Merab Dvalishvili says his MMA career could have looked totally different.
It’s pretty crazy to think that the current UFC Bantamweight Champion suffered back-to-back losses when he first arrived to the Octagon in 2017-18.
Since then, Merab Dvalishvili has put together quite the title run, with 13 straight wins and two title defenses in the bantamweight division thus far.
Next week, Dvalishvili is set to meet the #4-ranked contender Cory Sandhagen in the co-main event of UFC 320 in Las Vegas.
Ahead of the matchup, the defending champion admitted he might not be where he is today if it wasn’t for a longtime teammate and friend.
Merab Dvalishvili says he could be in PFL right now if it wasn’t for Aljamain Sterling
Up there with Dvalishvili, Aljamain Sterling is one of the greatest bantamweight fighters of all time.
Sterling made it to the UFC three years before his teammate and broke the record for most title defenses in divisional history (3).
Sterling and Dvalishvili helped each other prepare for many fights and made it clear they would never fight in the Octagon out of friendship.
Dvalishvili was asked what his career would look like if there were no Sterling to train with.
“Oh, man. I don’t know,” Dvalishvili said on Daniel Cormier’s YouTube channel.
“I could be somewhere…
“PFL now,” Dvalishvili said as he and Cormier burst into laughter.
“He was that important to your career?” Cormier asked.
“Of course,” Dvalishvili continued.
“When you have a UFC fighter in your gym, real UFC fighter, you can look up to him and then you see, oh, this guy do it. I can do it too. You see he’s working hard. It’s just an example.
“It was Cain [Velasquez] winning the belt that showed us all in AKA, ‘Oh my goodness… we can actually be champion.’”
“You learn from it,” Dvalishvili added.
“That’s why I try to share my knowledge with other young fighters…”
TJ Dillashaw wants Merab Dvalishvili to fight Aljamain Sterling
Sterling and Dvalishvili have said over and over again they will never meet in the Octagon.
However, one former bantamweight champion still wants to see it happen.
“I want to see Merab and Sterling fight,” TJ Dillashaw said on the Jaxxon Podcast.
“They could make so much money,” Dillashaw continued.
“I understand (that they’re best friends) but you’re getting paid, who gives a s—.
“(Sterling) should come back down… You’re here to get paid, I don’t know, I think it’d be an awesome story,” Dillashaw added.