamweights in the world fighting for the title at UFC 306 the sphere event against sha Ali morab the machine debish really I'm going to try to figure out why he's nicknamed The Machine dig a little bit deeper into his style so before I get into this fighter study leave a comment who I should study next and yeah let's start with the basic stuff about morab now we know the basic stuff this video is not about the basic stuff it's about digging deeper right as I said but with that being said there are some things we got to mention here about morab we know he's really good using his wrestling he's got really good cardio he sets a really good pace so we establish that we know he's really good at what he does whether you love his style or you hate his style because he definitely has a polarizing style which a lot of fans just can't stand but no matter your opinion on it you have to admit that it's very effective as far as the questions going into this why is his cardio so good I feel like a lot of fans think um this a lot like what makes this guy's cardio so different it's part of the reason why I think he's called a machine um how does he shoot 50 takedowns in a fight again same thing uh how did he get better later in his career he is 33 years old and how did he out wrestle an Olympic gold medalist I'm talking about his last performance the decision decision win against Henry cejudo and will his style be able to dominate sha Ali in his upcoming title opportunity so first off I'm going to go Resume/Background through his resume sbackground so he's 17 and4 not too many fights he is currently on a 10-fight UFC win streak though which is crazy especially considering he lost his first two fights in the UFC as far as explaining these losses right I'm not going to go I'm not going to obviously be too negative on morab in this video even though I'm breaking down his style unbiasedly but with being said I'm trying to talk about the good of morab what makes him so good cuz he is clearly good but he does have that loss in his debut to Frankie science and it's kind of like a very close decision and it was what it was type of fight then in his second UFC fight it's the fight versus Ricky Simone which had a very controversial ending basically he got caught in like a mounted Guillotine and he was trying to like survive and get out but then you could argue that he was put to sleep and tough to explain you'd have to go and watch it but as far as his background he comes from a and Judo background training since was young but really got into MMA a little bit later in his life and he also trains at Sara Longo uh trains with Alaine Sterling who's one of the greatest UFC band weights of all time so the first thing that I noticed Full Style Breakdown after studying the style of morab valash which is one of the reasons why I wanted to do this video studying him particularly is because I've kind of felt like this for a long time about Mor Rob style it's the way that he looks when you watch him fight when you watch morab Fight now a lot of people just make make fun of him like what is this fighting style or his fighting style is so weird to watch because it's I feel like he just he has a style he's constantly moving right so this is kind of a theory that I have now maybe it's true there probably some statistics done on this in the past about fighting but I do feel like when you're in a fight your opponent is watching you right so they mirror you a little bit sometimes when I watch UFC fights say I watch Pion for a full day I'm walking around my house Shadow Boxing like Pion with the high guard and things like that and I don't know if you guys relate but I feel like watching something you kind of adapt to it and you start to adjust your style a little bit towards it and I think the same goes when you're fighting someone so I talked about morab constantly moving right he's there with the high guard and he's just moving constantly I think that's one of the reasons he's so effective is because yes he has a gas tank Advantage but he's also moving constantly so his opponent's got increased senses right they're moving a lot they're more active than they usually would be and I think because of Mor Rob's just body language in a fight where he's just constantly just there just moving up and down whether he's throwing strikes or not which he is always throwing strikes anyway but he his body language is good and I do think it's part of the reason why he's so effective I mean I think he increases the senses of his opponents I know a lot of people talk about Pion there was like a clip that went around after his fight versus morab where he had a stuff like 50 takedowns he like flinched after the fight in an interaction with morab and a lot of people were saying like he was so shaken up by morab in that fight because morab had a crazy high output performance it increases the senses of the opponent so they're they're yes they can stuff takedowns because they are aware of takedowns coming and they're they're on their mind is on right they're ready for whatever and but I also think it makes them wear down a little bit because they're reacting so much to everything and I do think that played a part in Yan struggling against morab a lot of people say Pon is a slow starter in my opinion morab didn't let him get started excellent output in Pace phenomenal cardio and heart as far as his striking let's talk about his striking real quick we know he's not a striker right so let's break this down pretty wide stance he's got like a bounce to his it's a kind of unique stance it's bouncy but it's not too karate his hands are very high typically he has decent tight boxing as well he showcased that a little bit against Cody staman and he has decent boxing he really does I do think he's a little too Reckless though I know I'm not the UFC benight number one Contender but I do think there are some obvious kind of not holes in his game but things that are there we've seen him get caught by left Hooks and I think that's a little bit of his recklessness obviously Henry cejudo was able to stun him Maron morice was able to stun him a couple times in their fight with big left hooks he's willing to go power for power which is fine when you're really really good and really powerful but he doesn't have that much power and his head movement isn't