Welcome To The UFC Sidney Outlaw and Merab Dvalishvili
Sidney Outlaw and Merab Dvalishvili latest to sign with UFC
On Friday, June 2, Ring Of Combat 59 (ROC) invaded the Tropicana in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Having five title fights on the line, this stacked card did not disappoint.
UFC President Dana White was in attendance filming an episode for his YouTube series, ‘Dana White: Lookin’ For A Fight,’ trying to scout some new talent for the UFC. What he got was a great night of fights and two new talented fighters.
The ninth fight on the card was James Rumley vs. Sidney Outlaw for the ROC regional lightweight belt. Rumley trains at Rockbottom MMA in North Carolina while Outlaw trains with Ricardo Almeida in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and Renzo Gracie Academy of Pennsylvania as well.
Outlaw took Rumley down right away. After a few hard strikes, Outlaw took Rumsey’s back with easy. While on his back, he continued his strikes. A couple strikes landed wild and hit Rumley unintentionally on the back of the head, and the referee called time for Rumley to come to. Once time continued it was more of the same. Outlaw took Rumley right down and sunk in a deep rear naked choke to secure the victory and the belt at 1:57 of the very first round. As soon as the referee pulled Outlaw off he ran down to see Dana White to shake his hand and have a quick chat. Well, the impressive fight and chat worked for Dana because he signed Sidney to a UFC contract minutes later.
Sidney is now 8-4 and the Ring Of Combat lightweight and welterweight champion(s). He will be a great addition to either of those UFC divisions.
The 10th fight on the card was a highly anticipated title fight and quick one at that. Ring Of Combat bantamweight champion, Merab Dvalishvili took on Raufeon Stots who is the Victory Fighting Championship (VFC) bantamweight champion and 8-0 heading into this fight. Dvalishvili trains out of the Serra Longo camp in Long Island, New York while Stots trains out in Milwaukee with Duke Roufus.
Both men met in the center of the cage when the bell rang. Showing respect, they kept their distance until the first move was made. Dvalishvili was the one who made that move and if you blinked then you missed his highlight reel knock out.
Dvalishvili threw a high kick that Stots caught. As Stots threw Dvalishvili’s leg down, Dvalishvili spun and connected with a vicious spinning back fist that koed stots. Dvalishvili jumped on Stots and landed one more punch before the referee jumped in to call the fight. A marvelous 15 second KO.
After the fight was over, Dvalishvili jumped on top of the cage right in front of Dana White. The crowd chanted U-F-C for nearly five minutes. After leaving the cage, you saw Dana White get up from his seat and head back behind the curtain towards Dvalishvilli.
You knew what was coming: a contract. The contract was given to Dvalishvili for his great performance that night. Dvalishvili will be very dangerous in the UFC’s bantamweight division and also if he chooses to go up a weight class.
Keep your eyes out for Sidney Outlaw and Merab Dvalishvili as they will soon be in the UFC.
