UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili successfully defended his title against Cory Sandhagen at UFC 320, and now the champion reveals he’s moving on to bigger things.
Dvalishvili recently recorded his third straight title defense win after defeating Sandhagen in a five-round slugfest in the co-main event of UFC 320. The fighter revealed he’s ready for a fourth title defence, saying he would be making history with another victory. For now, he’s focused on resting and preparing for a possible return in December.
“Yeah, I would love to fight in December because otherwise I have so many other opportunities to travel somewhere,” Dvalishvili said. “It is good, I love it. I enjoy everywhere I go, but it’s going to take away my fights and the most I enjoy this feeling—fighting. I want to be busy, and I don’t want to make wait too much the next contenders. I think Petr is on a three-fight win streak, and he’s a former champion, and I think he deserves the title fight. I think so. If UFC wants, I’m ready to fight in December.”
Despite his willingness to fight in December, some fans believe the fighter might move to the featherweight division, but Merab Dvalishvili shut down those rumors.
“This is my division,” Dvalishvili said at the post-fight press conference. “I’m comfortable here. I don’t want to try and go up and make a mess because I don’t want to be without an invite. Like if somebody shows up at [Aljamain Sterling’s] wedding tomorrow, I would crush his face in, we would be mad. … I’m comfortable here. I want to be my division’s champion.
“I have respect for all these guys, especially my brother Aljamain Sterling and Volkanovski. I don’t want to fight these guys. I’m good here. I don’t know, we’ll see. So far, I plan to fight Petr Yan.”
For now, “The Machine” is open to a matchup in 2026 and plans to claim the undisputed Greatest of All Time title while making history in his division.
“I have two older brothers,” Dvalishvili said. “My second brother, he was a pilot 17 years in the Georgian army, one of the helicopters. They have an expression like this: ‘You don’t say I’m a pilot until you retire and you’re sitting with your grandkids and you talk about it after. Before, you keep landing.’
“So I’m a fighter. I’m never going to say I’m the GOAT. I’ll keep getting better, I’ll keep landing, I’ll keep grinding, because this is MMA. You have to be humble; otherwise, you will get humbled if you get cocky. So I’m just trying to get better, and maybe I will say that when, God willing, when I will sit with my grandkids, then maybe I will tell them, ‘You know what? One day I was GOAT.’ But now, I don’t consider myself the GOAT because I keep getting better. I’m still a student in this game.”
For now, it’s uncertain who Merab Dvalishvili will face next, but many believe his possible opponent will be Petr Yan, as the two other top contenders, Umar Nurmagomedov and Mario Bautista, are set to battle on October 25.
