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Sandhagen (18-6) challenged Dvalishvili (21-4) for the bantamweight title in the co-main event at UFC 320. Dvalishvili secured a total of 20 takedowns, the most ever in an Ultimate Fighting Championship title fight, to earn a unanimous decision win.
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However, Sandhagen notes that he got back to his feet without taking any damage each time Dvalishvili took him down. Without any damage or control time, “The Sandman” doesn’t think takedowns count for a lot in MMA. Sandhagen also believes Dvalishvili was spending more energy than him while trying to take him down. Sandhagen notes that Dvalishvili ran out the clock, mostly making him fight for the grips. Sandhagen vows that no one can control him on the ground, even if his takedown defense might not be up to the mark.
“I think that if you watch that fight, you’re not going to be like, ‘Wow, Merab’s wrestling was super impressive.’ Because what’s a takedown without any control? I mean mat returns don’t hurt,” Sandhagen told Ariel Helwani. “If you just bump me down to my knees and I just have to get back up, that to me not like a ‘MMA takedown.’ I mean, you’re not doing any damage and you’re not doing anything with those. I know who’s working harder in those positions and it’s Merab. And I was kind of expecting him to do that. But he made me fight his grip the whole time and he milked a lot of clock doing that… My takedown defense might not be the best, but there’s no one that can hold me down, I promise.”
Dvalishvili is riding the longest winning streak in UFC bantamweight history (14), which includes three title defenses within a year. “The Machine” will look to break the record for the most title defenses in a year when he puts his title on the line in a rematch against Petr Yan (19-5) at UFC 323 on Dec. 6 in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, Sandhagen will likely have to work his way back up the rankings after having dropped two of his last three.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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