By The Numbers: Merab Dvalishvili
A seven-year odyssey reached its conclusion when Merab Dvalishvili overtook Sean O’Malley for the Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight throne in the UFC 306 main event on Sept. 14 at the Sphere in Las Vegas. What comes next remains to be seen.
Dvalishvili finds himself on an 11-fight winning streak after he swept aside O’Malley by unanimous decision with 49-46, 48-47 and 48-47 marks from the cageside judges. In doing so, he became the ninth man to capture the undisputed bantamweight championship, joining O’Malley, Dominick Cruz (twice), T.J. Dillashaw (twice), Renan Barao, Cody Garbrandt, Henry Cejudo, Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling. The Serra-Longo Fight Team rep has not lost a fight in 2,344 days.
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33: Years of age for Dvalishvili, who was born on Jan. 10, 1991 in Tbilisi, Georgia—a city of nearly 1.3 million people in the transcontinental country.
1: Submission victory on the Dvalishvili resume,
accounting for 5% of his career total. He disposed of Sukhrob
Aydarbekov with a second-round armbar during his rise through
the regional ranks in 2017. Dvalishvili holds three other victories
by knockout or technical knockout (17%) and 14 more by decision
(78%).
3: Countries in which Dvalishvili has plied his MMA trade. He sits at 16-4 in the United States, 1-0 in Russia and 1-0 in Canada.
85: Takedowns completed by Dvalishvili as a member of the UFC roster, placing him second on the promotion’s all-time list. Only former two-division champion Georges St. Pierre (90) has been credited with more.
15: Seconds needed for Dvalishvili to wipe out Raufeon Stots with a spinning backfist at a Ring of Combat event on June 2, 2017. More than seven years later, it remains his fastest finish to date.
411: Significant strikes by which Dvalishvili has outlanded the opposition during his current 11-fight tear. He has connected with 803 such strikes while absorbing on 392 of them in return.
5: Mixed martial arts promotions for which Dvalishvili has suited up. In addition to his 11-2 mark in the UFC, he has gone 5-1 in Ring of Combat, 2-0 in CES MMA and 0-1 in Cage Fury Fighting Championships.
100,000: Dollars in post-fight bonuses pocketed by Dvalishvili across his 13 appearances in the UFC. He has been awarded “Fight of the Night” and “Performance of the Night” once each.
64: Rounds started by Dvalishvili as a professional mixed martial artist. He has involved the judges on 17 different occasions and carries a 14-3 record in those bouts.
.660: Cumulative winning percentage between the four men—Ricky Simon, Frankie Saenz, Ricky Bandejas and Darren Mima—who have defeated Dvalishvili. They sport a combined record of 58-30.
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