Merab Dvalishvili overwhelms and breaks Henry Cejudo at UFC 298
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, February 17, 2024, for UFC 298, going down live from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Headlining the event is a featherweight championship bout between Alexander Volkanovski (26-3) and no. 3 ranked Ilia Topuria (14-0).
Co-headlining the event is a 185 lb encounter between no. 3 ranked former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker (24-7) and no. 6 ranked former title challenger Paulo Costa (14-2).
Our second bout going down on the main card tonight was a bantamweight bout between no. 2 ranked Merab Dvalishvili (17-4) and no. 3 ranked former two-division champion Henry Cejudo (16-4).
Following a two-fight losing skid to begin his promotional tenure, both defeats of which were quite controversial, Dvalishvili had since won nine-straight, most recently defeating the likes of former WSOF bantamweight champion Marlon Moraes (TKO), former WEC and UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo (UD), and former UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan (UD).
Cejudo on the other hand, following his claim of the UFC flyweight championship in his rematch with Demetrious Johnson (SD), went on to defend the title against then UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw (TKO) before moving up to 135 lbs.
Cejudo then stopped Marlon Moraes (TKO) in their vacant title fight before defending the title against former WEC and UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz (TKO). He then left the sport, returning three years later to face Aljamain Sterling for the bantamweight title last May, a fight he lost via split decision.
Continue reading to see how this bantamweight affair went down:
Official Result: Merab Dvalishvili def. Henry Cejudo via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Both men trade leg kicks in the early goings of the bout, Cejudo landing a hard left hook about 90 seconds in. Dvalishvili shot in on a single leg, switching it to a switch takedown that saw him take down the Olympic gold medalist.
Cejudo was back to his feet quickly, though he’d throw a kick that was caught by Dvalishvil and put back on his back. Cejudo reverses the position as soon as Dvalishvili joins him on the ground.
Dvalishvili had a much better second round as he really began to wear on Cejudo, taking him down twice and ending the round in the middle of a ninja choke attempt.
Dvalishvili continued to pour in the pressure in the third and final round, absolutely handling Cejudo with ease. It’s incredible really, no one had ever done this to Cejudo before.
Henry Cejudo has always been amongst the best in the world regarding both his fight IQ and mid-fight adjustments.
Tonight, he started off well, but couldn’t make those adjustments. A lot of people thought he beat Aljamain Sterling at UFC 288, a lot of people thought he could be the champion right now, and Merab Dvalishvili just dominated him, shut him down and overwhelmed him.
The Georgian talent improves his win streak to 10-straight tonight at UFC 298 with the biggest victory of his 20-fight career.
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