Dana White drops major hint on Merab Dvalishvili's next title defense

02/23/2025 09:19 AM

Just over a month removed from Merab Dvalishvili’s first UFC bantamweight title defense, ‘The Machine’s’ next opponent could already be set.

At UFC 311 on January 18, Merab Dvalishvili made the first defense of his bantamweight title when he dominated undefeated phenom, Umar Nurmagomedov.

Following his dominant win, Dvalishvili revealed a horrendous leg injury that he suffered during his camp, even resulting in him having to lie to the commission so that they didn’t pull him from the fight.

Fortunately, though, it isn’t an injury that is set to keep him out of action as he returned to training shortly after to help Aleksandre Topuria prepare for his UFC debut earlier this month.

Dana White offers an update on Merab Dvalishvili’s next title defense

With Topuria hoping to rise up the bantamweight ranks and eventually win UFC gold just like his brother, Ilia, Dvalishvili has admitted he will vacate the title to give Aleksandre a chance.

However, before that becomes a possibility, ‘The Machine’ will likely make a few more defenses of his title, and UFC boss, Dana White has provided a major update regarding his next.

This past Saturday, the UFC returned to Seattle and in the main event, Song Yadong picked up a win over Henry Cejudo, despite it being covered in a lot of controversy.

With that being a significant result in the bantamweight division, White has admitted that they are working towards making a rematch between Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley.

‘Suga’ Sean hasn’t fought since losing the title to Dvalishvili back at UFC 306 and he has been recovering from a torn labrum. Initially, the Georgian champion wanted to give O’Malley an immediate rematch, however, the UFC went in a different direction.

“They wanna fight each other and I think people want to see it,” White said at the UFC Seattle post-fight press conference in regards to Dvalishvili and O’Malley.

Since his loss to the Georgian, O’Malley has come off social media in an attempt to focus all of his energy on his training.

Can Sean O’Malley make the adjustments to beat Dvalishvili in a rematch?

In their first meeting at UFC 306, the bout was covered in a lot of controversy as O’Malley’s coach, Tim Welch barked orders at Dvalishvili.

Outside of the controversy, O’Malley didn’t turn in a very inspiring performance and was dominated for the majority of the fight, with Dvalishvili’s weaponized cardio paying dividends.

‘Suga’ is widely regarded as the best striker in the 135lb division and it is undeniable that he could cause ‘The Machine’ issues with his striking in a rematch.

Although he won’t be able to match Merab’s pressure and pace, he will need to put Dvalishvili on the back foot instead of spending the majority of the fight on his bike.