Merab Dvalishvili lost the scorecards at UFC 333 and somehow came out of the night with a warmer endorsement from Dana White than most winners get. Speaking to reporters after the event, the UFC boss heaped praise on the Georgian bantamweight following his 25-minute trilogy war with Petr Yan, a fight Yan took by close unanimous decision.
White reached all the way back to the beginning of Dvalishvili’s UFC run. He said he signed Dvalishvili after Dana White: Lookin’ For a Fight, the show he does with Matt Serra, who coaches Dvalishvili, and that Serra pitched him on the spot as a future world champion.
“Everything Matt Serra said about him came true, and Merab and I have had our moments in the past, but I have nothing but respect for him,” White said. “He is tough, durable, I mean just absolute savage.”
Then came the part that should sting a little for Team Merab. “I don’t think he could have fought a more perfect fight than he did tonight. He looked great,” White said.
That’s high praise for a guy who didn’t get his hand raised. The judges saw it Yan’s way, but the UFC paid both men $100,000 apiece for Fight of the Night, which is the promotion’s way of saying the result was close enough that nobody should feel robbed of a paycheck. Per Heavy’s account, the two went back and forth for all five rounds of the championship bout.
Where this leaves Dvalishvili
The math is ugly. Dvalishvili is now 1-2 against Yan across their three fights, and you don’t get a fourth crack at a guy who’s beaten you twice without a lot of other things breaking your way first. He’ll have to sit and watch how 135 sorts itself out.
Heavy floated the most obvious path back. If Sean O’Malley gets the next shot at Yan and wins, Dvalishvili is suddenly a very logical challenger, since he holds two wins over O’Malley. That’s a lot of ifs for one paragraph. Dvalishvili needs O’Malley to get booked, then needs O’Malley to beat a man Dvalishvili himself couldn’t solve in two of three tries. Then he needs the UFC to pick him over whoever else is winning in the meantime.
White’s comments also carry a small subplot. He acknowledged that he and Dvalishvili have butted heads before without getting into specifics, and he went out of his way to say that history didn’t dent the respect. When the guy who signs the checks and builds the cards talks about you like this after a loss, you’re not getting buried on a prelim card anytime soon.
My take: a 1-2 record against the champ is a 1-2 record, and no amount of perfect-fight talk changes the tiebreaker. I’ve lost enough money on guys who fought great and lost anyway to know the scorecard is the only receipt that cashes. But Dvalishvili’s real asset here is that two-fight lead over O’Malley, and in a division this thin at the top, that’s the cleanest rematch argument he’s got. Root for O’Malley, Merab. It’s the only parlay you’ve got left, and it’s only two legs.
