It’s truly refreshing to see when someone who has struggled all his life to achieve something, finally achieves it. And that literally is Merab Dvalishvili for you. On 15th September, Merab Dvalishvili won the UFC Bantamweight Championship Gold against Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 in the Sphere in Las Vegas. By doing so, he became the first Georgian-born Athlete to ever become a UFC Champion across any weight division in the history of the Mixed-Martial Arts Promotion.
Back in his country of Georgia, his efforts did not go unnoticed at all. The Tbilisi-born athlete was welcomed by hoards of crowds in Georgia after he landed there on Monday. His struggle has been well documented over the past few weeks amongst UFC enthusiasts. His story of being a construction worker after migrating to the United States of America to now, 12 years ahead becoming the UFC Bantamweight Champion is truly memorable.
Nicknamed, “The Machine” for his relentless fighting style was on full display against O’Malley especially after Dvalishvili kept mauling the American for 5 whole rounds. His grit and determination to succeed were properly rewarded by the Georgian Government. They have gifted Merab Dvalishvili a total sum of 1 Million Georgian Lari, equivalent to $367k for winning the Bantamweight Gold in the UFC.
For any athlete, this is a huge sum of money, let alone an athlete in the UFC. This takes his total winnings for UFC 306 to up to $2.6 to $2.7 Million after his reported payout has been around 2.3 Million USD from the UFC. But unlike most who would rather spend this money living a lavish lifestyle and buying fancy stuff from cars to houses and whatnot. That’s simply not Merab.
Instead, Merab Dvalishvili allegedly has planned to donate his winnings to charities helping fund MMA clubs in the country of Georgia, in the hopes of producing more talent like him. Now that’s an athlete who loves his country. By doing this, Merab Dvalishvili has certainly set an example in the world of sports on how important it is to give back to your roots and the places that you come from.
Can you name any more UFC athletes who in the past have made any benevolent gestures in the comments below?
