Footage of UFC bantamweight Merab Dvalishvili sparring with a 6ft 4, 200lbs female kickboxer has gone viral after it did not go too well for 'The Machine'.
The Georgian, who has won his last eight fights, is currently ranked third in the UFC bantamweight division and picked up a unanimous decision victory over Jose Aldo at UFC 278 in August.
Dvalishvili is known for his wrestling abilities on the mat but his qualities went a little out of the window against Katarina Kavaleva, who towered over him by about a foot and is 60lbs heavier when they got into it in the gym.
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He went for two early single leg takedown attempts but the giant Belarusian blocked them. In fact, for the second, she reversed it completely and picked Dvalishvili up with absolute ease and hoisted him into the air.
It was a playful spar that didn't include maximum effort and intensity and yet we still saw the ridiculous power from Kavaleva.
Dvalishvili did get Kavaleva down on the canvas at one stage with a swift single leg.
But there was plenty of reaction from fans on social media over the mismatch.
One user wrote: "This is so embarrassing she was playing with him."
Another said: "The UFC really needs a women's open weight division so we can gather up all of these rare giantesses and make them fight each other early UFC style."
A third commented: "The most disappointing part of Women’s MMA in the UFC is their maximum weight class is 65.8 kg/145 lbs.Throw this lady in the Men’s 84 kg weight class. Hell, she might even be too big for that."
Kavaleva, who has over 100,000 followers on Instagram, is a world champion kickboxer and collected a bronze medal in the 2019 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships.
Dana White, sign her up.
Topics: UFC, Kickboxing
Josh Lawless