Coach John Wood Sees Different Merab Dvalishvili Ahead of UFC 333
Merab Dvalishvili is training like a man trying to put the bantamweight title back where he thinks it belongs.
Syndicate MMA coach John Wood said as much on Home of Fight, telling Jake Noecker that the version of Dvalishvili he watched in sparring this week is not the same fighter who dropped the belt last December. “It’s a different Rob, you know, it’s just a different Rob,” Wood said.
The clip is short, but the message is clear. Wood is talking about camp, not a prediction. He is talking about what he saw yesterday.
“What I saw in sparring yesterday, I don’t know that he’s ever been in better cardio shape, to be honest,” Wood said. That line matters because Dvalishvili’s entire reputation is built on pace.
The Georgian is 21-5 overall and 14-3 in the UFC. He won the first meeting with Petr Yan by a 50-45 sweep in March 2023, then lost the rematch by unanimous decision at UFC 323 on December 6, 2025.
That second fight ended a 14-fight winning streak and stopped Dvalishvili from becoming the first UFC champion to defend a title four times in one calendar year. Yan left Las Vegas as a two-time 135-pound champion.
The rubber match is now official. Yan defends against Dvalishvili in the co-main event of UFC 333 on October 24 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
Wood tied the gym work directly to that date. “He’s just so motivated, obviously, to go back and avenge that last loss, get his title back, and put everything back the way it should be,” he said.
That is the coach’s read, not a medical report and not an official UFC statement. Wood is describing motivation and conditioning inside Syndicate MMA.
Dvalishvili spent 2025 stacking title fights. He beat Umar Nurmagomedov in January, submitted Sean O’Malley in June, and decisioned Cory Sandhagen in October before the Yan rematch went the other way.
The layoff after UFC 323 was longer than he wanted. Yan dealt with recovery after the rematch, and the third fight sat on hold until the UFC announced it during the UFC 330 broadcast in August.
Wood is not claiming the first fight will replay itself. He is saying the camp looks different because the assignment is different.
Yan already solved the version of Dvalishvili that walked forward and boxed with him. Dvalishvili has since said he fought Yan’s fight in December and plans to fight his own fight this time.
A coach talking up cardio is standard fight-week language. Coming from Wood, it still lands because Dvalishvili’s engine is the thing that usually decides five-round nights at 135.
“It’s been a good camp,” Wood said. He did not list rounds, sparring partners, or a finish prediction.
UFC 333 also features Alexander Volkanovski defending against Movsar Evloev in the main event. The bantamweight trilogy sits one slot below that and still carries the division.
Yan is 20-5 and riding four straight wins. A first defense of this reign would confirm that December was not a one-off.
A Dvalishvili win would make him a two-time champion and close a series that has already produced one lopsided decision and one title-changing decision. Neither man has finished the other.
Wood’s comments do not change the booking. They only explain how the challenger’s camp wants the third fight framed with four weeks left.
Abu Dhabi will settle whether the extra cardio and the extra motive show up on the scorecards. Until then, the man in the “Just Fight” jersey is telling anyone watching Home of Fight that the machine in the gym this week is not the one Yan beat in December.
