Merab Dvalishvili snubs Umar Nurmagomedov rematch when naming the fight he wants after UFC 323

Merab Dvalishvili wants to fight fresh faces in 2026.

The Georgian star is set to make history at UFC 323 this Saturday, as he becomes the first champion to defend their title four times in a single calendar year.

Dvalishvili’s win over Cory Sandhagen this past October followed up triumphs against Umar Nurmagomedov and Sean O’Malley, but ‘The Machine’ is not finished there.

In the main event at T-Mobile Arena on December 6, Dvalishvili will fight Petr Yan in a rematch. With both Nurmagomedov and O’Malley having big fights at the start of 2026, some think more familiar faces could await the champ in the new year.

Dvalishvili, though, hopes that won’t be the case.

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Merab Dvalishvili says Aiemann Zahabi has earned the next UFC bantamweight title shot

Although the bantamweight king’s current focus will need to be on Yan and his plan to culminate an ongoing career resurgence with a return to the throne, Dvalishvili did recently look beyond the Russian contender.

Speaking to Aaron Bronsteter for Sportsnet, ‘The Machine’ discussed who could be next in line after Yan and landed at the door of No. 7-ranked contender Aiemann Zahabi.

That would spoil the plans of Nurmagomedov’s team, who are expecting to secure a rematch by getting past Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 324 in January.

“I think the next challenge could be Zahabi. He is coming from a long win streak,” Dvalishvili said.

“I would like to fight a fresh opponent, of course. Zahabi is coming from a long win streak. That would be a good fight,” he added.

Zahabi has won seven fights in a row, most recently against ex-title contender Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera at UFC Vancouver this past October.

With his desire for new challenges in mind, Nurmagomedov did not even make the list when Dvalishvili named two other names who could be in line to compete for his gold in 2026.

“Song Yadong is fighting Sean O’Malley. If Song Yadong will win this fight, I may fight him. We will see.

“Our division, there is a lot of fights. The guy who fights Henry Cejudo now (Payton Talbott), maybe he will be in the line,” Dvalishvili concluded.