Merab Dvalishvili is on the run of a lifetime in the UFC. Not only has he been a dominant force in the bantamweight division, capturing the title and riding on a 13-fight win streak, but many people believe he’s arguably the best 135er ever. But how long is Dvalishvili going to operate at the same level? Well, his head coach, John Wood, recently gave us an insight regarding this matter during an exclusive interview with EssentiallySports.

Let’s talk about Khabib Nurmagomedov first. The 29-0 legend lost only two rounds in his entire MMA career and even retired as an undefeated fighter at the peak of his powers. Although some fans believe that he would have remained undefeated if he hadn’t retired suddenly, Nurmagomedov himself claimed that nobody, including him, can remain undefeated for too long during his time as an active fighter. “Nobody can be the same long time… no Khabib, nobody, and one day, someone’s gonna beat you,” ‘The Eagle’ said prior to his last fight. And guess what? That’s the exact sentiment of Merab Dvalishvili’s coach as well.

John Wood claims that, as crazy as MMA is as a sport, it would be wrong to believe that Merab Dvalishvili is invincible. He believes that there is no one on the roster at the moment who can beat ‘The Machine’. Not Umar Nurmagomedov nor Cory Sandhagen, who is fighting Dvalishvili next. Meanwhile, Wood claimed that there are some “young bucks” who might give him a tough challenge, and he is looking forward to that.

“It’s stupid for me to say that, ‘No, he’s never gonna lose’… It can happen. Do I think it’s gonna happen? Not anytime soon. I don’t see anybody out there right now. There are some young bucks on the horizon that I think will eventually give us a run,” Merab Dvalishvili’s coach told Andrew Whitelaw during the exclusive interview with EssentiallySports. John Wood also claimed that despite being 34 years of age, ‘The Machine’ hasn’t stopped evolving and there’s room for improvement. However, Dvalishvili’s coach did not count out the fact that the passage of time and age will eventually affect him in the future.

“Father time always catches up with everybody at some point, but I don’t think there’s any chance that Merab’s slowing down anytime soon… the guy is only getting better,” John Wood further added. “He’s got so much further to go as far as improving. His ceiling, it just keeps getting higher and higher and higher. So, I do not see anybody taking that title off of him anytime soon.”

Well, Merab Dvalishvili’s coach did not stop there. He even spoke about his upcoming fight at UFC 320. And guess what? As much as he believes that he’s no match for ‘The Machine’, the bantamweight champ’s coach shared some kind words for Cory Sandhagen as well.

Cory Sandhagen receives kind words from Merab Dvalishvili’s coach with a grim prediction

UFC 320 is not only Cory Sandhagen’s title shot, but it is also going to be the first time that he faces Merab Dvalishvili. He’s going to enter uncharted territory, so it’s going to be interesting to see how the fight pans out. John Wood appears to be a fan of Sandhagen and claims that he loves to watch ‘The Sandman’ fight whenever he’s featured in a UFC event.

However, John Wood claims that Dvalishvili has trained and fought fighters with a similar skill set to that of Sandhagen, and it should not be a problem for the champion. “I think that’s a great matchup [between Sandhagen and Dvalishvili]. He’s a tricky guy. He’s a guy I really like to watch as a fan,” Merab Dvalishvili’s coach added. “But I just think we’ve been in that fight before, and I think Merab will adjust and adapt.” 

Well, Merab Dvalishvili has slowly risen to become one of the biggest stars in the UFC. But that’s not solely because of success inside the Octagon; the Georgian star also has a healthy social media following due to his comedy skits. But coming back to his fighting career, do you think his coach’s statements during the exclusive interview with EssentiallySports are legit? Drop your comments below.