Merab Dvalishvili has built his career on relentlessness. Inside the cage, he drowns opponents with pressure, earning him the nickname ‘The Machine.’ Outside of it, his discipline is no less impressive. Ahead of UFC 320, where he defends his bantamweight title against Cory Sandhagen, the Georgian reached a rare milestone  — 50 clean dr*g tests.

The UFC honored him with its anti-doping jacket, a badge of reliability in a sport where accusations of shortcuts often linger. Dvalishvili began 2025 with a win over Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311, then followed it by submitting Sean O’Malley at UFC 316. Now, with his third defense looming at T-Mobile Arena, he’s also reflecting on the less glamorous part of a champion’s life, those unexpected knocks on the door from anti-doping testers!

Merab Dvalishvili shares hilarious details of his multiple run-ins with UFC dr*g testers

So, what’s the strangest place the testers have turned up? Dvalishvili laughed when asked during a recent press conference and shared, “I was first time… I was surprised when they came in Georgia like 2019, we was in a restaurant, and they came there and then we just, we have to go use the bathroom.”

Since then, he’s had them appear everywhere, but his recent stories paint the clearest picture of how invasive the process can feel. The bantamweight champion further stated, “So, this, I guess new guy from UFC anti-doping came to my gym after my training and I tell him, oh that’s good idea after training, I’m sweating and I can’t p** now. I have to drink bunch of water, it’s going to take me a long time to p**, maybe you have to wait too much. You have to follow me wherever I go now all day, because I can’t give you what you want.”

Imagine finishing a grueling workout, drenched in sweat, only to have someone shadow you until your body cooperates. That’s the life of a UFC champion. But the visits don’t stop at the gym. Another time, the testers went straight to his home. And it wasn’t during the day!

According to Merab Dvalishvili, further during the interview, “And then okay, I guess next time he came early morning, and he wake me up, and I was so mad, and I said, ‘Okay, just come to the training next time. Don’t wake me, because I don’t wake up early, you know. I wake up like 10-ish, and then I go straight to the training, I go a little bit late for sleep. And that was like a little bit funny. ”

For those unaware, the UFC’s revamped anti-doping program, introduced at the end of 2023, gave the promotion even broader coverage. With more than 5,000 collection agents worldwide, fighters can be tested at any hour, in any country, on any day of the year. For someone like Dvalishvili, who often trains across continents and represents Georgia proudly, the program means those early-morning knocks or restaurant interruptions will only continue.

Still, the bantamweight king doesn’t complain. If anything, he treats the jacket and the milestone as a badge of honor. Now, with 50 clean tests behind him and a third title defense ahead, Merab Dvalishvili stands as one of the UFC’s most relentless examples of hard work and integrity. But according to a former champion, he might be in for a surprise come UFC 320!

Cory Sandhagen, backed by Henry Cejudo as “that guy” to end Dvalishvili’s reign at UFC 320

Henry Cejudo has never been shy about his opinions. The former two-division king faced Dvalishvili at UFC 298, where he was beaten and later admitted ‘The Machine’ might be the greatest bantamweight of all time. Yet, heading into the co-main event against Cory Sandhagen, ‘Triple C’ is predicting an upset!

Speaking on the Pound 4 Pound podcast with co-host and another former champion, Kamaru Usman, Cejudo proclaimed, “This should be the main event, I’m going to go more significant strikes for Cory, because I just feel like he’s a technician, he knows how to cut the angle, he’s going to hit him with big strikes.”

Cejudo also pointed to Sandhagen’s durability as he further confessed, “Not just that, but Cory is a hard dude to put away. I don’t know if he’s even been put away besides Aljo (Sterling). I think he’s that guy. I think we’re going to hear ‘and new.’ I really do.”

The former champion then explained that the key for Cory Sandhagen will be composure. He said ‘The Machine’ will take him down repeatedly, but if the ‘Sandman’ can stay calm, get back up without burning energy, and use his striking tools, hands, knees, and elbows, he can turn Dvalishvili’s game plan against him. As Cejudo put it, “But could you just relax, get up, use your strikes, and let him – you almost flip the game plan on Merab, but the key is composure.”

So, from restaurant bathrooms in Georgia to early-morning wake-up calls at home, Merab Dvalishvili has shown he can handle more than just opponents in the Octagon. His 50 clean tests stand as proof of a career built on discipline, not shortcuts. Yet as he prepares to defend his bantamweight crown again, Henry Cejudo believes history might take a turn. But will calm precision really be enough to derail the UFC’s hardest grinder? Or will Dvalishvili’s relentlessness prove unbreakable once more at UFC 320? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!