Friendship is more important than a belt. Dvalishvili is a unique specimen who should have been UFC champion a long time ago
Alexander Frolov February 21, 2024, 13:00 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Now no one will stop Merab from winning the title.
Last weekend the UFC 298 tournament took place, one of the main characters of which was Merab Dvalishvili. The Georgian-American athlete faced former UFC champion Henry Cejudo with as much confidence as possible, although he missed a painful blow in the first round. Thus, Merab’s winning streak in the main promotion on the planet now totals 10 fights, although only one of these fights ended ahead of schedule.
Dvalishvili’s last victory
They even kissed Cejudo, but they didn’t let him win. Dvalishvili ran over a UFC legend
After defeating Cejudo, the Georgia native demanded a title shot, which, of course, he deserved a long time ago. Dvalishvili is truly a special fighter. He has excellent fighting technique, but far from perfect. The same goes for the stands: Merab has a strong punch, but rarely manages to knock out his opponents. But what makes the Georgian unique is his truly endless “gas tank”: he tirelessly crushes everyone with pressure, and it doesn’t matter whether there are three rounds in a fight or five. Dvalishvili may be inferior to the enemy in a certain component, but thanks to constant pressure he still gains the advantage.
Merab should have become champion a long time ago. Only one thing stood in his way: his friendship with Aljamain Sterling, who long held the bantamweight belt. The Georgian and the American have been friends for many years and train together, so they are not willing to fight each other even for the title and a lot of money. Of course, this situation was beneficial for Sterling, but it slowed down Merab and led to constant negativity from UFC president Dana White, who was irritated by the division’s stagnation.
Dana Blanco
President of the UFC
“Everyone knows how I feel about this kind of nonsense. I hate this. Why did you need to come to this sport? It’s not about friendship. It’s about finding out who is the best in the world, and if you don’t want it, you don’t belong here. You should be somewhere else. There are many options where you can fight. They don’t care what you do. But it doesn’t work here.”
The striking and talented Sean O’Malley managed to spark the division and at the same time knock out Sterling. After the defeat, Aljo rejected revenge and decided to move up a division, so the way is finally open for Dvalishvili. All that’s left is to wait to see who will win the next championship fight between O’Malley and Marlon Vera. However, no matter who Merab’s opponent is in the title fight, there is a feeling that Dvalishvili simply cannot be stopped now.
In addition to his athletic abilities, Merab is also very brilliant outside of the octagon. The Georgian skillfully uses trash talk and is very charismatic, which arouses both love and hate from fans. It turns out that the only thing that prevented Dvalishvili from becoming the ideal champion was his friendship with Sterling. Merab just has to prove himself to the fullest.
