Khalil Rountree can attest to Merab Dvalishvili being one among one.
The 2 share a head coach in John Wooden, who was of their respective corners at UFC 320 this previous Saturday to witness Dvalishvili’s newest title triumph as he defended his bantamweight belt in opposition to Cory Sandhagen, in addition to Rountree’s devastating third-round knockout loss to Prochazka.
That working relationship means Rountree is aware about Dvalishvili’s behind-the-scenes preparation and he was blown away by what he noticed the bantamweight champion do exactly hours earlier than his struggle with Sandhagen.
“Merab within the gymnasium, it’s actually onerous to say that he’s any completely different within the gymnasium than he’s within the cage,” Rountree stated on the JAXXON podcast. “I promise you it is a 100% true story. At 12:00 within the afternoon on struggle day, Saturday, Oct. 4, Merab sparred 5 rounds within the cage. Stay. On the day of his struggle. As a result of that’s simply who he’s.”
Dvalishvili has earned a legendary repute for having an infinite fuel tank, which alongside together with his highly effective wrestling and quickly bettering hanging, has positioned him as probably the greatest pound-for-pound fighters of this period. Regardless of Sandhagen placing on a valiant effort in opposition to Dvalishvili, the defending champion almost completed Sandhagen with strikes within the second spherical and ultimately cruised to a call victory.
Suffice to say, Rountree was in awe of what he noticed from Dvalishvili on struggle day.
“5 full dwell rounds at 12:00, not even half a day earlier than he needs to be within the area to placed on the most important struggle of his profession,” Rountree stated. “That’s simply him. You can’t make it up.
“So to be round that, it’s simply one other expertise. Most guys will sit within the lodge room or attempt to accumulate their ideas or do no matter. Perhaps even get a motorbike trip in on the assault bike to form of burn some vitality. I’ve by no means in my life seen any individual spar 5 full rounds the day that they need to struggle and go do one other 5 full rounds with a Cory Sandhagen. He’s a distinct breed, however like he says, he exhibits as much as the gymnasium the identical means he exhibits as much as struggle evening. It’s fascinating to be round, but it surely’s nice.”
As for Rountree’s personal struggle at UFC 320, he discovered himself on the alternative finish of the octagon with a distinct sort Jiri Prochazka. Rountree out-struck the unpredictable Prochazka for 2 rounds, however succumbed to strikes within the third when Prochazka entered full berserker mode.
Rountree has stated on a number of events he has no real interest in replicating his title struggle with Alex Pereira, who left a spirited Rountree with a number of facial accidents within the aftermath. Requested what he thinks may need been going by Prochazka’s head when he ramped up his offense, Rountree might solely speculate.
“Even in my pre-fight interviews and stuff, I didn’t ask for this sort of struggle,” Rountree stated. “I didn’t need this sort of struggle. That wasn’t my plan. I knew that it might go there, I wasn’t going to shrink back from it, however I wasn’t asking for it. … No matter he was going by in these moments—as a result of I do know that he ate some large photographs, I do know that there was some doubts, I do know that there was some moments from his finish the place he was like, ‘Oh, rattling’—so perhaps there was one thing that he needed to pull from. Perhaps he needed to go to a darkish place to have the ability to land left hook and he needed to inform himself that it was essential to need to go there, in any other case he wouldn’t have gained the struggle.
“That’s how I see it, however I’m simply an observer. I don’t know what it means.”
