"Merab stood on business" - Fans react to Merab Dvalishvili physically confronting alleged heckler at CJI grappling event 

Merab Dvalishvili has gotten MMA fans talking after a video of him getting into an altercation with an alleged heckler went viral.

'The Machine' was in attendance at the Craig Jones Invitational (CJI) grappling tournament, which was being held at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. The event plays host to two tournaments across two days, with the winners of each taking home a $1,000,000 prize.

The first evening of grappling action took place last night, which saw Dvalishvili arrive to the arena to support some of his friends who were competing. His evening then took a turn for the worse, however, as a fan in the audience allegedly spent the majority of time heckling the bantamweight contender.

It's believed the heckler was a fan of Sean O'Malley, and many of his jibes aimed towards Merab Dvalishvili were regarding his upcoming clash against 'Sugar' at UFC 306 in September. In response, Dvalishvili then hopped a security barriet and grabbed the fan by their hair.

Watch the video here:

Fans have since been reacting to the video of Dvalishvili, with many opting to praise the UFC star for confronting the heckler. A fan wrote:

"Merab stood on business"

Another fan said:

"Bro found out you can’t be a keyboard warrior IRL. Especially when you got b*tch hair"

One fan added:

"Lmao homie got son’d"

Some fans, however, were concerned the Georgian's actions could put his title bout with O'Malley in jeopardy. A fan wrote:

"I hope he didn’t just fumble his title fight"

Another added:

"Oh god I hope this doesn’t postpone his fight with O’Malley"

One fan wrote:

I respect the restraint, glad he didn’t ruin his title shot.

Check out more reactions here:

More fan reactions

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Merab Dvalishvili dismisses Umar Nurmgomedov as potential next title challenger

Ahead of his first title shot against Sean O'Malley at UFC 306, Merab Dvalishvili is already scouting an opponent for his first title defense, should he be victorious.

Whilst many fans would assume Umar Nurmagomedov is next in line for a shot, following his win over Cory Sandhagen early this month, however, 'The Machine' isn't so sure.

Speaking in a recent interview with Helen Yee, Dvalishvili dismissed the idea of facing Nurmagomedov, instead believing Deiveson Figueiredo is more than deserving of the next shot. He said:

"Umar won his fight, good for him. I want to focus on this O'Malley fight... After this, whoever the UFC decides will be next for a title shot I will fight. I think Figueiredo deserves it more [than Nurmagomedov] because he beat a former world champion. He dominated 'Chito'... He beat three top contenders."

Catch Merab Dvalishvili's comments below (15:30):