Editor's Note: This story was published June 6, prior to Merab Dvalishvili's second bantamweight title defense, a third-round submission victory over Sean O'Malley at UFC 316.

IN FEBRUARY 2021, UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili made one of the dumbest decisions of his life during one of the biggest snowstorms to hit Long Island, New York, in a decade. His coach, Ray Longo, told the entire Serra-Long Fight Team that the gym was closed for two days. Stay home. With training canceled, Dvalishvili went on a run around a nearby park. When he'd finished, he decided to have himself a nice little ice bath, right there in the lake.

"I don't like to check the temperature of a bath before I get in, because it's so cold and it makes it harder [to get in]," Dvalishvili tells ESPN. "I kne

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