![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2148549709-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMerab Dvalishvili is back in the gym, looking relaxed and enjoying himself after losing his UFC bantamweight belt.<\/p>\n
Petr Yan surprisingly outworked and outpointed \u2018The Machine\u2019 at UFC 323 on December 6, bringing his title reign to an end.<\/p>\n
Dvalishvili\u2019s impressive run in the division makes an immediate rematch in 2026 likely, and he will be eager to reclaim his spot at the top.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, he is keeping active by training with Facebook billionaire and MMA enthusiast Mark Zuckerberg.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMark Zuckerberg goes three rounds with Merab Dvalishvili<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Photo by Jeff Bottari\/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images\n <\/p>\n
Zuckerberg has been stepping up his training lately, with a few notable sessions catching the public\u2019s eye.<\/p>\n
One came earlier this year, when he sparred with Alex Pereira. The UFC light heavyweight champion was clearly going easy on him, making sure to keep things friendly.<\/p>\n
This time around, Dvalishvili still held back but did not shy away from giving Zuckerberg a more genuine challenge.<\/p>\n
Footage from their three-round session has quickly made the rounds on social media.<\/p>\n
The video shows \u2018The Machine\u2019 connecting with some clean shots, while Zuckerberg\u2019s improvement was clear despite being outmatched.<\/p>\n
One highlight came when Zuckerberg scored a couple of takedowns against the Georgian fighter known for his wrestling skills.<\/p>\n
Dvalishvili responded in good humour with a Stockton Slap that would not look out of place in a Nate Diaz highlight reel.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDana White backs Mark Zuckerberg as fans question his skills<\/p>\n
Zuckerberg began training in various forms of martial arts during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
Even so, many still question his ability, suggesting he does not have what it takes to handle himself in a real fight.<\/p>\n
Dana White addressed that criticism back in November, standing up for the Meta CEO and warning people not to underestimate him.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople talk s\u2014 about (Mark) Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg is a great athlete.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe trains in MMA, he surfs, he does all this s\u2014. You know, everybody \u2013 Zuckerberg will beat the s\u2014 out of you, okay?<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody thinks he\u2019s some computer nerd, Mark Zuckerberg will beat the living s\u2014 out of you. All these guys that talk stuff about him on the internet, yeah, he\u2019ll kick your a\u2013.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe moral of the story is, all of you, you know, telephone tough guys and internet tough guys that talk s\u2014 about Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg will beat the s\u2014 out of every one of you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Merab Dvalishvili is back in the gym, looking relaxed and enjoying himself after losing his UFC bantamweight belt.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-356528","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}