WATCH: Bantamweight contender Merab Dvalishvili trains with women’s champion Zhang Weili

Merab Dvalishvili trains with Zhang Weili as both fighters head to their respective title fights.

WATCH: Bantamweight contender Merab Dvalishvili trains with women’s champion Zhang Weili

Merab Dvalishvili trains with Zhang Weili(via Imago/ Instagram)

Male and female fighters might employ unconventional training methods to improve their skill level. As such, Merab Dvalishvili took on Zhang Weili as both fighters trained with each other to sharpen their skills. Both students of the game showed humbleness while doing their respective parts during the session.

Merab Dvalishvili also shared glimpses of his training session with Zhang Weili on his social media account. In the video, Dvalishvili went against the fighter as both struck and grappled. The Georgian fighter also hip-tossed Weili to land a takedown on the Chinese UFC champion. Weili also utilized her elusiveness to take the back of Dvalishvili. Overall, Weili had a good training session before her UFC 300 title defense.

YouTube video

Dvalishvili is currently on a 10-fight win streak and is expected to compete with Sean O’Malley for the bantamweight title. Dvalishvili is not waiting around for the UFC to announce the fight. He has kept training to stay fit to combat the high-level striking of O’Malley.

FS Video

On the other hand, Weili is scheduled to defend her strawweight title against Yan Xiaonan at the co-main event of UFC 300. Training with someone like Merab will likely benefit the strawweight champion at UFC 300. Weili has trained along with male fighters multiple times in the past. Only time will tell if her preparation results in a successful title defense.

Zhang Weili training with other UFC men superstars

Zhang Weili is currently one of the biggest female superstars on the UFC roster. The fighter initially won the strawweight belt in 2019 but lost it in 2021 after Rose Namajunas knocked her out. The way back to recapturing her title was not easy.

Zhang Weili trains with Henry Cejudo
Zhang Weili trains with Henry Cejudo(via Asian MMA)

Throughout this journey, Weili repeatedly showed great development as a fighter. To achieve this, the fighter has approached training with male fighters. Weili even trained with former UFC double champion Henry Cejudo back in 2021 to enhance her wrestling. It helped her so much as she outwrestled elite grappler Carla Esparza at UFC 281 to win the strawweight title for the second time.

Weili has healthy relationships with many UFC fighters and went viral for one of her interactions with Francis Ngannou. At the UFC Performance Institute, Weili easily lifted Ngannou to his shoulders and surprised the former heavyweight champion with her strength. She also did the same thing to NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, and the 300-pounder was shocked by Weili’s core strength and overall power. Weili could go down as the greatest strawweight fighter ever if she continues to defend her title.

In case you missed it!