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Dana White Admits He Didn’t Care for Merab Dvalishvili at First: “Took me a minute”

Dana White didn’t think much of Merab Dvalishvili.

After three successful title defenses in 2025 and a fourth already lined up before the end of the year, Dvalishvili is quickly establishing himself as the greatest bantamweight in UFC history.

But there was a time when White thought very little of ‘The Machine.’

“It took me a minute to warm up to Merab,” White said following Tuesday’s episode of DWCS. “I’m very warm now. I love that mentality — he wants to be the first guy to defend his title that many times in a year.