Days after denying that he is dating Sports Illustrated model Kate Upton, former “Dancing With The Stars” professional dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy confirmed on Thursday that he is indeed dating the model, with whom he was spotted holding hands out in public back in September.

Us Weekly caught up with the dancer at his brother Val’s launch of Valentin Clothing at Philippe in Beverly Hills on Thursday, where Chmerkovskiy gushed about the 21-year-old model

"She's an amazing person," Chmerkovskiy, 33, told Us Weekly. "We have an incredible time together, and, you know, I definitely didn’t see that coming, and I think neither did she. We enjoy each other's company very much and, like I said, she's a great girl [with whom] I never thought anything romantic like this could have happened."

Rumors of the couple dating started in June after reports emerged that Upton spent her birthday with Chmerkovskiy on June 10.

Although they were photographed leaving the restaurant Scalinatella separately, eyewitnesses told Us Weekly that their dinner was an intimate one. "They were very canoodly," the source said, adding that they held hands at the table. "It was a very intimate meal."

A few months later, they were spotted walking hand-in-hand in NYC’s West Village. It is not yet known how long they had been dating. While a friend of Upton’s told Us Weekly that they have known each other a long time, another source said in June: "It's very new. They were set up through friends. They just started dating."

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