amazing he does drop his hands in the pocket as well so he's a little too Reckless even though I know he's trying to set the high output pace which has worked for him if we're being honest he's only lost twice and he's never been knocked out in the UFC so I will say he does have a decent chin as well he's also flashier than many will say with the Striking does throw back fists he does throw some flashy kicks as well which are decent I don't see them being something where he just throws a wheel kick and Knocks Malo cold but he has them which is there so you got to mention it for his striking but yeah he's a decent Striker but it's definitely not his thing right but he does use it well to disguise his takedown attempts again everything is disguising a takedown attempt you guys heard me talk about his constant movement it's also constant punching even though he's not a great boxer right he is tight with his boxing he's not too loopy too wild or anything like that but the constant movement I do think gets to his opponents whether it's boxing's phenomenal or not which is why I think you can make the argument that he did better in the Striking against Pion compared to how Cory San Haagen did which shouldn't make sense on paper now let's get into the grappling right the wrestling everything the Jiu-Jitsu let's break down Mor Rob's grappling first off we'll start with the clinch cuz I do think it's part of grappling in your whole game there he is really good at using the clinch very very good at using the clinch we saw that against Jose Aldo despite what you think boring or whatever as far as break breaking it down if you're breaking it down like a sport trying to win right he wins with this really good holding people up against the cage Landing total strikes in those positions definitely knows how the judges are going to score fights and things like that so I think he's smart as well shoots single legs and double legs he's also got good takedown versatility I think that's because of his Judo background uh really good at catching kicks really good at that like against pan where he shot 49 takedown attempts a lot of them yeah he shoots the double leg yeah he'll shoot a single leg when Yan's in Southpaw and things like that and he's really good at those but even when he's not taking you down immediately his chain wrestling with the takedowns is really good like when he'll grab p on a single leg he'll raise the hip really high he'll sweep out your other leg really good at takedowns like that really creative with his takedown so got to mention the takedown versatility he can take you down from back position as well he can also slam the opponents we know he did that to Henry cejudo but he's also done it many times throughout his UFC career he averages about six takedowns landed per 15 minutes which isn't crazy and he only has a 36% takedown accuracy but with that being said he is a really good wrestler I'm going to break this down here because I wrote something down to me he's not an unbelievable wrestler like best wrestler in the UFC level I know some people may think he is because he is effective with it he does win fights he is on a really good run right now but to me he's very good but he's more confident with using techniques he's learned than other Fighters are and he's got very refined technique it feels like he does it more than other Fighters I feel like he in the training he shooting these takedowns more than other Fighters do I feel like it's because of his output right that benefits him in training so he has more experience practicing these techniques when you watch him fight he does not look hesitant to shoot a takedown at all doesn't look worried about running into strikes so I don't think he's like a crazy wrestler but he's very confident with using it he's also pretty good at setting up takedowns nice overhands into takedowns again I about he catches strikes as well also shoots below strikes really good cuz he's kind of shorter with his stature so he's really good at that also extremely opportunistic with takedowns against marlem rice he got a couple crazy takedowns against marlem rice overall he knew when he needed to use his wrestling his fight IQ with his wrestling is really good and I talked about why I think his wrestling isn't crazy I do think part of it is he doesn't hold the opponent down too much he doesn't really have a smothering constantly on top of you wrestling style but he makes you get up and takes you down again and if you have the cardio advantage that's going to go hand in hand that works really well for him now I talked about his Judo background with his takedown versatility but he also gets some sloppy takedowns he's just really physical he'll like grab you and squeeze you in certain positions headlocks and throws and things like that and just he's a little reckless overall with his whole style I talked about his striking his wrestling is kind of crazy as well there's really no fear with it he'll just throw himself into certain positions and he's a little reckless with his wrestling but it's effective because he's got a cardio Advantage because he works so hard and again his control is mid he's not a guy who's going to lay on someone for 4 minutes 30 seconds of a round in my opinion he'd have to have a big wrestling disparity but at the top of the bantamweight Division I don't think we're going to see much of that so yeah not great control not great BJJ either like he it's decent it is decent we haven't seen too much of it but I do know it's decent based on some of the submission attempts I've seen him go for in certain fights but yeah he's more he's more of just a wrestler just a real wrestler takeown type of guy excellent grip strength really good slams and yeah that's how I feel about Mor Rob's grappling it's definitely the best attribute of his game so now why is morab D wildish really so good talking about all the things that I talked about he striking he's grappling it comes down to his massive cardio advantage that he holds over a lot of opponents I do think that's a big part as far as people describing his style a lot of people will say it's constant output it's constant pressure but I would be hesitant to say it's constant pressure now obviously that depends on the opponent if the opponent is letting him pressure you I think he's