The timing of this photo dump was curious, considering Demetrious Johnson fairly recently fielded a question about how he would game plan for a hypothetical fight against Merab Dvalishvili. In an appearance on the Simple Man Podcast, ‘Mighty Mouse’ shows why many regard him as one of the most analytical minds in the game today with Johnson saying [via Bloody Elbow],
“If I was to fight Merab, I would press him the whole entire time. Force him to shoot and try to make him stand. When he shoots, make him pay for shooting, not try to out grapple [him]. When it comes to grappling, he likes to stay in guard. So push on the face, get a knee shield.”
“And then when he tries to come in, go underneath him. It has to be a constant fight when you fight Merab. When you get into clinch, start throwing knees, elbows, punches. When he backs out of the clinch, right hand, body kick, high kick.”
“It’s got to be a constant fight with Merab. You can’t allow him to dance outside the void and do his thing, and then he blasts a double and once he blasts that double, you gotta have a good enough ground game to keep those frames to keep him from burying you.”