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Merab Dvalishvili's coach recently opened up about Dvalishvili's surge in popularity and lavished praise on how the UFC bantamweight kingpin conducts himself in his personal life.
'The Machine' has become an entertaining follow on social media through his various skits and comedic posts. He also gained popularity after defeating Sean O'Malley at UFC 306 last September to achieve his goal of becoming bantamweight champion. He followed that up with another impressive performance and earned a unanimous decision win over Umar Nurmagomedov in his first title defense at UFC 311.
During coach Ray Longo's latest conversation with Matt Serra on his YouTube channel, Longo shared his thoughts on Dvalishvili's popularity and also mentioned that the reigning bantamweight champion continues to receive loud ovations and makes time for all of his fans. He said:
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"That's an international superstar right now... [Jon] Anik said when he was in Australia, just the applause when they walked in the room was more than anybody."
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He added:
"Because [Dvalishvili] is so fan-friendly too. Like, we're leaving the fight, it's 2 [AM], there's like, 30 guys with a Georgian flag. He tells the limo driver to stop, he gets out, he takes pictures with everybody. He's a good dude. I wish everybody would follow what he does."
Check out Ray Longo's comments regarding Merab Dvalishvili below (0:05) :
Matt Serra discloses Merab Dvalishvili's humble beginnings before UFC stardom
Matt Serra also chimed in and echoed coach Ray Longo's praise for Merab Dvalishvili. Serra disclosed that 'The Machine' came from humble beginnings before achieving UFC stardom.
In the aforementioned video, Serra mentioned that Dvalishvili worked another job while competing in the UFC to make ends meet and never complained.
"[Dvalishvili was] literally working and we know this but we're telling the world... he was working construction while he was in the UFC. And, never bit*hing, never bit*hed about anything... I'm so happy for him." [0:27]
Check out Merab Dvalishvili's post-fight interview after becoming UFC bantamweight champion below:
