Merab Dvalishvili found himself fighting for his life during a horrifying ordeal.
On October 4, at UFC 320, inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, ‘The Machine’ will put his bantamweight title on the line against Cory Sandhagen.
The Georgian has amassed a huge following because of his wild antics as well as his skills. Dvalishvili endeared fans with his celebration with Kayla Harrison after they both had big wins at UFC 316 in June.
However, his crazy personality once almost resulted in disaster.
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Merab Dvalishvili almost drowned in scary incident
When he was just six years old, Merab Dvalishvili ended up in a near-disastrous situation.
During an interview with Daniel Cormier, he opened up about what happened.
In an interview uploaded to ‘DC’s’ YouTube channel, Dvalishvili explained: “That’s a true story. What happened was, my brother was swimming in a river, I jumped in to find him, and I couldn’t do the same (swim).
“Then, the water took me to deep water, it was fast. I was under the water, and my other brother saw me. I couldn’t scream.
“I grabbed a big rock underwater. I was under the water, hugging the rock. Soon after, I learned how to swim.”
Merab Dvalishvili apologizes to Cory Sandhagen as he shares his fate
Luckily, Dvalishvili emerged from the incident in the river completely unharmed.
Now, he’s gearing up for a massive fight.
And unsurprisingly, he’s expecting a big performance.
Showcasing his confidence, Dvalishvili warned Sandhagen of what’s to come.