Merab Dvalishvili not satisfied with his win over Aldo

Saturday night’s main event at UFC 278 featured bantamweight contender Dvalishvili (15-4 MMA, 8-2 UFC) defeating former UFC and WEC champion Jose Aldo (31-8 MMA, 13-7 UFC) via majority decision.

Dvalishvili is not entirely pleased with his performance, despite the fact that this is a major accomplishment for his resume.

“Yes and no, (I’m satisfied),” Dvalishvili told reporters at the UFC 278 post-fight interview when asked about his performance. “Of course, I wanted a more exciting fight and I wanted to take him down. But he was good, and it was hard to time him and take him down.

“Against the cage, he was good. He was defending my takedown good. Also, I didn’t want to spend too much energy because I wanted to be ready for a strike. But this is the fight game. I kept it against the wall, and I was winning the fight comfortable. It’s his job to move and do something because I was winning the fight.”

“I believe there are so many fights left for me,” Dvalishvili said. “There are so many. Our division is the most exciting. There are so many young guys, former champions. Henry Cejudo is coming back. Actually, Aljo has to beat them – the former champions.

“Monday, I’ll be back in the gym helping Aljo. He helped me in this training camp in the gym, weight cut, everything. We have a big fight. Aljo is fighting for the title against a cheater, and we have to beat T.J. Dillashaw together.”

Dvalishvili now has an incredible eight-fight winning run after this victory. He is often considered to be among the field’s most formidable adversaries. But Dvalishvili insists that, despite his impressive showing, he is not yet prepared to challenge for the title. Dvalishvili claims that his close friend and comrade Aljamain Sterling is the current champion, ruling out a bout between the two fighters.

The 31-year-old boxer is adamant that he doesn’t have to battle Sterling for the title because he has other options available to him within the weight class.