Demetrious Johnson: UFC champ Merab Dvalishvili's conditioning will be X-factor vs. Umar Nurmagomedov

Demetrious Johnson sees UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili having a major advantage over Umar Nurmagomedov.

Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) defeated Sean O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) in a dominant decision win to claim the bantamweight title in Saturday’s UFC 306 main event at Sphere in Las Vegas.

Umar Nurmagomedov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) is waiting in the wings for his title shot, but Dvalishvili is not sold on him being No. 1 contender. However, if Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov do end up fighting, Johnson thinks Dvalishvili’s gas tank will give him an edge.

“This is going to be interesting because I feel his conditioning is going to be the X-factor because we know he’s not going to stop,” Johnson said on his YouTube channel. “He’s going to be a busy bee around the octagon to where this gentleman (Nurmagomedov) has the high kicks, he’s very long, he’s very big, and he also has the wrestling.

“But he does not have the work ethic like this man (Dvalishvili). Not saying he doesn’t have the work ethic, he doesn’t have just that, ‘I’m coming to smash you, I’m coming to smother you,’ like Khabib. This man (Dvalishvili) has that bear gene where he just comes and gets you, where he’s (Nurmagomedov) more strategic.”

Nurmagomedov competed in his first main event at UFC on ABC 7 in August, when he outlasted Cory Sandhagen in what was dubbed as a title eliminator.