UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili believes wrestlers are among the most underappreciated athletes in the world.

Speaking on Dominick Cruz’s podcast, Dvalishvili reflected on the sacrifices wrestlers make throughout their careers and why he feels the sport doesn’t provide enough recognition for even its biggest stars:

What was bad about wrestling is the good wrestlers, they don’t get the respect they deserve.
Even if they got second place in the world, nobody knows. No money.

According to the Georgian champion, the vast majority of wrestlers dedicate their lives to the sport with little financial reward or public recognition:

About 99.9 percent of wrestlers train their whole lives and never get much in return. They don’t get recognition or money, just the benefit of becoming strong and healthy.

But people don’t always see the sacrifices involved, from the weight cuts to the discipline and everything else they have to endure.

When Cruz mentioned that Real American Freestyle (RAF) is helping bring more attention to wrestling, Dvalishvili agreed:

Even for me, I love wrestling, and I always was doing wrestling even though I’m a judo guy. And wrestling is the best.

I now love it like 10 times more because I fell really in love with it, and I find it fun.

Dvalishvili also reflected on his own transition from judo to MMA, admitting that his background initially created bad habits:

When I was taking people down I was giving my back because in judo you don’t hold the position, and I was making a lot of mistakes.

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