Dvalishvili UFC Record In Sight
It’s quite something as a UFC champion when you’ve beaten the four best-ranked fighters in your weight division already.
But that’s the scenario for Merab Dvalishvili, who has defeated Umar Nurmagomedov and Sean O’Malley (twice), as well as Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen.
It means that the naturalised American doesn’t have a huge amount of road left to run in the bantamweight division, with a rematch against Yan next on the cards.
And it probably explains why Dvalishvili is eyeing a mega-fight with featherweight king, Alexander Volkanovski, in 2026.
The Conqueror
Those that bet on sports will no doubt be adding Dvalishvili to their accumulators when he takes on Yan in Las Vegas on December 6 – at odds of 2/9, mind you, punters won’t be getting much in the way of the value.
Most sports tips columns will find it hard to look past the 34-year-old, who comprehensively outpointed Yan in their original 2023 meeting; Dvalishvili even breaking a UFC record for most takedowns attempted in a single fight with 49.
Yan has since battled back with unanimous wins over ranked opponents like Song Yadong and Deiveson Figueiredo, but the general sense is that Dvalishvili is a far stronger technician and likely to emerge as the victor once more.
🦾⚔️ pic.twitter.com/Qdq7bgM3yP
— Merab “The Machine” Dvalishvili (@MerabDvalishvil) October 3, 2025
In victory, the American would break another UFC record: this time for the most successful title defences in a single year.
He’s already bested Nurmagomedov, O’Malley and Sandhagen in 2025, so a fourth win would be a new UFC milestone. Those bouts have put miles on the clock – the former and the latter both going the distance, but even so Dvalishvili is not somebody that takes a huge amount of punishment in his fights.
It’s hard to see where he goes from here at bantamweight, with few fights of interest at 135lb. Rematches with Nurmagomedov or Sandhagen would be little more than money making exercises, while Aiemann Zahabi – currently unbeaten in six outings – is not a huge draw either.
Instead, stepping up to 145lb to take on Volkanovski makes a whole bunch of sense…
Champ vs Champ
When two belt holders collide, there’s always intrigue as to whether the bigger or smaller fighter will prevail.
In truth, there’s not a great deal of difference in size between Dvalishvili and Volkanovski; they both stand 5ft 6in, with the Australian perhaps the naturally bigger of the two.
But Dvalishvili has fought at featherweight before, as well as beating Gustavo Lopez in a catchweight scrap at 140lb, so there’s no suggestion that he will struggle when carrying a little extra mass.
Volkanovski has twice lost when stepping up to lightweight, so he will presumably now see out his career at 145lb. He, like Dvalishvili, is shy of eye-catching opposition in his division.
#UFC314 Official Result: Alexander Volkanovski (48-47, 49-46, 49-46 | @AlexVolkanovski) defeats Diego Lopes by Unanimous Decision.
Complete Main Card Results ➡️: https://t.co/1qDcHVcpqB
— UFC News (@UFCNews) April 13, 2025
So a meeting between the pair for the featherweight gold seems a probability, rather than a possibility, in 2026. The fly in the ointment is that the pair are actually friends, but business is business, opportunities for the best to fight the best don’t come long that often.
“Listen. I’m a fighter, I will show up and I will fight…” was Dvalishvili’s reply when quizzed on the possibility of battling the Australian.
Watch this space…
