Terrion Ware and Merab Dvalishvili have a date for September 15th in the UFC’s debut in Moscow, Russia at UFC Fight Night 136. Dvalishvili announced the fight via his Twitter account:
Since Ricky Simon refused a rematch, I am happy to announce that I have a new opponent , Terrion Ware. The fight is on and the win will be mine….. September 15th in Moscow, Russia. This is our time #serralongoteam #georgia #usa ???? ????
ჩემი შემდეგი ორთაბრძოლა… pic.twitter.com/5Es1bZkC7n— Merab Dvalishvili (@MerabDvalishvil) July 17, 2018
This is a case of “someone’s 0 having to go” as the two fighters have a combined UFC record of 0-5, but that statistic does not tell the story of the level of competition both men have faced, as both men have been paved a tough road to travel from the moment they arrived in the promotion. For Merab Dvalishvili, he was first placed against Frankie Saenz, a bout many people believe Dvalishvili won, but the split-decision went the direction of Saenz.
Next, Dvalishvili seemed to be on his way to a decision victory over Ricky Simon before one of the most controversial decisions in history, which prompted viewers and pundits to brush up on the rulebook. Dvalishvili appeared to still be conscious when, in a mounted guillotine of Ricky Simon, continuously moved his legs in a bicycle-riding fashion until the final bell at which point he was deemed to be unconscious, thus granting the TKO victory to Ricky Simon. Dvalishvili could just as easily be 2-0 right now in the promotion with some reasonable tweaks to some pivotal perspectives.
Terrion Ware hasn’t had it easy, either, with the matchmakers pitting him against now-top-10 fighter Cody Stamann, hot prospect “Suga” Sean O’Malley, and then losing a contested decision to now 16-2 Tom Duquesnoy. On paper, Ware being pitted against an 0-2 UFC fighter is an opponent commensurate with his résumé, but when the film and circumstances are considered, it is clear that Dvalishvili’s 0-2 is a rare case where at least one of the two losses come with a large asterisk. Dvalishvili is a powerful grappler that will be a very tough stylystic matchup for striker Terrion Ware. And in all likelihood, in order for Ware to remain in the company, he will need to do something that is much harder to do than the paper suggests: defeat Merab Dvalishvili.
Who’s 0 is going to go? Ware’s or Dvalishvili’s?
