Merab
Dvalishvili has slowly but surely crept up the
Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight ladder and now
finds himself closer than ever to title contention at 135
pounds.
The rugged 31-year-old grappler will test his considerable mettle
against a true all-time great when he takes on
Jose Aldo in a
featured
UFC
278 attraction on Saturday at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City.
Dvalishvili climbs into the Octagon with the wind of a seven-fight
winning streak at his back. He last competed at UFC 266, where he
dispatched former
World Series of Fighting Marlon
Moraes with punches in the second round of their Sept. 25
pairing.
As Dvalishvili pores over the remaining details associated with his
forthcoming battle against Aldo, here are five things you might not
know about him:
1. His start was subpar.
Dvalishvili made his professional mixed martial arts debut at the
age of 23 on Jan. 24, 2014, and it did not go as he had hoped. He
reached the finish line on the wrong side of a majority decision
against Darren Mimi at Ring of Combat 47 and actually wound up
losing two of his first three fights. Dvalishvili has gone 13-2
since.
2. He planted roots in fertile ground.
“The Machine” operates out of the
Serra-Longo Fight Team, where he outfits his repertoire under
the tutelage of onetime UFC welterweight champion
Matt Serra and
striking guru Ray Longo. Among those with whom Dvalishvili has
shared the training room: current UFC bantamweight titleholder
Aljamain
Sterling and former UFC middleweight titlist
Chris
Weidman.
3. A regional penthouse served as his springboard.
Dvalishvili laid claim to the vacant
Ring of
Combat bantamweight crown when he submitted
Sukhrob
Aydarbekov with a second-round armbar at ROC 58 on Feb. 24,
2017. He made one successful title defense—he wrecked
Raufeon
Stots with a spinning backfist in 15 seconds some three months
later—before he signed with the UFC.
4. He maximizes his strengths.
The Tbilisi, Georgia, native holds the rank of black belt in judo
and earned a silver medal at the 2019 World Sambo Championships.
Not surprisingly, Dvalishvili brough those skills to the UFC with
him. He ranks first on the promotion’s all-time bantamweight list
in takedowns completed with 50, second in total strikes landed with
1,232 and fifth in control time at 47:40.
5. Judges often earn their money when they draw his
assignment.
Dvalishvili has gone the distance 13 times in his 18-fight career
and carries a 10-3 record in those bouts. In fact, his technical
knockout of Moraes snapped a string of six consecutive appearances
in which he stood before the cageside judiciary.