Merab Dvalishvili honored “to be training with the GOAT” Demetrious Johnson

Merab Dvalishvili and Demetrious Johnson are two fighters with exemplary legacies in MMA, with the two prolific fighters getting in work together recently. The reigning UFC bantamweight champion posted evidence of this on his Instagram page, and Dvalishvili captioned the post by expressing how honored he felt to be working with a martial artist he referred to as the GOAT.

Photos of the top bantamweight in MMA today working with the former UFC flyweight champion and ONE Championship titleholder captured the attention of many with shots of Dvalishvili getting in sparring work with Johnson at Syndicate MMA, the former’s base gym.

Johnson has retired from mixed martial arts with his last contest taking place in May 2023 when ‘Mighty Mouse’ won his rubber match Adriano Moraes inside the ONE Circle.

As for Dvalishvili, his next title defense will take place on October 4th as ‘The Machine’ will do battle with the number four-ranked 135-pounder fighter in the promotion, Cory Sandhagen, in the co-main event of UFC 320.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Merab Dvalishvili (@merab.dvalishvili)

The Merab Dvalishvili game plan that Demetrious Johnson would create if he ever fought him

The timing of this photo dump was curious, considering Demetrious Johnson fairly recently fielded a question about how he would game plan for a hypothetical fight against Merab Dvalishvili. In an appearance on the Simple Man Podcast, ‘Mighty Mouse’ shows why many regard him as one of the most analytical minds in the game today with Johnson saying [via Bloody Elbow],

“If I was to fight Merab, I would press him the whole entire time. Force him to shoot and try to make him stand. When he shoots, make him pay for shooting, not try to out grapple [him]. When it comes to grappling, he likes to stay in guard. So push on the face, get a knee shield.”

“And then when he tries to come in, go underneath him. It has to be a constant fight when you fight Merab. When you get into clinch, start throwing knees, elbows, punches. When he backs out of the clinch, right hand, body kick, high kick.”

“It’s got to be a constant fight with Merab. You can’t allow him to dance outside the void and do his thing, and then he blasts a double and once he blasts that double, you gotta have a good enough ground game to keep those frames to keep him from burying you.”