Merab Dvalishvili showed up to fight week in Abu Dhabi coming off a 10-month layoff and a decisive December loss, and he’s already talking about fighting again in November. There’s one opponent he won’t take on a quick turnaround, and it’s the guy across the cage from him Saturday.
Dvalishvili told reporters during UFC 333 fight week that he’d be willing to compete at UFC 334 next month if he takes the bantamweight title back from Petr Yan, Bloody Elbow reported. He’s got the opponent picked out already. It’s Song Yadong.
“I don’t regret that I was busy last year and I’m happy even when I lost,” he said. “It’s fine, it’s part of the sport, but if you ask me again to fight Petr Yan two months after I defend my belt, I’m not going to do the same thing right now because I needed more time against Petr Yan.”
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Then came the line every matchmaker in the building wanted to hear. “But everybody else, I can fight Song Yadong in November in Madison Square Garden.”
That attitude is a big part of how he lost the belt. Dvalishvili fought four times in 2025, which made him one of the most active champions the UFC has ever had, and he helped save several cards by stepping up when the promotion needed a body, per Yahoo Sports. Each of those fights meant another big cut and another big rebound. By the time he met Yan in December, the schedule had caught up with him. He admitted to fatigue after the loss, and the workload became the main talking point coming out of that fight. He took the next 10 months off before this trilogy bout.
So the lesson he took away is specific. Yan gets a full camp. Everyone else can get in line on short rest.
First he has to win. Dvalishvili meets Yan in the co-main event of UFC 333, with Yan defending the 135-pound title. The champ is a -160 favorite and Dvalishvili sits at +135. Fans narrowly picked Yan, too, according to Bloody Elbow.
Song is in Abu Dhabi this week, which opens the door to a cage-side faceoff Saturday night. When the media floated that idea, Dvalishvili was all for it, while noting the UFC doesn’t usually go that route. If he gets his hand raised and the promotion brings Song in, he said, “I think he’s next, that’s a no-brainer.”
My take: I like it. A guy loses his belt partly because he fought too much, and instead of blaming the schedule or the matchmakers, he says he’d do it all again with exactly one exception. That’s a fighter answering a question straight. The exception makes sense, since Yan is the one opponent who made him pay for the mileage. Song in November at the Garden is a fun fight on paper. Dvalishvili has to beat the -160 favorite on Saturday before anybody starts printing posters for UFC 334.
