Merab Dvalishvili’s Coach Details 'Freaky' Barricade Collapse During UFC 316 Walkout

The barricade gave way during Merab Dvalishvili’s walkout at UFC 316 and he almost got crushed by the fans before he even entered the octagon😳 pic.twitter.com/cI0H6I9MWK

— FULL SEND MMA (@full_send_mma) June 8, 2025

Merab Dvalishvili’s coach, John Wood, was startled while walking his fighter out at UFC 316.

Dvalishvili put his bantamweight title on the line in a rematch against Sean O’Malley at UFC 316 on Saturday at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Just as Dvalishvili was walking out, a guardrail collapsed inches away from the champ. Wood revealed that the barricade, which almost landed on their feet, fell over along with fans who were probably leaning on it. The incident seemed so severe that Wood initially was looking for bodies under the barricade. However, UFC CEO Dana White later revealed that nobody was harmed.

"We almost got crushed… I was s—-ing my pants,” Wood told Submission Radio. “Merab got pushed out of the way as the thing was falling over, and it fell right in front of us, like almost landed on our feet. It was like five fans broke the barricade and fell over. I was looking for people being crushed under the damn thing. It was nuts man. That was a holy s—t moment for sure. That was freaky. By the grace of God, I don’t think anybody was hurt.”

While Dvalishvili won the bantamweight title against O’Malley via decision last year, he submitted “Suga” in the third round of their rematch at UFC 316. The Georgian now rides a fourteen-fight winning streak, which is tied for the fourth longest in UFC history.

Meanwhile, this isn’t the first time a guardrail has collapsed at a UFC event. A similar incident occurred just as Mike Mallott was walking out in front of a home crowd to fight Adam Fugitt at UFC 289 in 2023 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.