Why Merab Dvalishvili must jump to featherweight

Who does UFC champion Merab Dvalishvili have left to beat in the bantamweight division? Apparently no one, as he welcomes Petr Yan for a rematch on Saturday. The only one of the top-five bantamweights he hasn’t beaten at least once is Song Yadong, who may lose to Sean O’Malley on Saturday and fall out of the top five.

That’s why, Dvalishvili should absolutely make the jump to featherweight, where a ton of interesting fights await him. While Dvalishvili says he’s not thinking about moving up right now, he did recently indicate that a leap to featherweight wouldn’t be difficult. 

Merab Dvalishvili is capable of moving to featherweight

“[At] featherweight, I can fight every two weeks, because I just need one day to make 145 [pounds],” he said during an interview with Bloody Elbow.

Assuming current featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski can retain his title for the second straight fight against challenger Diego Lopes at UFC 325, Dvalishvili’s first fight at 145 would be a banger. 

Fans may be getting bored of watching Dvalishvili run through opponents at bantamweight. However, a superfight against two of the greatest UFC fighters of all time would have even the most casual of fans putting down their credit cards for a Paramount+ subscription.