At the pre-fight press conference of UFC 323, Merab Dvalishvili stated that he prefers to avoid dramatic and toxic build-up before the fight. Dvalishvili also revealed that one of his previous opponents asked him not to share any footage of them after the fight.
This weekend at UFC 323, Dvalishvili will make his fourth defense of his bantamweight gold in 2025 when he turns it back with Petr Yan. If the 34-year-old manages to get past Yan, he will become the promotion’s first champion to successfully defend the title four times in 12 months.
During the post-fight press conference, ‘The Machine’ discussed a former opponent who asked the champion not to release any photos of him after their fight. Although Dvalishvili did not name the opponent, he said:
“No, I never like to make this dramatic or anything. It’s a fight, and we’re professional fighters, and people would watch it anyway. We don’t have to… It was one man, the spoiled man who called me after our fight. He said, ‘Oh, Merab, don’t post pictures of me.’ We just built up the fight… His assistant called me too.
Check out Merab Dvalishvili’s comments below:
Which fighter would Merab Dvalishvili be referring to?
Merab Dvalishvili may be referring to Umar Nurmagomedov, who got under his skin before their UFC 311 title fight. Before and after the fight, Dvalishvili researched Umar several times, replicating Team Khabib’s jacuzzi photo and posting a few other images as well.
Previously, ‘The Machine’ also called Umar one “Little spoiled baby”, and he has shown no interest in dialing it back with the Russian fighter.
After losing to Dvalishvili, Umar recently returned to victory against Maurio Bautista. He is scheduled to fight Deiveson Figueiredo in January 2026, after which he has expressed his desire to fight for the title again.
However, after UFC 323, ‘The Machine’ will look to face newer challengers such as Aiemann Zahabi and Payton Talbott, among others, as he recently revealed.
#Merab #Dvalishvili #exposes #opponent #asked #post #photos #fight