Merab Dvalishvili Nearly Taken Out by Fans During Walkout: ‘They Almost Kicked Me in the Head’

UFC fans were so desperate to touch Merab Dvalishvili that they nearly took the bantamweight champion out on his way to the Octagon.

Dvalishvili added another impressive title defense to his resume at UFC 316, submitting Sean O’Malley in their mildly anticipated rematch, further establishing himself as the division’s undisputed GOAT. However, disaster nearly struck as ‘The Machine’ made his way to the cage on Saturday night.

As Dvalishvili emerged from the tunnel, a sea of fans fell over the railing and nearly landed on top of him. Fortunately, nobody appeared to be seriously injured, and Dvalishvili made his way to the Octagon unscathed.

Asked about the incident during his post-fight interview backstage, ‘The Machine’ revealed that it was nothing more than some overzealous fans trying to dap him up.

“That’s not funny, because that’s what happened,” Dvalishvili said. “Once I’m walking, people tried to touch me. I tried to jump and touch them, and I guess they pushed the barrier. They jumped, almost kicked me in the head, almost knocked me out before I walked in. The barrier got broke or something because people pushed. Security put me against the wall, and I’m like, ‘Bro, I’m a fighter, let me go.’ Anyway, thank god, nobody got hurt.

“What was going through my mind? I see what happened, I’m just professional. I can’t really help people or do anything about it. I guess the fans just love me so much!”

Merab isn’t the first fighter to see fans take a tumble at a UFC event

It’s actually not the first time something like this has happened at a UFC event. A similar incident occurred at UFC 289 in June 2023 during Mike Malott’s walkout in Toronto.

It was our second one in 25 years,” UFC CEO Dana White told reporters after the event. “Everybody was hanging over the edge, and it collapsed. Everybody was all right. Thank God this time it was a low one, not a high one.”