‘Please send them over’ – Tom Aspinall asks UFC champion for MMA tips following ‘insane’ victory at UFC 311
Tom Aspinall is after advice from Merab Dvalishvili after his incredible UFC 311 win. Dvalishvili defended his bantamweight title at UFC 311, handing Russia’s Umar Nurmagomedov the first defeat of his career. Dvalishvili defended his belt for the first time since beating Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 UFC interim heavyweight champion Aspinall was scheduled to attend UFC 311 in Inglewood, California, where he had also organised meet and greets with fan. However, the Brit flew on a delayed flight to Amsterdam and missed his connection to Los Angeles before other departures were cancelled due to heavy fog. “What Merab does is just insane,” Aspinall said in a UFC 311 reaction video. “Like Merab, if you’re watching this, and you have got any cardio tips for me, please send them over. “That conditioning is unbelievable. The third round was quite an even round – it could have gone either way. “Potentially, Merab lost that round, if I remember rightly. But I would have thought, right, starting to slow down a bit here. “But Merab just turns it up again, just turns up the heat. He just goes full blast. He’s just going in and there’s just no slowing down. “I don’t know how you get that kind of cardio, how you get that kind of conditioning.” Dvalishvili broke Georges St-Pierre‘s record for the most takedowns in UFC history, surpassing his record of 90, en route to defending his bantamweight title at UFC 311. He took Nurmagomedov into deep waters and exhausted him in the later rounds in their co-main event to secure a unanimous-decision victory. Dvalishvili utilised his incredible stamina to outpoint Nurmagomedov The Georgian native never seemed to slow down, displaying remarkable stamina during the five-round 25-minute bout. “His mentality is insane,” Aspinall continued. “He’s obviously technically unbelievable as well. “So is Umar. The skill level, like the difference between them two in skill level is like barely anything. “Both guys are fantastic, ridiculously high level guys. But Merab got the win again.” In the main event of UFC 311, Islam Makhachev defended his lightweight title against Renato Moicano, who stepped up at 24 hours’ notice after Arman Tsarukyan withdrew with a late back injury. Makhachev is statistically, although many will argue differently, the most decorated UFC lightweight of all time. Makhachev is the UFC’s No.1 pound-for-pound fighterGETTY He has won 15 consecutive bouts in the UFC and defended his lightweight title for the fourth time at UFC 311. The Russian was joint for the most lightweight title defences in UFC history with three, alongside Khabib Nurmagomedov, Benson Henderson and BJ Penn going into the bout. But his win over Moicano secured him one more UFC 155-pound title fight victory and cemented his name in White’s history books forever. “I think similar to Islam at lightweight, I can’t see many people competing with these guys for quite a while, even though that was a lot closer fight,” Aspinall concluded. “Just the level of conditioning is just ridiculous. I just don’t know how you prepare for that. “Like as a person who, I like to think I know what I’m watching, when I’m watching these guys get in there and compete. “When I know what these guys are going through mentally and physically in there. I don’t know how you prepare for a guy that just relentlessly goes at you for 25 minutes without letting up at all. “That is absolutely insane. I don’t see anyone beating him anytime soon.” Ahead of UFC 311, Dvalishvili told talkSPORT.com that he would welcome a rematch with Sean O’Malley, who he won the belt from in September. O’Malley is currently on a break from social media, which he labelled the ‘biggest distraction’ of his life, in order to reclaim the UFC title. He underwent surgery after the bout with Dvalishvili to repair a torn shoulder labrum, and is targeting a return in the first quarter of 2025. Dvalishvili will likely defend his title next in a rematch with O’Malley.
Tom Aspinall is after advice from Merab Dvalishvili after his incredible UFC 311 win.
Dvalishvili defended his bantamweight title at UFC 311, handing Russia’s Umar Nurmagomedov the first defeat of his career.
UFC interim heavyweight champion Aspinall was scheduled to attend UFC 311 in Inglewood, California, where he had also organised meet and greets with fan.
However, the Brit flew on a delayed flight to Amsterdam and missed his connection to Los Angeles before other departures were cancelled due to heavy fog.
“What Merab does is just insane,” Aspinall said in a UFC 311 reaction video.
“Like Merab, if you’re watching this, and you have got any cardio tips for me, please send them over.
“That conditioning is unbelievable. The third round was quite an even round – it could have gone either way.
“Potentially, Merab lost that round, if I remember rightly. But I would have thought, right, starting to slow down a bit here.
“But Merab just turns it up again, just turns up the heat. He just goes full blast. He’s just going in and there’s just no slowing down.
“I don’t know how you get that kind of cardio, how you get that kind of conditioning.”
Dvalishvili broke Georges St-Pierre‘s record for the most takedowns in UFC history, surpassing his record of 90, en route to defending his bantamweight title at UFC 311.
He took Nurmagomedov into deep waters and exhausted him in the later rounds in their co-main event to secure a unanimous-decision victory.
The Georgian native never seemed to slow down, displaying remarkable stamina during the five-round 25-minute bout.
“His mentality is insane,” Aspinall continued. “He’s obviously technically unbelievable as well.
“So is Umar. The skill level, like the difference between them two in skill level is like barely anything.
“Both guys are fantastic, ridiculously high level guys. But Merab got the win again.”
In the main event of UFC 311, Islam Makhachev defended his lightweight title against Renato Moicano, who stepped up at 24 hours’ notice after Arman Tsarukyan withdrew with a late back injury.
Makhachev is statistically, although many will argue differently, the most decorated UFC lightweight of all time.
He has won 15 consecutive bouts in the UFC and defended his lightweight title for the fourth time at UFC 311.
The Russian was joint for the most lightweight title defences in UFC history with three, alongside Khabib Nurmagomedov, Benson Henderson and BJ Penn going into the bout.
But his win over Moicano secured him one more UFC 155-pound title fight victory and cemented his name in White’s history books forever.
“I think similar to Islam at lightweight, I can’t see many people competing with these guys for quite a while, even though that was a lot closer fight,” Aspinall concluded.
“Just the level of conditioning is just ridiculous. I just don’t know how you prepare for that.
“Like as a person who, I like to think I know what I’m watching, when I’m watching these guys get in there and compete.
“When I know what these guys are going through mentally and physically in there. I don’t know how you prepare for a guy that just relentlessly goes at you for 25 minutes without letting up at all.
“That is absolutely insane. I don’t see anyone beating him anytime soon.”
Ahead of UFC 311, Dvalishvili told talkSPORT.com that he would welcome a rematch with Sean O’Malley, who he won the belt from in September.
O’Malley is currently on a break from social media, which he labelled the ‘biggest distraction’ of his life, in order to reclaim the UFC title.
He underwent surgery after the bout with Dvalishvili to repair a torn shoulder labrum, and is targeting a return in the first quarter of 2025.
Dvalishvili will likely defend his title next in a rematch with O’Malley.
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