'I was heartbroken': How Merab Dvalishvili overcame early MMA failures to become UFC champ

Yahoo

2 days ago

Imagine you uproot your entire life, move to a new country where you don't speak the language, all to chase one very specific dream. Then imagine that after you step out to try your hand at the dream you come home a loser.
That was Merab Dvalishvili back in 2014. He came to the United States from his home country of Georgia. He didn't speak English and had no idea where to even begin in his quest to become a pro fighter.
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A decade later he would become UFC men's bantamweight champ, but not before he started his pro MMA career with a loss via majority decision. Dvalishvili would wind up losing two of his first three pro fights, in fact, which was more than a little disheartening for a guy who was barely scraping by at a construction job by day just so he could train as a fighter each night.
'I was heartbroken,' Dvalishvili told Uncrowned ahead of his title defense against former champ Sean O'Malley at UFC 316 on Saturday. 'I lost a fight. You know, you can lose maybe a tennis game, a soccer game. But this is a fight. When you take a loss in a fight, it's hard. I was thinking, maybe I wasn't good enough. Maybe I should quit.'
He was 23 at the time. He told himself that perhaps the thing to do was take some time off from MMA. Just work his job and live his life for a little while. See what it would feel like to just be a regular person for a little while. Maybe he didn't have to beat himself up over a dream that seemed so distant and unattainable.
So he drifted away from the ranks of professional MMA. He went nearly a year and a half without a fight.
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'But what happened was, when I was away from MMA, I missed it,' Dvalishvili said. 'I said, you know, I don't care. If I lose, if I win, I just want to keep fighting because I love this. When I came back, I was super motivated.'
Dvalishvili then reeled off six straight wins. He became champion in New Jersey's Ring of Combat promotion, which is where he first got the attention of UFC CEO Dana White. When the UFC signed him in 2017, it seemed like the dream he'd almost given up on was starting to come true.
Then he lost his first fight in the UFC by a razor-thin margin on the judges' scorecards. Then he lost his second when cageside officials made a controversial call to award opponent Ricky Simon the victory even after Dvalishvili appeared to survive a late choke attempt all the way until the final horn.
That call by officials dropped Dvalishvili to 0-2 in the UFC, which jeopardized his roster spot and put him seemingly miles away from a UFC title. Ray Longo, Dvalishvili's coach, was incensed.
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'I thought that was horrible,' Longo said. 'They took that win away from him, and I went a little crazy. I'm overprotective sometimes. But afterwards I remember I went to Merab like, are you not as upset as I am about this? He told me, 'I can't change it. All I can do is react to what happened.' And that's how Merab is still to this day. The good, the bad, he takes it in stride and keeps working his ass off regardless.'
The guys at Longo's gym in Long Island all knew how good Dvalishvili was. They saw it in the practice room every day. They couldn't believe a fighter like him could be winless in two tries with the UFC. There were times, Longo said, when the team had to remind Dvalishvili that he was better than his record.
'The thing with Merab, he's the ultimate win-or-learn guy,' Longo said. 'Any time he lost, he made those corrections and he never lost that way again. He learned more from his losses than I think anybody I've ever seen.'
The controversial defeat to Simon was the last time Dvalishvili went home a loser. He won his next 10 fights to secure a title shot against then-champion O'Malley late last year, then nabbed the belt with a one-sided decision victory at UFC 306. He's since defended it once, downing top contender Umar Nurmagomedov via unanimous decision in January, before booking Saturday's rematch against O'Malley.
Merab Dvalishvili outworked Sean O'Malley in their first title fight to earn a unanimous decision victory. (Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images)
(USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect / Reuters)
There are times, Dvalishvili said, when it almost feels surreal to think about how far he's come in his pursuit of the dream that is now his reality.
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'When I moved to the U.S., my goal was to go to the UFC,' Dvalishvili said. 'But I had no idea how to go to the UFC. It was difficult even to watch the UFC on TV [in Georgia]. When I came here, I don't know how to watch it or buy a paper and read about it. It was hard even to find a gym to train. I wasn't sure it would ever work for me. Even when I went to the UFC, I was still working construction. And thanks to God, everything worked for me.'
The way Longo sees it, it wasn't just good fortune that propelled Dvalishvili to success. He watched the Georgian's rise from fledgling undercard fighter to UFC champion, and the one thing that never changed was Dvalishvili's attitude in the gym. Even after Dvalishvili left New York to live and train in Las Vegas — and even after his success in the cage brought him titles and money — his approach to training was always hard-nosed and relentless.
'Other guys are in the [UFC Performance Institute] to hang out or get a massage,' Longo said. 'Merab, I guarantee you, is there to work. He's always in the gym, always in shape. Other guys, you think maybe if you can get them on a short-notice fight you'll have a better chance. How are you going to do that with Merab? He never leaves the gym.'
And why should he? As Dvalishvili explained, as soon as he's away from the sport for any length of time he's only reminded how much he loves it. This is why, he said, the work never feels much like work to him, even now.
'If you really love this sport, you have to fight for it,' Dvalishvili said. 'You have to stay positive. If you lose, don't blame nobody. Look for the reason in yourself. Work to fix your mistakes and get better. Most of all, never give up.'