Merab Dvalishvili Issues Bold Challenge to Yet Another Olympic Gold Medalist Before Sean O’Malley Title Fight

UFC 316 star and 135-pound champ Merab Dvalishvili jokes about taking on and jousting another Olympian, Gable Steveson in wrestling.

Merab Dvalishvili Issues Bold Challenge to Yet Another Olympic Gold Medalist Before Sean O’Malley Title Fight

UFC 316 star Merab Dvalishvili takes the challenge to another Olympian, Gable Steveson (Source: X/IMAGO)

To do it once is a wonder; to do it twice and more is just habitual if Merab Dvalishvili can outwork yet another Olympic Gold Medalist. Dvalishvili will currently run things back with Sean O’Malley at Saturday’s PPV main event, UFC 316, at Prudential Center in Newark. Right before fight week, though, he got in some training with Gable Steveson.

Merab Dvalishvili infamously met Henry Cejudo while stringing up his 10-fight streak to warrant his crack at title gold. The Camp Syndicate MMA/Team Serra-Longo (Las Vegas) fighter is a Judo black belt and multiple-time sambo champ. But to ragdoll and even carry an Olympian like Cejudo on his back at UFC 298 was something else. Now, the Georgian has touted some similar challenge for stalwart and Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson:

We already beat one Olympic champion, Henry Cejudo. We can beat you too…

Merab Dvalishvili before UFC 316 fight week (🎥 : @RedCorner_MMA)

A two-time NCAA Division I national/four-time Big Ten champ and 2020 Olympian, Gable Steveson is often considered the biggest of American wrestling staples. At 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) and the 265-pound bracket, though, he isn’t the short-stacked kind for “Machine”. However, the Indiana freestyle fame wrestler took it sportingly and doused his size disparity.

Size or no size, even in fun, Dvalishvili was having none of it. He took UFC 316 PPV star O’Malley six times with a control time of 10:03 minutes in their first run, last September. Then he outpaced Dagestani talent Umar Nurmagomedov as the champ underdog against heavy odds. So, he is now full of confidence and brimming with fight fuel; something he plans to take to UFC 316 this weekend. It’s something Steveson has also taken a liking to.

In advance of UFC 316 PPV title rematch, wrestler Gable Steveson had high praise for champ Merab Dvalishvili

Dvalishvili has amassed 12 wins in his seven-year stint with the UFC, but only one of those was by way of a finish — a feat he achieved against Marlon Moraes in 2021. The current 135-pound kingpin wants to change it up, and UFC 316 seems like a good spot. Less “Kiss, kiss“, more “bang, bang“; that is to say, less antics, more damaging output this time, Merab Dvalishvili has promised.

Merab Dvalishvili's gas tank has impressed wrestling star Gable Steveson
Merab Dvalishvili’s gas tank has impressed wrestling star Gable Steveson (Source: X)

That is not to say the Mean Machine doesn’t peel off with sticky top mount action and a monster cardio. Dvalishvili has a fuel tank like none other; something that has enabled him to even outstrike in pockets at certain situations.

‘Suga’ is a Best ESPY-worth striker with tremendous output; Dvalishvili outdid his body of work with a ginormous 214 total strikes! He is a fierce ground-level striker with a record of 2,092 total strikes landed in UFC bantamweight competition!

Dvalishvili’s gas tank and punctuating pockets of action, anyhow, he sees fit, is something even Gable Steveson has lauded recently. The UFC is back in New Jersey for UFC 316, its sixth pay-per-view offering of the season. Behind-the-scenes, the UFC 316 ‘Embedded’ No. 1 Vlog has Steveson saying this:

Merab’s just different, …you can tell when guys are different and they can prevail in their sport. Merab’s got that touch, and I hope he can do it again next Saturday. Look at him, he’s not even tired. He’s doing all this punching and kicking. He’s fine!

Gable Steveson during UFC 316 ‘Embedded’ No. 1 Vlog

Serra-Longo Fight Team instructor and head coach John Wood readily agreed with the assessment of him excelling all out, given his gas tank. It was even mentioned by him that the Georgian is the only one in the gym who tires him out while holding pads.

Meanwhile, Steveson faced his biggest upset to Oklahoma State’s Wyatt Hendrickson at the 2025 NCAA Division I Wrestling National Championships at the Wells Fargo Center in March. While he has largely contemplated a switch-up to MMA for years now, based on his own skillsets, Dvalishvili is a star he mentioned, that gives him hope in that direction.

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