'They ended up telling him he had to leave' - Cody Stamann trained at the same gym as UFC Vegas 25 opponent Merab Dvalishvili

Cody Stamann trained at the same gym as his UFC Vegas 25 opponent Merab Dvalishvili. Stamann has revealed, however, that Dvalishvili was eventually told to leave the gym in order to let him spar away from the eyes of a future foe.

Stamann and Dvalishvili have trained together in the past and ended up sharing the same gym and training partners ahead of their upcoming fight against one another.

In an interview with John Hyon Ko for Sportskeeda, Cody Stamann opened up on a myriad of topics. Stamann was asked about his UFC Vegas 25 opponent Merab Dvalishvili training with Stamann’s teammates.

Cody Stamann was then questioned whether he’d seen Dvalishvili at his gym during this fight camp as well, in response to which Stamann stated:

“Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I see him all the time. I see him at the PI (UFC Performance Institute). I saw him like yesterday at the PI. I saw him. He showed up (on) a couple of sparring days. Like, I’m like geared up, like, getting ready, you know. I got someone filming my sparring, I got my partners lined up, and I’m literally just about to go in the cage and he just walks in the gym. And I’m like, ‘Guys. Like, I’m in the cage. I’m in an elevated platform. Like, are you really gonna let my opponent that I’m fighting in three weeks watch me spar?’ You know what I mean?”

“And they ended up telling him, you know, he had to leave. But I mean that’s kind of the way it is, you know. Like, Vegas is a weird spot. It’s just like, such a weird collaboration of different teams, different people from all over the place. Guys are always stopping in. And, you know, there could be like four guys in one weight class in the UFC at one practice. And you kind of know just to kind of avoid each other. But, you know, like when your opponent walks into the gym you’re training at, you’re like, ‘What the f**k? Like, what are you doing here, dude?’ And I just don’t think Merab kind of thinks anything of it. I just think he’s kind of a squirrelly little dude. He’s just doing his thing, you know. I mean, you see that in his fights. I mean, the guy, yeah, the guy’s different.” (*Kindly credit Sportskeeda for the video and transcription)

Cody Stamann suggested that he has nothing against Merab Dvalishvili on a personal level, but he’s simply focused on defeating him in their fight.

The Cody Stamann vs. Merab Dvalishvili fight booking had fallen apart on more than one occasion in the past

Cody Stamann

Cody Stamann was initially scheduled to fight Merab Dvalishvili at UFC on ESPN: Hermansson vs. Vettori (December 2020), but the fight fell apart as Stamann withdrew from the event. Their fight was subsequently rescheduled to take place at UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Volkov (February 2021).

This time around, it was Dvalishvili who withdrew from the event. Dvalishvili pulled out from the fight as he was dealing with the aftereffects of COVID-19. He was replaced by Andre Ewell. Unfortunately, Ewell tested positive for COVID-19 and had to pull out of the fight against Stamann.

Ewell was then replaced by Askar Askar, who was set to face Cody Stamann in a featherweight bout at UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Volkov. Regardless, on the day of the fight, Askar was declared medically unfit and was prevented from competing at the event. Resultantly, Cody Stamann was left without an opponent yet again.

The UFC then proceeded to rebook Cody Stamann against Merab Dvalishvili. Stamann is now scheduled to fight Dvalishvili in a bantamweight bout at UFC on ESPN: Reyes vs. Prochazka aka UFC Vegas 25 on May 1st, 2021.