Merab Dvalishvili isn’t known as a wrestling specialist, but he pulled off a major upset anyway – beating Olympic champion Henry Cejudo in the RAF Georgia main event.

The match looked lopsided early, with Cejudo scoring a takedown and a series of turns to jump out to an 8-0 lead before the first period had even ended.

Rather than fold, Dvalishvili responded with relentless pressure, chipping away with repeated takedowns and eventually overtaking Cejudo 11-8 by the final horn, a remarkable turnaround in just his second freestyle match since joining the RAF roster.

After the match, Dvalishvili confessed.

I’m so happy… I make my people proud. Thank god I win tonight…
Henry’s an Olympic champion. I think next match I can do with him in judo.

Next, you won’t be surprised, I love UFC, I love fighting. Petr Yan, come back bro.
What the heck? There’s something wrong with him.

The match started rough for Dvalishvili, who was warned early for slapping at Cejudo’s head during a positional exchange.
Cejudo capitalized quickly, shooting for a takedown and locking in a gut wrench to rack up points, pushing the score to 7-0 before Dvalishvili got on the board with a takedown of his own.

From there, the pace shifted. Cejudo blocked a couple of follow-up attempts, drawing a shot clock warning for inactivity, but Dvalishvili broke through again with a single-leg takedown as Cejudo visibly began to fade.

With two minutes left, Dvalishvili scored a four-point move to finally take the lead, then added another takedown to push it to 11-8 as Cejudo shifted into survival mode.
He closed the match by reversing one last takedown attempt from Cejudo, setting off a celebration with the home crowd.

Merab Dvalishvili just came back from an 8-0 deficit to defeat Henry Cejudo in his hometown at RAF Georgia 🤯

WHAT A MATCH!pic.twitter.com/7U4zkQcHE3

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) July 11, 2026

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