As we know, Merab Dvalishvili fell short in his bid to successfully defend the UFC bantamweight championship for the fourth time in 2025. He lost the title to Petr Yan, who was able to avenge his loss from their first meeting. As you can imagine, Merab is quite determined to get a trilogy fight against the new champion.
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Sure, there are a few other names hanging around, like Sean O’Malley and Umar Nurmagomedov, but both need to win their upcoming fights if they want to be eligible. As for Dvalishvili, he just needs to heal and wait and see what the state of the division looks like in a few months.
In a recent podcast appearance, Din Thomas explained why he thinks Dvalishvili deserves the trilogy fight.
Thomas’s take on Yan versus Dvalishvili 3
“I think Merab will get the fight next time,” Thomas told MMA Junkie. “I really believe that Merab will get the fight next. I think they owe it a little bit to him because Merab didn’t even have to take that fight. It almost felt like Merab was doing them a favor by getting a fight at the end of the year.”
“Merab is a dog. I’m sure he didn’t look at it like, ‘Oh, I’m doing them a favor.’ Merab wanted to fight, but I’m sure when Merab said, ‘I’ll fight on the last show,’ I’m sure the UFC said, ‘Phew, now we don’t have to worry about booking a headliner. Merab will do it.” So I think the UFC will give this one back to Merab regardless of what happens with O’Malley and Umar.”
Quotes via MMA junkie
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