Merab Dvalishvili bided his time, focused on what he could control and made it impossible for the Ultimate Fighting Championship to ignore him any longer.
UFC 306: O'Malley vs. Dvalishvili Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order Now!
As O’Malley and Dvalishvili move ever close to their high-stakes showdown, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:
29: Years of age for O’Malley, who was born in Helena, Montana, on Oct. 24, 1994. Boyz II Men’s “I’ll Make Love to You,” Sheryl Crow’s “All I Wanna Do,” Luther Vandross and Mariah Carey’s “Endless Love,” Madonna’s “Secret” and Real McCoy’s “Another Night” were the Top 5 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 list at the time.
1: O’Malley victory by submission, accounting for 5% of his career total (18%). He put away Omar Avelar with a first-round rear-naked choke under the Intense Championship Fighting banner in August 2015. O’Malley holds 12 other victories by knockout or technical knockout (67%) and five more by decision (28%).
533: Significant strikes by which O’Malley has outlanded his opposition across his 12 appearances in the UFC. He has connected with 964 such strikes while absorbing only 431 of them in return.
5: Promotions for which O’Malley has plied his mixed martial arts trade. In addition to his 10-1 mark with one no contest in the UFC, he has gone 5-0 in Intense Championship Fighting, 1-0 in Extreme Beatdown, 1-0 in the Legacy Fighting Alliance and 1-0 in Dana White’s Contender Series.
.729: Cumulative winning percentage between the six men—Aljamain Sterling, Raulian Paiva, Kris Moutinho, Thomas Almeida, Eddie Wineland and Jose Quinonez—O’Malley has knocked out as a member of the UFC roster. They boast a combined record of 117-43-2.
33: Years of age for Dvalishvili, who was born on Jan. 10, 1991 in Tbilisi, Georgia—more than 6,900 miles from UFC headquarters in Las Vegas.
3: Dvalishvili wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 18% of his career total (17). Former World Series of Fighting champion Marlon Moraes remains his only UFC victim. Dvalishvili owns one other win by submission (6%)—he tapped Sukhrob Aydarbekov with an armbar at a Ring of Combat show in February 2017—and 13 more by decision (76%).
79: Takedowns completed by Dvalishvili since he linked arms with the UFC a little less than seven years ago, placing him third on the promotion’s all-time list. Only Georges St. Pierre (90) and Gleison Tibau (84) have been credited with more.
59: Rounds started by Dvalishvili as a professional mixed martial artist. He has involved the judges on 16 different occasions and carries a 13-3 record in those bouts.
58: Combined victories between the four men—Ricky Simon, Frankie Saenz, Ricky Bandejas and Darren Mima—who have beaten Dvalishvili. They sport a cumulative .660 winning percentage at 58-30.