Merab Dvalishvili (17-4) wants to show the world that greatness can be achieved purely through hard work.
Dvalishvili is riding a 10-fight winning streak, the longest in UFC bantamweight history — a run that would have earned him a title shot long ago if not for his reluctance to fight his friend, former champ Aljamain Sterling. The Georgian now gets his gold bid at long last against Sean O'Malley (18-1) in the main event at UFC 306 at the Sphere in Las Vegas on Saturday.
“The Machine” could become the second Georgian to win a UFC title after Georgian-Spaniard Ilia Topuria knocked out Alexander Volkanovski to win the featherweight title this past February.