Bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili is one of the funniest fighters on the UFC roster; and if you aren’t laughing with him, ‘The Machine’ is okay with you laughing at him.
The Georgian wrestler has more than come out of his shell over the past few years, regularly sharing homemade comedy skits on his social media channels – although his most viral video remains a rather painful memory.
Ahead of his first title defense at UFC 311, ‘The Machine’ has now explained the story behind the infamous ice plunge video; one so bad that it eventually made the national news back home in Georgia.
Merab Dvalishvili admits ‘stupid’ ice plunge video left him in horrific pain
One bitterly cold day back in February 2021, Georgian wrecking ball Merab Dvalishvili was running through a park in New York when he decided to take a quick dip in a nearby lake.
‘The Machine’ hoped that a brief plunge into the freezing water could aid in his recovery, but failed to take into consideration that the temperate was so low that the lake had frozen over entirely… What came next was a painful lesson that the UFC champion will never forget.
“I decided to jump in the cold water. I set up my phone, turn around and leave it in the snow, I take my clothes off and I decide to jump into the water,” shared the 135lb champion via Full Send MMA.
“I knew that it wasn’t too deep, and on top, it looked like snow, but I didn’t realize that it had frozen.”
According to Dvalishvili, who defends his bantamweight title in the co-main event of UFC 311, he refused to check the water first because he wanted the feel sensation of the cold temperature as he took the plunge.
Unfortunately, being “focused more on jumping smart as to not to hit the ground” didn’t help matters either, with the 18-4 bantamweight going headfirst into a thick layer of ice and tree branches.
“As soon as I dived, I felt my skin come off – I grabbed my head, and I felt that my skin was coming off and I’m like ‘I’m so stupid man, why did I do this?’
“As soon as I cut my head, I forget about the video because I was worried about missing days from the gym, now I [might] have to miss one week or 10 days because I need stitches.”
Dvalishvili would need the help of a skin staple gun at a local hospital to help stop the bleeding, which he described in his Instagram post as the most painful moment of the whole ordeal.
“I’d forgotten that I’d taken a video – I look at my phone and I laugh at myself, you know, should I post this? If I post, then a lot of people will say that I’m stupid.
“But you know what, I’m not hiding nothing. Once I posted it, I get at least 10,000 [new] followers, they’re showing it on Georgian news.”
Concerns raised over Dvalishvili’s potential injury ahead of UFC 311
That notion of ‘I don’t hide anything’ is praiseworthy, although it has also led to concerns being raised about a potential injury ahead of his UFC 311 title fight against Umar Nurmagomedov.
After revealing that he has suffered a minor injury in training, fans are now convinced that the issue is worse than Dvalishvili is making out after his UFC 311 fighter portrait revealed a nasty red mark on his leg.
In an exclusive interview with Bloody Elbow, ‘The Machine’ refused to be drawn on the exact nature of the injury for fear of ‘panicking’ his fanbase.
“I’m good now, I will post the injury or whatever after the fight, but before, I don’t want to show and panic people. You know, the injury was serious, like, not a joke.
“Because I take a fight on six weeks’ notice I was training hard, and I get a lot of pain banged up and I was dealing with some other injuries too but thank God now I’m OK and ready to go.”
Will this unknown injury influence ‘And Still’, or ‘And New’ out in Los Angeles? Find out on Saturday, January 18.