Instead of sitting around and waiting for his eventual title fight against Sean O’Malley to finally be booked, Merab Dvalishvili is keeping himself active, and even winning gold medals at Combat Sambo tournaments.
Following Sean O’Malley‘s successful title defense against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera this past March, Merab Dvalishvili has been all but confirmed as his next challenger.
Despite that, the UFC’s schedule for the year continues to fill up, and the bantamweight title fight continues to elude fans who are wondering when it will take place.
‘Suga’ has continuously asked for the fight to take place at UFC 306 on September 14, however, the promotion is yet to announce a main event for that blockbuster event.
Merab Dvalishvili steps in on short notice to compete in Combat Sambo tournament
Merab ‘The Machine’ has become extremely popular amongst fans as of late, utilizing his social media tremendously well to gain more fans.
The Georgian has continuously attempted to stay as active as possible throughout his UFC tenure, however, after rising up the 135lb rankings, activity has become more difficult to come by.
With that, instead of the 33-year-old sitting around and waiting to be given a date for his eventual title fight against O’Malley, he has continued to stay active, and this past weekend, even stepped in on short notice to compete at the US National Combat Sambo tournament.
The competition took place in Denton, Texas, and ‘The Machine’ went on to dominate and pick up the gold medal in the tournament.
Dvalishvili is likely used to gold medals, as his last UFC outing came against Olympic gold medalist, Henry Cejudo at UFC 298 this past February, with the Georgian dominating the former double champion.
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“Hungry for competition. Took a short-notice opportunity and competed in Texas. Took home GOLD for the U.S. National Combat Sambo Tournament,” Dvalishvili said in a post on X.
Sean O’Malley announces business partnership with Jake Paul
While Merab is off doing side quests of his own, ‘Suga’ Sean is also leveling up in his own right, and he has recently announced that he and internet sensation, Jake Paul, have gone into business together, launching the product, ‘W’.
‘W’ is a set of men’s care products, ranging from body wash to body spray, and ‘The Problem Child’ will undoubtedly be hoping that it is even half as successful as his brother, Logan Paul‘s product, ‘PRIME’.
In a recent rant on his podcast, the bantamweight champion took a few jabs at his likely next challenger, saying: “He’s just short, ugly, tough, I mean that’s pretty much it.”
With the promotion having yet to announce a main event for UFC 306, which is scheduled to take place at the Sphere, a bantamweight title fight between these two rivals could headline the event, because of the 29-year-old’s star power.
UFC CEO, Dana White, recently revealed that he has already spent more than $16m to put on UFC 306, with it being a one-off event at the incredibly unique Sphere.
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