“No.1, it would be great to smash the calf to stop the momentum. Body shots super early, on anyone who has pace like Merab... You have to go to the body, really early in the fight. You won't feel the effect of it until you feel the offensive attacks wane when the third, fourth, and fifth rounds come around. You realize, 'Wow, he's not attacking nearly as much as he usually does.' That's the investment in the body shots coming to fruition.”

– via an interview with Mike Bohn, advising Petr Yan to target Dvalishvili's calf and make an early, relentless investment in body shots to slow down Dvalishvili's relentless pace.

“[He] gotta, what we would call 'flatten his tires' by investing in the body super early... Maybe knees to the solar plexus, to the liver, and always just relentlessly invest in body shots... If he does that, and he can score enough of them, we can slow the pace of Merab enough to where we can turn it into a fight.”

– via an interview with Mike Bohn, advising Petr Yan to target Dvalishvili's calf and make an early, relentless investment in body shots to slow down Dvalishvili's relentless pace.

“No.1, it would be great to smash the calf to stop the momentum. Body shots super early, on anyone who has pace like Merab... You have to go to the body, really early in the fight. You won't feel the effect of it until you feel the offensive attacks wane when the third, fourth, and fifth rounds come around. You realize, 'Wow, he's not attacking nearly as much as he usually does.' That's the investment in the body shots coming to fruition.”

– via an interview with Mike Bohn, advising Petr Yan to target Dvalishvili's calf and make an early, relentless investment in body shots to slow down Dvalishvili's relentless pace.

“[He] gotta, what we would call 'flatten his tires' by investing in the body super early... Maybe knees to the solar plexus, to the liver, and always just relentlessly invest in body shots... If he does that, and he can score enough of them, we can slow the pace of Merab enough to where we can turn it into a fight.”

– via an interview with Mike Bohn, advising Petr Yan to target Dvalishvili's calf and make an early, relentless investment in body shots to slow down Dvalishvili's relentless pace.

“I'm sure he [Petr Yan] will try to knock me out, because that's the only way he can stop me. If we fight decision, I'm the decision machine.”

– via the UFC 323 Press Conference, expressing confidence that if the fight goes the distance, he will win the decision against Petr Yan.

“The only way I see Yan beating him is if Merab gets too confident in his hands. Petr is someone you gotta be careful with... He's got such good counters, he's fast, he'll sit in the pocket, he'll trade. But Merab, I think his fight iq is smarter than his regular iq”

– via The Ariel Helwani Show, breaking down the Merab Dvalishvili vs. Petr Yan title rematch, highlighting Yan's counter-striking ability while praising Dvalishvili's fight IQ.

“The only way I see Yan beating him is if Merab gets too confident in his hands. Petr is someone you gotta be careful with... He's got such good counters, he's fast, he'll sit in the pocket, he'll trade. But Merab, I think his fight iq is smarter than his regular iq”

– via The Ariel Helwani Show, breaking down the Merab Dvalishvili vs. Petr Yan title rematch, highlighting Yan's counter-striking ability while praising Dvalishvili's fight IQ.

“[Pereira] punches really hard and kicks really hard. I think my grappling power and wisdom would be a lot for him to handle, but I also believe that would be the same scenario with Tom Aspinall. Don't think the U.K. wrestling system is as good as people think it is. Where Tom is a lot physically bigger, it'd probably take me a little bit more effort, I think it'll be the same story if I take Tom to the ground, as it would be if I got Pereira to the ground.To me, it's the same fight. Both are strong on their feet. Hit very hard on their feet, and I think they both have holes in their grappling department”

– via an interview with Geoffrey Woo, breaking down his strategy for potential matchups against Alex Pereira and Tom Aspinall

“I feel as if my clearest path to victory in both of those fights would be to get them to the ground at some point. Just to strike with them, like I know that I can. I've stood with every fighter in the world. My goal would be to kickbox until I find my moment to get the fight on the ground and go for a submission or go for a TKO”

– via an interview with Geoffrey Woo, breaking down his strategy for potential matchups against Alex Pereira and Tom Aspinall

