The UFC wants to plant a flag in Georgia. A report published Saturday by a news outlet out of neighboring Azerbaijan says Dana White confirmed the promotion is eyeing the country for a 2027 event. That would be the UFC’s first card there. The report’s headline is all that’s available, so there’s no clean quote from White to hang this on, and I’m not going to manufacture one. What we have is the confirmation, the target year and a whole lot of context pointing the same direction.
That context is mostly one man. Merab Dvalishvili, born January 10, 1991, in the village of Vani, became the first Georgian-born champion in UFC history. He’s now a former bantamweight titleholder and sits at No. 2 in the Knockout Daily bantamweight rankings with a 21-5 record. His Wikipedia page had him No. 9 on the UFC men’s pound-for-pound list as of September 22.
The resume is absurd for a guy who opened his UFC run 0-2, dropping a split decision to Frankie Saenz in December 2017 (10 of 13 media outlets scored it for him) and a technical submission to Ricky Simón. Then came a 14-fight win streak, fourth-longest in UFC history, through José Aldo, Petr Yan, Henry Cejudo and Sean O’Malley. His 119 successful takedowns are the most anyone has logged in the Octagon. That number is why I’ve never wanted to bet against his gas tank. A guy who shoots that often and still lands among the most strikes in UFC history (he’s third all-time) is a nightmare in Round 4.
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The timing of the news is no accident, or at least it’s convenient. Dvalishvili fights Yan tonight, October 24, at UFC 333, headlined by Alexander Volkanovski vs. Movsar Evloev. It’s his first appearance since December 6, 2025. He and Yan squared off Friday, a moment Championship Rounds billed on X as their final face-off.
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White had a lively fight week of his own. At the UFC 333 press conference, Alexander Volkov asked him outright what it takes to get a title shot. White’s answer, per Championship Rounds: “Talk to Sean and Mick.”
Here’s the business math. A Georgia card in 2027 sells itself if Dvalishvili walks out of tonight with his hand raised and a path back to the belt. It gets harder to headline if Yan wins. That makes tonight the first real data point on whether the UFC’s Georgian debut has a homecoming champion to build around.
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