Several days after Merab Dvalishvili defeated Sean O'Malley at UFC 306 at Sphere in Las Vegas to capture the bantamweight title, UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier scheduled him for a podcast interview. Cormier arrived at Dvalishvili's Las Vegas home at the appointed time for the interview, but Dvalishvili was nowhere to be found.
Cormier had to wait an hour. He finally walked out front to see Dvalishvili running down the street and returning home. Dvalishvili had forgotten about the interview and decided to go for a light run. This was just four days after becoming champion.
Most fighters would be in celebratory mode that soon after a title win, but Dvalishvili was already back at work.
If that doesn't say everything that one needs to know about Dvalishvili, the Georgian-born fighter who has become one of the most popular figures in the sport with his clever videos, fun-loving antics and zany pranks, nothing does.
"I didn't want to go train, but I didn't want to [sit idly at home]," Dvalishvili said. "So I went out for a run."
He'll defend the title for the first time on Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 311 when he faces top contender Umar Nurmagomedov at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif.
"The guy just wears me out," Dvalishvili coach John Wood of Syndicate MMA said of the champ's training regimen. Dvalishvili is second only to the legendary Georges St-Pierre in UFC history in most takedowns. St. Pierre had 90 takedowns in 22 UFC bouts. Dvalishvili has scored 85 takedowns in 13 UFC bouts. It stands to reason that by the time he's done, he'll be the leader by a large margin.
He's known for pushing a pace that few can keep. He overwhelms opponents with his ability to keep going.
But he's probably just as well known for his antics on social media and his pranks on his rivals. He swiped O'Malley's jacket after O'Malley entered the change to challenge Aljamain Sterling after a Sterling win.
He's posted scores of comedic videos to his YouTube channel, prompting his long-time coach Ray Longo to say before the O'Malley fight, "The only time he's not with that phone is when he's training or fighting."
He wasn't the fun-loving happy-go-lucky guy fans have come to love when he attended the kickoff news conference for UFC 311 on Dec. 6 in Las Vegas. He was visibly angry at Nurmagomedov and security was on high alert to jump in to prevent an altercation.
UFC CEO Dana White thoroughly enjoyed the antics.
"I thought the press conference was awesome," White said following UFC 310 on Dec. 7. "I thought the heat between (Dvalishvili) and Umar was great."
Dvalishvili conceded he was angry, the culmination of back-and-forth between them that began the night of Dvalishvili's win over O'Malley. Nurmagomedov attended that event with his manager, Ali Abdelaziz, because White said after Nurmagomedov's win over Corey Sandhagen on Aug. 3 that Nurmagomedov would fight the O'Malley-Dvalishvili winner.
Nurmagomedov said he didn't want to fight during Ramadan in 2025, which goes Feb. 28 through March 29. So Dvalishvili suggested they fight at UFC 313 on March 8 in Las Vegas.
"He knew I wasn't going to fight during Ramadan, so what did he say?" Nurmagomedov said. "Right away, first thing: Let's fight in March."
That led Nurmagomedov to refer to Dvalishvili as a "fake champion," which at least for a brief time wiped the smile off the champ's face.
"Right before the press conference, I was doing an interview in the arena and I saw him," Dvalishvili said. "I asked him, 'Why did you disrespect me?' He shocked me when he said, 'Because I want to, and what are you going to do about it?' At that point, I wanted to punch him in the face, but I knew not to do that. But I was mad. And then I was mad the whole time [during the press conference]."
Dvalishvili enters the bout on a remarkable run. He's won 11 in a row and in his last four bouts, he's defeated former champions Jose Aldo, Petr Yan and Henry Cejudo as well as O'Malley, who was the reigning champion going into UFC 306.
Yet, at DraftKings sportsbook, Nurmagomedov is a heavy -325 favorite to win. Dvalishvili is +260 as the underdog.
He might have been miffed at being called a fake champion, but he shrugged off the odds against him as no big deal.
"You know how I see that?" he said of the odds. "It's a chance for my friends to make a lot more money, because we know [what is going to happen]."
STEPHEN R SYLVVANIE/Imagn Images
Merab Dvalishvili reacts to winning the UFC bantamweight championship.