The UFC is going to Georgia. Dana White has confirmed that the promotion is planning an event in the country for its 2027 schedule, MMA Sucka reported Thursday. No date, city or venue has surfaced in the reporting so far. For now, Georgia simply sits on next year’s slate.
The obvious draw is Merab Dvalishvili, the first Georgian-born champion in UFC history. He was born in Vani, a small village, and moved to Tbilisi at nine, where he trained in traditional Georgian wrestling, khridoli, sambo and judo. At 21 he left for the United States and joined Ray Longo and Matt Serra. That path ran straight through White. In 2017, Dvalishvili landed a spinning backfist knockout 15 seconds into his fight with Raufeon Stots on Dana White: Lookin’ for a Fight and walked away with a UFC contract.
He opened his UFC run 0-2 and then won 14 straight, the fourth-longest streak in company history. That stretch included wins over José Aldo, Henry Cejudo, Sean O’Malley and Petr Yan. He now holds the UFC record for successful takedowns with 119. He’s 21-5, a former bantamweight champion and No. 2 at 135 in the Knockout Daily rankings.
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The timing is loud. Dvalishvili fights Yan again Saturday, Oct. 24, at UFC 333 (Volkanovski vs. Evloev). It’s his first appearance since Dec. 6, 2025. At Thursday’s face-off he didn’t bother with diplomacy: “Talk now, enjoy. Saturday I will show you. I will eat you.” A win puts him right back in the title picture just as the UFC books a trip to his home country. Any Georgia card built without him would feel strange.
Ilia Topuria’s name hangs over this too, though not in the way the Georgia crowd would like this week. In an interview with Prince St. Pizza flagged by Championship Rounds, Jon Jones said he once saw Topuria as the first real threat to his claim as the greatest ever: “Honestly I thought that Ilia would be the first threat to being considered the greatest of all time. And then we saw what happened to him.”
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White had a lighter moment at the UFC 333 presser. Alexander Volkov stepped up and asked what it would take to get a title shot. White appeared not to recognize him at first and answered, “How old are you? What are you looking for, how can we help you?” When Volkov said he wanted to become champion, White pointed him to matchmakers Sean and Mick.
Dvalishvili doesn’t need directions. He needs to get past Yan on Saturday night.
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