Merab Dvalishvili believes four fights a year are not taxing for him, and he could fight even more often if there were no weight cuts involved.
In 2025, Dvalishvili first fought at UFC 311 in January against Umar Nurmagomedov and cruised to a unanimous decision victory. After the first defense of his 135-pound championship, he met Sean O’Malley in a rematch in June at UFC 316 and submitted ‘Suga.
After that, he took on Cory Sandhagen in October at UFC 320. After cruising to another unanimous decision win, this time against Sandhagen, ‘The Machine’ will now be defending his strap for the fourth time when he runs it back with Petr Yan this weekend at UFC 323.