“[Pereira] punches really hard and kicks really hard. I think my grappling power and wisdom would be a lot for him to handle, but I also believe that would be the same scenario with Tom Aspinall. Don't think the U.K. wrestling system is as good as people think it is. Where Tom is a lot physically bigger, it'd probably take me a little bit more effort, I think it'll be the same story if I take Tom to the ground, as it would be if I got Pereira to the ground.To me, it's the same fight. Both are strong on their feet. Hit very hard on their feet, and I think they both have holes in their grappling department”

– via an interview with Geoffrey Woo, breaking down his strategy for potential matchups against Alex Pereira and Tom Aspinall

“I feel as if my clearest path to victory in both of those fights would be to get them to the ground at some point. Just to strike with them, like I know that I can. I've stood with every fighter in the world. My goal would be to kickbox until I find my moment to get the fight on the ground and go for a submission or go for a TKO”

– via an interview with Geoffrey Woo, breaking down his strategy for potential matchups against Alex Pereira and Tom Aspinall

“I think Carlos needs a little more grappling awareness. You can see the holes. And at 170, the champion now is Islam, he would wreck him... Take some smart fights. Because you'll lose your chance rushing into a fight with Islam”

– advising Carlos Prates to improve his grappling before challenging Islam Makhachev.

“Shavkat Rakhmonov is the guy that I think about and I go, 'man, that is a crazy fight to think about'... That would easily be the hardest fight of (Islam Makhachev's) career”

– via Good Guy/Bad Guy, expressing his belief that Shavkat Rakhmonov poses the toughest challenge for Islam Makhachev.

“I think the Ilia fight is going to be much harder [for Makhachev] than against Maddalena because of his body anthropometry, and also I think Ilia packs a much harder punch than Maddalena. Maddalena has fewer knockouts than Ilia. Ilia almost dropped every opponent he fought”

– via Red Corner MMA, arguing that Ilia Topuria would be a tougher opponent for Islam Makhachev than Jack Della Maddalena.

“Islam, you better set the tone of this fight. You cannot sit back and wait for Jack to determine where and how the fight takes place. You gotta push him against the octagon side and get him on his back foot. If you get him on his back foot, it will open takedowns, and it will also open your striking and chip away at the confidence that Jack is carrying into this fight after the Belal fight”

– Daniel Cormier advice for Islam Makhachev ahead of UFC 322

“Yeah, jump a guillotine. Try to keep the fight in the middle of the octagon. Keep your back off the fence... looking back [when I fought him] I worried so much about his wrestling, I couldn't get off my combination, my footing. I was worried about the shots. I didn't do what I do well. He just has to stay out of his own way and fight his fight”

– jokingly advices to Jack Della Maddalena via UFC 322 Q&A.

“Oh, that's a tough one, bro. I think Islam is a better complete fighter. He is better on the feet, but grappling, I think Khabib is better than Islam.”

– answers for a question 'Who is better : Islam Makhachev or Khabib Nurmagomedov?' via UFC 322 Q&A

“Oh, that's a tough one, bro. I think Islam is a better complete fighter. He is better on the feet, but grappling, I think Khabib is better than Islam.”

– answers for a question 'Who is better : Islam Makhachev or Khabib Nurmagomedov?' via UFC 322 Q&A

“From what I watch, I think it’s defend the takedowns and beat him up, right? If you let him get on top [position], even if you’re good at jiu”

– jitsu, it’s hard to sweep a guy like that, it’s hard to submit a guy like that. His wrestling is very high-level; he has a very good base. I think it’s really to defend the takedowns, tire him out, attack the body, the legs, and then knock him out -explaining the path to victory for Jack Della Maddalena against Islam Makhachev at UFC 322

“Do you really want to strike with a guy that goes to the body with those kicks, throws knees up the middle, like how he caught Gilbert Burns... I want to go Islam Makhachev because of his wrestling, but there is a little bit of a doubt about what I said a little bit before... The only way, in my opinion, of Islam Makhachev winning this fight is going to have to be through the grappling”

– expressing concern over Islam Makhachev's willingness to strike with Jack Della Maddalena via the Pound 4 Pound podcast