Merab Dvalishvili has quite the sense of humor.
Scheduled to face former two-division champion Henry Cejudo at UFC 298 next month in Anaheim, Calif., Dvalishvili has put himself in a position for a bantamweight title shot against Sean O’Malley. But the current champ already has his first title defense set for UFC 299 against Marlon Vera — the man O’Malley called out after his UFC 292 win over Aljamain Sterling, and the only fighter to defeat him.
Avenging prior losses seems to be a theme for O’Malley, along with facing fighters lower in the rankings then Dvalishvili. Acting as “Professor Machine,” the Georgian contender is leaning into the gimmick with full force.
Checki out Dvalishvili’s creative video below.
In the video, Dvalishvili gets to the point where he wins the title, predicting he will take it from Petr Yan. Then, he calls out Frankie Saenz, who is retired from the sport.
Following his divisional predictions, Dvalishvili has a message for Cejudo ahead of their matchup.
“We have a result from the hospital: Henry Cejudo has a longer tongue than himself,” Dvalishvili said. “But no worries, Dr. Merab will fix this problem on Feb. 17. See you there, Henry. I’m coming for you.”