Merab Dvalishvili hasn’t won the belt yet, and he already has the follow-up booked in his head. Ahead of his bantamweight title fight with Petr Yan in the UFC 333 co-main event, Dvalishvili told MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn that he knows who he wants for his first title defense if he gets his hand raised. MMA Junkie ran the story Friday morning. Heavy.com followed later in the day, describing it as a callout he has ready to go once he wins.
That phrasing tells you who holds the gold. Yan is the champion and Dvalishvili is the challenger. The UFC’s own promo on X this week said Yan “looks to defend his belt against Merab Dvalishvili,” and the card is headed to Abu Dhabi. The UFC Meta Rankings, updated Oct. 13 after UFC Vegas 122, list Yan as champion and Dvalishvili at No. 1. That makes this a man calling his shot from the challenger’s corner.
None of the reports circulating so far name the person Dvalishvili wants next, so I won’t guess. Bohn’s full piece at MMA Junkie has the details.
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Who’s waiting behind him
The contender list is crowded, which makes any early pick a statement. Behind Dvalishvili in the Meta Rankings sit Song Yadong at No. 2, Sean O’Malley at No. 3, Mario Bautista at No. 4 and Umar Nurmagomedov at No. 5. Cory Sandhagen is sixth, David Martinez seventh and Raul Rosas Jr. eighth, with Farid Basharat and Marcus McGhee rounding out the top 10. Four or five of those names could make a real case for a title shot by spring, and whoever Dvalishvili named just got a nice bump in the group chat.
It’s been a long climb. One early UFC marker: he beat John Dodson by unanimous decision at UFC 252 on Aug. 15, 2020. Dodson, for what it’s worth, is 4-0-1 in bareknuckle boxing since leaving the UFC and fights Jamel Herring at BKFC 95 on Oct. 17. The sport keeps everybody busy.
Fight week coverage is already rolling. MMA Fighting’s Oct. 14 Morning Report carried video of both Yan and Dvalishvili in camp, and Dvalishvili’s pre-fight interview has been picked up widely, including by The Lufkin Daily News.
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Quick take
Naming a defense before the fight is fighter etiquette at this point, and I don’t hold it against him. It does put the cart in front of a horse named Petr Yan, which is a risky place to park a cart. If Dvalishvili wins, the deserving answer comes from the rankings rather than from whoever trash talks loudest. By the current list, Song at No. 2 has the cleanest claim, with O’Malley at No. 3 as the money fight the UFC will be tempted to make. Dvalishvili has to get through five rounds in Abu Dhabi first, and the champion’s corner will have that MMA Junkie headline taped to the wall by Saturday.
