Prediction: Merab Dvalishvili via Decision<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Merab\u2019s wrestling is the obvious advantage and why most people are leaning his way. But Cory\u2019s not the same fighter who used to get bullied on the mat. His size, length, and technical growth have made him way harder to control, and that\u2019s a big deal in this matchup. If Merab can\u2019t just glue himself to Cory the way he has with others, then he\u2019s forced to strike more than he\u2019d like and Sandhagen has a massive edge on the feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cory\u2019s striking is fluid, creative, and punishing. He\u2019s one of the few guys at bantamweight who can mix volume with accuracy, and he doesn\u2019t panic when pressured. That improved grappling awareness lets him stay calm, defend better, and reset instead of folding. And if this fight spends big chunks on the feet, Cory will have moments because even though Merab\u2019s striking has improved with timing and mixing in the threat of the shot, it\u2019s still chaotic, looping, and nowhere near as clean as what Cory brings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite that, Merab is built different. His cardio is literally freakish. Nobody else in the UFC can keep that kind of pace for five rounds. That\u2019s why he can absorb punishment and just keep forcing his game on people. Cory might have early success, maybe even win moments that make it look scary if you\u2019re on Merab\u2014but over time, the pressure, the grind, the constant chain wrestling, it breaks people. Cory\u2019s good, but matching that kind of pace for five straight rounds is nearly impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So while this fight is way trickier than the line suggests and Cory\u2019s definitely live because of the striking gap. The cardio, durability, and relentless pressure of Merab should still carry the day. Even if he has to eat some clean shots, he\u2019ll keep coming, and eventually, Cory won\u2019t be able to match that insane gas tank. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Prediction: Merab Dvalishvili via Decision Merab\u2019s wrestling is the obvious advantage and why most people are leaning his way. But Cory\u2019s not the same fighter who used to get bullied on the mat. His size, length, and technical growth have made him way harder to control, and that\u2019s a big…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ufc-320"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":594,"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593\/revisions\/594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capmma.com\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}