Merab Dvalishvili has built his career on relentlessness. Inside the cage, he drowns opponents with pressure, earning him the nickname ‘The Machine’. Outside of it, his discipline is no less impressive. Ahead of UFC 320, where he defends his bantamweight title against Cory Sandhagen, the Georgian reached a rare milestone, 50 clean dr*g tests.

The UFC honored him with its anti-doping jacket, a badge of reliability in a sport where accusations of shortcuts often linger. Dvalishvili began 2025 with a win over Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311, then followed it by submitting Sean O’Malley at UFC 316. Now, with his third defense looming at T-Mobile Arena, he’s also reflecting on the less glamorous part of a champion’s life, those unexpected knocks on the door from anti-doping testers!

Merab

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