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A year ago, Merab Dvalishvili was brought up in a curious conversation on episode #2116 of The Joe Rogan Experience. It featured Hollywood mainstay Kevin James, who touched on a past sparring session he had with the reigning UFC bantamweight champion.
Many will remember James as a staple of the string of campy comedy films that were common in the mid-2000s. However, he is also a former amateur wrestler and martial artist with a deep love for MMA. According to him, his sparring session with Dvalishvili was physical.
He said:
"I got in there, everybody else, Aljo [Aljamain Sterling] knows me, these guys know me. Merab thinks I'm a fat, old fighter. He thinks, he doesn't know anything. I get the headgear on, he doesn't recognize me as an actor. And he starts dancing around, I'm going, 'Woah.' I know right away he doesn't know I'm an outside guy."
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This confusion led to Dvalishvili treating James like an actual, professional fighter.
"He thinks I'm a guy in the camp. And he just starts going crazy, and I go, 'Oh, my God!' And I'm trying to throw punches, and this guy's moving around like crazy on me, and I'm looking for [Chris] Weidman. It was amazing. He was the sweetest guy ever, but I got lit up by him."
Check out Kevin James' account of training with Merab Dvalishvili (1:11:40):
The longtime UFC commentator found James' tale humorous and has since then watched Dvalishvili capture bantamweight gold in the UFC and defend it against the previously unbeaten Umar Nurmagomedov. Now, he is set to defend his bantamweight title at UFC 316 against Sean O'Malley in a rematch.
Merab Dvalishvili has also trained with other non-MMA figures
It wasn't that long ago that Merab Dvalishvili trained with Olympic gold medalist freestyle wrestler Gable Steveson. The pair's grappling session wasn't a serious one, taking place at the beach, with Steveson looking like he was anything but in top wrestling shape.
Check out Merab Dvalishvili training with Gable Steveson:
Steveson has flirted with an MMA career in the past, but opted to commit to WWE, where he had a brief and ultimately unsuccessful stint. He is also coming off a stunning upset loss to Wyatt Hendrickson for the 2005 NCAA Division I wrestling championship.