fine with putting that high Pace on takedowns up against the cage and things like that but from what we've seen against a hudo against Marin morice against uh Pon like he's not always backing You Up Against the Cage sometimes he's in the center of the cage exchanging power shots sometimes he's on the back foot even but the thing is when when he's in these various positions he's constantly keeping his output High he'll shoot takedowns off the back foot he'll shoot takedowns when you're up against the cage he'll utilizes clinch he's constantly doing something and that's the main reason why I think he's so effective and it's surprising a little bit because when I think about his style I don't think it's the most I don't think it's a unbelievable style for bantamweight I think he's not naturally that gifted as far as athleticism and things like that I think he's just a Workhorse I think he trains harder than a lot of Fighters I really do I think he just trains harder now that's all just assumption but I know he comes from a good camp I know he was kind of green when he went to S Longo and moved to the USA I know he's really improved on his style and I think Alro talked about this before it's just hard work with this guy that's part of the reason why he's called The Machine he's almost like a machine the way he fights right it's just the style it's so weird um it's not that weird though because we've seen it in many other weight classes we've seen it with guys like Colby Covington and I understand why it's so effective in higher weight classes a guy who can shoot a lot of takedowns make you get up constantly right not a big control guy but it wears down guys who are very big but in bantamweight where you're fighting against extremely highlevel athletes the fact that he's able to wear these guys down even when he's at a speed disadvantage a lot of the time even when he's at all these disadvantages his style is so effective it's very interesting comment below what you guys think about this whole top topic as well again utilizes the clinch really well that's a big part of his game excellent cardio and I think another thing that plays into his cardio is he doesn't throw with full power when he's striking all of the time kind of like a Nate Diaz type of thing he doesn't throw lazy shots though everything's got some fire to it excellent gas tank management though I talked about he's a Workhorse now I want to talk about this I think he takes advantage of the system right now he is not a finisher he is a decision fighter 100% he's just a decision fighter he's not the type of guy who's going to get a lot of finishes is he more entertaining than some say I will say so me personally I don't love his fighting style as far as being entertaining but you can't argue that he's not doing anything he's constantly doing something you know so he's not boring in that way he's constantly doing something his Styles is just a bit predictable in a way which I think creates some of the boredom that a lot of fans feel about his game but he takes advantage of the system now what I mean by this is it's really good with the Optics right when you watch a morab fight it just feels like morab is asserting his will on the opponent it feels like he's doing more than the opponent watch this fight versus Jose Aldo now Jose Aldo's historically been very low output on occasions but again Mor Rob's not too damaging but he outpaces you it's interesting it's really interesting because he breaks Fighters but he doesn't break them with punches or with damage or anything like that I think he affects these Fighters mentally a little bit again talking about the movement he's there I want to see him go five rounds more in future fights but against pan he's just there still shooting takedowns in the fifth round and I think although Yan's cardio wasn't bad in that fight yam was holding up and stuffing takedowns even in the fourth and fifth round I think that's because morab isn't the most gifted especially in the bantamweight division but he has something that you just it's tough to describe I think a lot of it is ability to just work hard his toughness I think he's tough and I think he's good at knowing what the judges want to see but then again he does fail a lot of takedown sometimes which isn't a good look but I feel like the judges don't penalize that too much right stuffing takedowns isn't rewarded too much so he'll shoot so many takedowns just to overload the system again he's not a great Striker but he doesn't really strike that much now again he's constantly moving he's constantly throwing output but a lot of his fight it's just takedowns it's the opponent stuffing taked Downs or it's the opponent stuck up against the cage or it's the opponent just not doing what they do best and he takes that away from the opponents with his style takes advantage of the system he knows how to fight his style given his athletic attributes if that makes sense I think he does mentally affect these opponents he's Relentless I talked about opportunistic the performance versus Marlon morice he was at a striking disadvantage but he was able to use the gas tank he was able to use his constant movement to just wear on Marlon morice and I know maice breaks in a lot of fights but that fight's the perfect example of why morab is called the machine go watch it if you haven't seen it he just breaks Marlon morice really good ground and pound as well I just think he works harder than most that's my opinion because I don't think he's that skilled in every area as far as being a mixed martial artist I do think he's got really good wrestling though and that you can't deny his takedown versatility his Judo his trips and things like that it's clearly really good now the final question will this be Outro enough to be able to defeat a guy like sha Ali who has really good footwork who's taller a lot bigger than a lot of the opponents that morab has fought will it be enough who knows what do you guys think leave your opinions in the comments below my breakdown for that fight will be out somewhat soon um obviously that event is coming up the biggest fight of Mor Rob's career so what do you guys think makes morab a machine if you want to like this video And subscribe I appreciate it massively thank you and yes thanks for watching this video [Music] [Music]