Merab Dvalishvili shares hilarious moment with Mark Zuckerberg after victory over Henry Cejudo at UFC 298

The UFC 298 main card began with an exciting fight between Roman Kopylov and Alexander Hernandez which ended in a submission victory in the second round for Hernandez. The second bout of the main card was an exciting bantamweight bout between Henry Cejudo and Merab Dvalishvili.

Dvalishvili, known for his hilarious lifestyle outside of the cage, had a spectacular performance against Cejudo and it got the attention of a certain Mark Zuckerberg, the META CEO, who was in attendance at the event with his wife in the front row.

Merab Dvalishvili defeats Henry Cejudo

Merab Dvalishvili, the Georgian bantamweight, extended his winning streak to 10 in the UFC with a unanimous decision victory over Henry Cejudo, the former two-division champion. After a first round that saw Cejudo rock Dvalishvili with a powerful punch, Dvalishvili took over round two and three with his pressure and wrestling prowess.

The powerful right-hand strike from Cejudo was the most impactful strike of the first round which also saw Dvalishvili take down Cejudo, the 2008 Olympic freestyle gold medalist. Dvalishvili poured on pressure in round two with powerful strikes as well, but Cejudo showed his chin and refused to get knocked down. Nonetheless, the round ended with Dvalishvili locking in a sitting guillotine choke on Cejudo.

In the third round, Cejudo showed visible tiredness and also had his right hand show big swelling, possibly a broken hand. In the end, all the judges had it 29-28 on the scorecard for the ‘Machine’ Merab Dvalishvili who now has 9 straight victories in the bantamweight division. Conor McGregor had earlier predicted the fight to go full rounds and it certainly did.

In his post-fight speech, Dvalishvili called for a title shot against the winner of the UFC 299 main event bantamweight title fight between Sean O’Malley and Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera. O’Malley was in attendance at UFC 298 but did not show interest in Dvalishvili’s callout. On the other hand, Cejudo had pondered retirement if he was unsuccessful against Dvalishvili.

Merab and Zuckerberg caught in hilarious interaction

Mark Zuckerberg, the META CEO, was in the front row at UFC 298 alongside his wife, Priscilla Chan, and Hunter Campbell, the Chief Business officer of the UFC. Dvalishvili had earlier interacted with Zuckerberg, but their significant interaction came in the second round of the bout.

Merab Dvalishvili had a sitting guillotine choke on Cejudo by the end of the second round and he was directly in front of Zuckerberg, Campbell, and Chan with only the octagon cage in between them. Zuckerberg seemed very impressed by the performance of the Georgian as he cheered on the bantamweight fighter.

Dvalishvili also shook hands with Zuckerberg post the fight as he extended his hand to the META CEO whilst sitting in the cage. Zuckerberg is a big fan of MMA and has even competed in BJJ tournaments across the US.

Zuckerberg has also trained with UFC superstars Alexander Volkanovski and Israel Adesanya in the distant past. Moreover, he was once rumored to fight in MMA against Elon Musk, the owner of Space X, Tesla, and X.

What do you think of Merab Dvalishvili’s performance against Henry Cejudo at UFC 298? Leave your thoughts below!