Aljamain Sterling Plans to Corner Merab Dvalishvili a Day Before His Wedding, at UFC 320

On October 4, the premier promotion returns to the comfort of T-Mobile grounds for a PPV title doubleheader. At the UFC 320 PPV co-feature, Merab Dvalishvili makes another defense of his title against Cory Sandhagen. Close friend Aljamain Sterling will sideline personal commitments to corner Dvalishvili in yet another title fight.

The Team Serra-Longo Fight (LV) fighter and current UFC 145-pounder has always supported Merab Dvalishvili. Aljamain Sterling even avoided contending against his friend when he was UFC’s 135-pound king up until UFC 292. Dvalishvili took over when Sterling shifted to featherweight and continued his extraordinary joint-4th winningest 13-fight streak.

Before his UFC 311: Makhachev vs. Moicano PPV title fight at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., ‘Machine’ went viral with Sterling. UFC’s “Embedded” Series showcased how the two were beyond just friends and were also neighbors. Now, Aljo takes the camaraderie to yet another level before this title fight.

Still super confident. I’m gonna… plan to still corner him the day before my wedding…And, and, yeah…And super excited about it. It’s gonna be a crazy weekend just because of that. We got a lot of people coming here to Vegas from all over, especially New York, and um…[Yeah] The wedding is in Vegas.

Aljamain Sterling on “The Ariel Helwani Show” for ‘Uncrowned’ Combat

Owing to their long relation, ‘Funk Master’ proposed to his longtime girlfriend Rebecca Cruz. Cruz happens to be a leading sports fitness specialist and connected to the ‘NYX Professional Makeup’ Business House. Social media snippets from Jan. 2, 2021, show Aljo proposing to her.

The duo has been together for a long time, and through thick and thin, the former bantamweight king has named her as his biggest beacon. However, the brotherhood between him and Merab Dvalishvili is as real as it gets, as he’s willing to corner him a day ahead of his wedding!

UFC CEO and bossman Dana White and other execs have often poked at not contending against each other due to their friendship. However, Aljo would often iterate the Islam Makhachev-Khabib dynamic to state how they never got told to fight each other. In his case, he just takes that kinship to the next level as Dvalishvili preps to defend his gold yet another time.

Quippy funnyman Merab Dvalishvili apologizes to rival as he shares fate for UFC 320 title fight

Merab Dvalishvili has already made two stellar bantamweight defenses. Against the Best ESPY Striker and brand face Sean O’Malley, and against the previously undefeated Team Khabib phenom, Umar Nurmagomedov.

Dvalishvili is riding on quite the winning streak and has been impossible to thwart due to his monster cardio, coupled with apt striking. Those like Ray Longo and Aljamain Sterling think ‘Machine’ would join big names in the MMA Mt. Rushmore very soon.

Now, he tries his luck against No.4-ranked bantamweight Sandhagen. The fan clique agrees that ‘Sandman’ is a deserved top contender and merits a shot. Merab Dvalishvili agrees, but he uploaded a social media training snippet where he was ‘sorry’ he had to KO Sandhagen this time.

Looking for the KO next time 👊🦾 @TakedownShop pic.twitter.com/rIQMZ4ilre

— Merab “The Machine” Dvalishvili (@MerabDvalishvil) August 25, 2025

Dvalishvili crossed Georges St-Pierre’s TD log and registered 92 takedowns in total, against Umar at UFC 311; It’s 97 now with him treading way ahead on the leaderboards. He had quite the breakout moment and practically toyed with Umar during his first title defense. On the flip side, he can also answer in striking and his 2,092 total strikes in UFC bantamweight competition are the highest rate.

At UFC 266, Dvalishvili outnumbered Marlon Moraes with 212 more total strikes logged, the largest striking differential in a single UFC/WEC bantamweight bout. While he is predominantly known for his TDs and immense wrestling pressure, Machine quips this time, he could go hunting for a KO.

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