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Merab Dvalishvili had to let his quirky sense of humor shine even though he was in the middle of the most important fight of his career.
At the end of the second round of his UFC 306 main event clash with bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley, Dvalishvili confused everyone by playfully kissing O’Malley’s back as the two grappled against the fence.
Watch the bizarre exchange below.
Dvalishvili then released O’Malley and casually walked off, despite their still being time left on the clock. O’Malley made him pay, chasing him down and cracking him with a punch before the bell sounded. Adding insult to injury, referee Herb Dean then admonished Dvalishvili for his bizarre behavior.
In the end, it made no difference to Dvalishvili’s fortunes, as he went on to win a dominant decision to claim the bantamweight title. Later in the evening, Dvalishvili was asked about that memorable moment.
“So I grab his neck and he has 10 seconds left,” Dvalishvili said at the UFC 306 post-fight press conference. “I know he can wait and he’s not going to sleep or tap from this and I wanted to make just a little fun of him and make him—I don’t hate the guy, just make fun of him, but at same time, give him a little kiss to show that I’m dominant. I control this fight, I break you. That’s why I was kissing him.
“But I had too much fun there and I guess I [lost track of time], but when I let go, he followed me and he punched the back of my head and I protect myself again. I said, ‘Referee, again, I’m sorry, referee. I’m sorry.”
That wasn’t the only time that Dean had to talk to Dvalishvili.
At the very beginning of the fight, the action came to a pause as Dean had to address both Dvalishvili and O’Malley’s coach Tim Welch for excessive conversation. Dvalishvili claims that Welch was simply talking too much and he was inclined to respond.
“I was in and I’m fighting, I’m a professional fighter, I’m focused,” Dvalishvili said. “It never happened to me. I never pay attention to the other corner, but Tim’s voice, it was very familiar because he was doing the same thing [when Aljamain Sterling fought O’Malley at UFC 292] … He was doing the same thing, he was doing very disrespectful, ‘Merab, you’ve got to go,’ he was talking shit at me.
“I tell him, ‘Stop it,’ and nobody was telling him to stop. He just kept doing this. If you do the same thing in basketball or soccer, they will disqualify you, but I guess here not. But I told the referee, ‘I’m sorry.’ I’m a professional, that’s my job, but I said, ‘I’m sorry’ and after I guess he stopped it. … After, I don’t care.”
UFC CEO Dana White was also asked about the main event chicanery and he essentially dismissed it as Dvalishvili being Dvalishvili.
“What happened was Merab and O’Malley’s corner were screaming at each other the whole beginning of the fight,” White said. “They were yelling at each other back and forth and then Herb Dean stepped in and told them to knock it off.
“Then the kissing on the back and the standing up and walking away before the bell, that I have no idea. Merab does some shit. It was weird but not shocking.”
Up next for Dvalishvili appears to be undefeated contender Umar Nurmagomedov. The Dagestani fighter was in attendance at Sphere in Las Vegas, but no official plans have been made for the two to fight yet and Dvalishvili would actually like to see Nurmagomedov face one more test before being granted a title shot.
“Umar, he’s OK,” Dvalishvili said. “But I’m telling you guys, from the top 15, he only won one fight, and that was Cory Sandhagen, and we all saw what Aljamain Sterling did against Cory Sandhagen. Made him sleep in the first round.”
Asked who Nurmagomedov should fight to become the No. 1 contender, Dvalishvili answered, “Maybe against Petr Yan.”
