This article on Merab Dvalishvili confronting a fan is part of our Craig Jones Invitational 2024 coverage. To get live results, play by play, and commentary, we’ll have a live updates article running all weekend.
Merab Dvalishvili just went viral this weekend after confronting a fan who heckled him from the crowd during the inaugural edition of the Craig Jones Invitational. The top UFC bantamweight contender wasn’t the only MMA veteran in attendance for the event and in fact the crowd was full of them, with Nate Diaz and Demetrious Johnson among the big names watching the action unfold. Dvalishvili was the one who ended up drawing most of the attention though, thanks to his reaction when a fan started to shout at him from the crowd behind the VIP area that he was watching from.
As soon as the Georgian fighter heard the fan behind him, he immediately leapt over the rail separating the two sections and walked up the steps to come face to face with the fan. The audience around them got up and started to watch or film with their phones, while the fan himself stayed seated. Dvalishvili grabbed him by the hair and started to shake him, clearly intimidating the man but not going so far as to actually attack him in fairness. That’s when a security guard intervened and to Dvalishvili’s credit, he left of his own accord and the guard escorted him back down to the VIP section.
Merab Dvalishvili couldn’t really afford to get into a physical altercation with the fan at the Craig Jones Invitational of course, as he’s only weeks away from the biggest fight of his career. Dvalishvili is due to fight for the UFC bantamweight title for the first time, facing reigning champion Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 on September 14th, 2024. He is riding a ten-fight winning streak into the title-fight too, so there’s a lot at stake for Dvalishvili and risking it all just to silence a critic is definitely not worth it.
Merab Dvalishvili actually uploaded the footage of him confronting the fan who was heckling him at the Craig Jones Invitational in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
