Getty Merab Dvalishvili and Henry Cejudo at UFC 298.
Merab Dvalishvili picked Henry Cejudo up, carried him across the Octagon, to seemingly slam him in front of Mark Zuckerberg in the front row.
It all went down at UFC 298 — a big pay-per-view show ESPN aired from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Dvalishvili and Cejudo’s bantamweight bout took place on the main card, and though it went the full three-round distance, contained a number of storylines.
The first glaring one was the presence of Zuckerberg, and how Dvalishvili played up to that.
Not only did he seemingly slam his opponent right in front of the Meta boss, he also elaborately smiled at him when he had Cejudo in a guillotine.
Zuckerberg, sitting with his wife Priscilla Chan and the UFC’s chief business officer Hunter Campbell, can be seen laughing and even waving back at Dvalishvili.
MMA super-fan Zuckerberg, who once watched a UFC Fight Night event at the Apex in Las Vegas, looked delighted to, this time, witness a UFC show in front of a sell-out crowd.
Merab was smiling at Mark Zuckerberg as he had Cejudo in a Guillotine 😳 #UFC298
See it here:
Caption this LOL! Merab Dvalishvili is all smiles as he defeats Henry Cejudo at UFC 298 @ufc @MerabDvalishvil #ufc #ufc298
Dvalishvili Really Out-Worked Cejudo
Dvalishvili was deserving of his big win over Cejudo.
According to official UFC data seen by Heavy, Dvalishvili was three times as active as Cejudo during strike exchanges.
Dvalishvili landed 167 from 273 strike attempts compared to Cejudo’s 54 from 106, and succeeded with five of his 11 takedowns compared to Cejudo’s one from seven.
Speaking on the ESPN broadcast after his win was officially announced, Dvalishvili said: “I was working so hard.”
He continued: “All my life, I don’t get nothing easy. I work for it. Hard work always pays off. I’m not even breathing heavy.
“Everyday, I’m fighting in the gym. I wanted more rounds. Three rounds is nothing for me.”
Victory over Cejudo, after also beating over top tier fighters like Petr Yan, and Jose Aldo, advanced Dvalishvili’s pro MMA record to 17 wins (three KOs, one submission, and 13 decisions).
Dvalishvili — ranked No.2 at 135-pounds — then called for a match against the division’s champion Sean O’Malley.
“Where is the champion? Bring him here right now!”
He also said: “I’ve been calling out Sean O’Malley since 2018. My only goal is [the] title now.”
There Were Other Big Wins at UFC 298
Anthony Hernandez, Zhang Mingyang, and Ilia Topuria earned $50,000 for their respective wins at UFC 298, and Amanda Lemos and Mackenzie Dern both gained an extra $50,000 for their fight of the night on the preliminary card.
Topuria’s victory over Alexander Volkanovski in the main event, for which he scooped the UFC featherweight championship, was arguably the best of the night as the Spaniard finished the Aussie fighter in the second round with punches.
Other notable moments included Paulo Costa landing one of the best head kicks you’ll see when he connected with Robert Whittaker’s skull, before dropping a decision loss to his rival.
And, finally, in an incredible act of toughness, Danny Barlow overcame a broken arm in the first round to score a clubbing win over Josh Quinlan at welterweight.
Barlow battered and bruised Quinlan’s face en route to his third-round knockout.
UFC heads to Mexico City next for a Fight Night event on February 24, before returning to Las Vegas the following week.