When Merab Dvalishvili walks into the Octagon, he brings more than just his skills. He carries the weight of a nation, the grit of his dreams, and the quiet prayers of a mother who still can’t bear to watch him fight live. At UFC 316, the ‘Machine’ defends his bantamweight title against Sean O’Malley. But behind that steel resolve is a family story that’s as layered as his pressure inside the cage.

Born in Georgia in 1991, the same year the nation broke free from the Soviet Union, Merab Dvalishvili’s childhood was no fairy tale. In that unforgiving world, ‘The Machine’ chose a different path, martial arts. But even as he carved out a future by moving to the U.S., working construction by day and training by night, his family remained his compass. Today, they’re still with him, just not always in the same room when the cage door shuts! Intrigued? Let’s dive in!

Merab Dvalishvili’s mother and her dislike for his MMA career

Recently, Merab Dvalishvili went viral, not for his usual hilarious skits, but for a heartwarming video with his father, Amiran. The resurfaced clip showed the father and son sharing laughs during a playful training session, elbow taps, grins, and even a moment where Amiran hoisted his world-champion son off the ground. The MMA community ate it up. But while Amiran was front and center, one figure was missing: his wife, Darejan.

And that wasn’t by accident. In an interview with Shakiel Mahjouri, the reigning bantamweight champion revealed, “My father… We watch TV from, uh …with other Georgians, but my mom usually, she’s praying, you know, not watching TV—and she watches after, after, you know.”

Her prayers have followed him from Georgia to New York. And despite her quiet disapproval of his brutal profession, her support has never wavered. As for his father? Well, you can clearly tell where ‘The Machine’ got his personality from!

All we know about Merab Dvalishvili’s father

If his mother offers silence and prayer, Merab’s father brings the energy. As mentioned above, in the viral video, Amiran Dvalishvili is seen schooling his son on wrist control and high crotch lifts. Was he serious? Probably. But for fans, it was comedy gold. The reigning champ smiled through it, letting his father show off decades of knowledge. Yet under the laughs was something real: love, pride, and shared toughness.

Dvalishvili often credits his parents for keeping him grounded. His father, once strict and now jovial, has always believed in his son’s unshakable will as he once confessed, “Sometimes, I look at my boy and think about how quickly the years have passed. It’s true that he grew up and has changed, but the stubbornness that ran in his blood has not disappeared. I think this strong character helped him succeed.”

That stubbornness was born from survival. In a past interview on The Ranveer Show podcast, the Georgian fighter had revealed, “I was born in Georgia, but my small village, Vani. It was bad-time, when I was born, 1991, that’s where we left Soviet Union and then everybody started growing again like as an independent country, and then everybody lost their job, it was no electricity in the country, no gas in the country, lots of criminals. And you know, Georgian people are tough people, and everybody was gangster and you have to be gangster to protect your family and then like, you know, my childhood was tough.”

Yet, even moving to the US at age 21 wasn’t a miracle; it was still a fight, just in a different arena. He was pouring concrete and scraping snow in New York while grinding out practice sessions under Ray Longo and Matt Serra. And even his toughness wavered as he revealed in an interview, “So many challenge man, so many hard ways. Every day, I was asking myself, ‘Should I continue or should I stop?’ Because maybe this is not for me.”

But that “stubbornness” that his father mentioned? That kept him grinding, and now, he’s the UFC bantamweight champion with the longest win streak in the 135 lbs division’s history, with 12 victories under his belt. Still, while he wears UFC gold, Merab Dvalishvili hasn’t outgrown his roots. His father still shows him how to grapple. His mother still can’t bring herself to watch. And together, they paint a portrait of a fighter shaped by struggle, grounded by family.