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Merab Dvalishvili teases next fight plans after meeting with UFC brass

Originally posted on MMA on SI | By Drew Beaupre | Last updated Jul 10, 2025 6:36 PM ET

Merab Dvalishvili is ready to return to the Octagon and defend his UFC bantamweight belt for a third time.

Currently ranked as the UFC’s #3 pound-for-pound fighter, Dvalishvili is coming off a submission-win over former bantamweight king Sean O’Malley in a fight that headlined UFC 316 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.

The result marked Dvalishvili’s second win over O’Malley after he took the bantamweight belt from “Suga” at UFC 306 last September, and in between those victories the Georgian defended his title for the first time against the formerly-undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov.

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Merab Dvalishvili Meets With Hunter Campbell

We’re just over a month removed from Dvalishvili’s rematch with O’Malley, but “The Machine” recently met up with UFC CBO Hunter Campbell in Las Vegas and informed fans that he’s looking to get back into action sooner rather than later.

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If the UFC is aiming to get Dvalishvili back into the Octagon one more time in 2025, it would mark the first time since 2020 that the 34-year-old has fought three times within the same calendar year.

Options For Dvalishvili's Next Title Defense

Dvalishvili’s second win over O’Malley extended the Georgian’s current winning streak to 13 fights, which is a run that’s made all the more impressive by the fact that bantamweight is considered by many to be the deepest division in the UFC and MMA as a whole.

“The Machine” bested former UFC titleholders José Aldo, Petr Yan, and Henry Cejudo to finally earn his first crack at UFC gold at UFC 306, and the fighters in the current bantamweight Top 5 that he hasn’t faced yet are Song Yadong and Cory Sandhagen.

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#5-ranked Yadong is coming off his own fight with Cejudo that ended in a technical decision win for “Kung Fu Kid” after an inadvertent eye poke, while #4-ranked Sandhagen came up short in a title eliminator fight with Nurmagomedov last year but bested former UFC Flyweight Champion Deiveson Figueiredo in May.

The UFC 319 main event between UFC Middleweight Champion Dricus du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev is currently the only title fight on the UFC calendar. With at least two more pay-per-view events already scheduled for the rest of 2025, it’s no surprise that the UFC may actively be looking into getting Dvalishvili’s next title defense booked.