Last February, Dvalishvili was matched up against Cejudo. During the press conference, Dvalishvili pulled out a Mexican flag, and said he was going to make Mexico proud when he defeated Cejudo on fight night. The antics came after Cejudo, who is of Mexican descent, said that he is first and foremost American. “The Machine” jumped on the chance to win over those fans, and despite having no direct ties to Mexican culture, he won over the Mexican fans with that statement and got the nickname “Mexican Merab”.
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Just a few weeks after his win over Cejudo, Dvalishvili went to the fights in Mexico City, where he sported a Mexican poncho. And then, he went on to headline Noche UFC inside Sphere last September, which was an event celebrated around Mexican Independence Day.
In between all of his fights, Dvalishvili has built quite the presence on social media, often making fun skits about certain things that have happened in his career, or even just showing videos of him yelling across the street to his neighbor and close friend Sterling to come over and watch the fights.
