by MangaMoon

Merab The Machine Dvalishvili 3D panel

Remember… after five rounds, when the championship belt was fastened around Merab Dvalishvili’s waist and Georgia’s name rang out in the center of the Octagon? Before that came twenty-five minutes in which Merab gave Sean O’Malley no rest. He pressed forward, closed the distance, shot for takedowns, and brought the champion back to the canvas. O’Malley searched for space to land his precise strikes, but Merab kept taking that space away. The rounds changed. Merab’s pressure remained. Toward the end of the fight, O’Malley’s body shots posed a threat. Merab had to withstand them once more, to hold on once more to everything he had worked for throughout the fight. The final seconds ticked away. The horn sounded. Now both men stood in the Octagon. The fight was over, but the belt did not yet have a new owner. The pause before the judges’ decision seemed heavier than those twenty-five minutes. Then the winner’s name rang out — Merab Dvalishvili. Dana wrapped the belt around his waist, and the moment Merab felt it, he began to scream. He dropped to his knees and kept screaming until he had poured out every emotion that came with seeing his dream come true. At that exact moment, he had fulfilled his dream. He had reached his goal. A goal that, just a few years earlier, had seemed unimaginable.

Material: Wooden