Merab Dvalishvili Eyes 3 UFC Title Fights In First Four Months Of 2025

UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili has ambitious plans for the first four months of 2025. Dvalishvili, who faces Umar Nurmagomedov in the co-main event of UFC 311, is looking to follow that fight with two more title defenses in the first four months of the new year.

“I want to be busy in 2025,” Dvalishvili told the UFC. “I’m fighting early, on January 18, and I wanna be busy. I know (Sean) O’Malley wants to come back in April, I think Petr (Yan) will be ready in March. So, maybe fight Petr in March, rematch Sean in April. And whoever is the next contender, I will clear the division again.”

Of course, Dvalishvili will need to get by Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 before he can enact his plan. That matchup has turned into a bit of a grudge match over the past few months.

UFC 311 Co-Main Event: Merab Dvalishvili On Umar Nurmagomedov

After some heated exchanges at the recent UFC 311 press conference, Dvalishvili had the following to say about Nurmagomedov:

“I’m a man first,” Dvalishvili said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “If you come to my face and if you disrespect me, you’re going to get slapped. Don’t try that because I’m a man, and I will never forgive you, even if I have to go to jail. I don’t care, man. I have so much to lose. I don’t care (about) this belt. I don’t care (about) this money. I don’t care (about) this legacy.

“I’m a man, I live in a respectful way, and that’s all I believe. I don’t care. Especially now I’m a U S. citizen, I can (expletive) fight, beat the (expletive) out of these (expletive), and I have no problem to pay the bill, ticket, or go to jail. I don’t care because don’t disrespect me.”

“He may get a slap after the fight,” Dvalishvili said. “The fight in the octagon is not a real fight; it’s a sport. If Umar does not apologize to me, it’s going to happen. Even if I have to go in Dagestan, I will go. I love Dagestan. I have so many friends in Dagestan, and I respect the Dagestan people. They’re good people.

“But Umar made big mistake with me, and Umar has to pay for this. But my support and my love for the Dagestan people (is there), and I still respect Khabib’s team, Islam, and everybody else. But I have problem with only Umar. I don’t want to fix this problem before the fight, but after the fight, I want to fight him.”

UFC 311 Co-Main Event: Umar Nurmagomedov On Merab Dvalishvili

Before the fight was booked, Nurmagomedov had a lot to say about the champ.

“Merab is trying to avoid my name, trying to tell me that I don’t deserve (a title shot),” Nurmagomedov told Kevin Iole. “Even if the UFC will ask him to fight me or someone else, I think he will choose someone else 100 times. He’s playing games. They know that I will not fight in Ramadan and they’re telling us we’re going to fight in March. March is all Ramadan.

“It’s looking very bad. It’s looking like he’s trying to avoid (me), like he is scared. I don’t understand how the champion is trying to avoid, but if they won’t fight with me, I don’t want to wait. Summer: June, July, May – I want to fight now. I want to fight after two months, before Ramadan, and I want to be active, and we’ll see what’s going to happen.”

“They’re both not very good,” Nurmagomedov added when speaking of the champ and former champ. “O’Malley’s a bum in MMA. He doesn’t have any grappling. He doesn’t have any wrestling, and he didn’t even try to fight him. He’s just waiting, he’s just running and he fights like a bum. Merab – he’s good. With Merab, you have to go ahead and fight. You can’t beat him when you’re running from him.”

UFC 311 Co-Main Event: Merab Dvalishvili Vs. Umar Nurmagomedov

Merab Dvalishvili (18-4), a long-time training partner of former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling stepped into the spotlight of the promotion’s 135-pound division in September 2014 when he scored a unanimous decision win over then-champion Sean O’Malley in the main event of UFC 306.

The 33-year-old Dvalishvili joined the UFC in 2017 as much-hyped prospect. At the time, Dvalishvili was 7-2 and had won and defended the Ring of Combat bantamweight crown.

Dvalishvili did not have a smooth start to his UFC run, losing his first two fights. Falling to Frankie Saenz by decision, and the second, to Ricky Simon, via submission. In September 2018, things clicked in place for the Serra-Longo Fight Team product, and he has not lost since.

Heading into UFC 306, Dvalishvili was on a 10-fight winning streak. Prior to his matchup against O’Malley, Dvalishvili had defeated Marlon Moraes, Jose Aldo, Petr Yan, and Henry Cejudo. The win over O’Malley stretched his winning streak to 11 straight. Even with one of those victories coming at a catchweight of 140 pounds, Dvalishvili holds the record for longest winning streak in the division at 10, beating Sterling’s mark of nine wins in a row.

Umar Nurmagomedov (18-0) is the brother of Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov and the cousin of former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. He is currently the No. 2 fighter in the official UFC bantamweight rankings.

The 28-year-old joined the UFC in January 2021 with a submission win over Sergey Morozov. Since that win, he has picked up another five victories in the UFC most recently beating former interim UFC title challenger Cory Sandhagen in a five-round main event scrap in August.

The win over Sandhagen answered any questions about Nurmagomedov’s upside. Before the fight there was some criticism that Nurmagomedov had not defeated anyone of note. However, his dominant win over the then No. 2 ranked bantamweight put that talk to rest.

Nurmagomedov looked the part of a future champion against Sandhagen. He went five rounds, never lost his cool, stayed within himself, and stuck to a strong game plan.

UFC 311 Fight Card: How to Watch

The first PPV card on the UFC’s 2025 schedule, UFC 311 takes place on January 18, 2025 at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. The pay-per-view portion of the event begins at 10:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV following prelims on ESPN2 and early prelims on ESPN+.

UFC 311 Fight Card

UFC 311 PPV Card

Islam Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan

Merab Dvalishvili vs. Umar Nurmagomedov

Beneil Dariush vs. Renato Moicano

Jiří Procházka vs. Jamahal Hill

Kevin Holland vs. Reinier de Ridder

UFC 311 Preliminary card

Johnny Walker vs. Bogdan Guskov

Payton Talbott vs. Raoni Barcelos

Jailton Almeida vs.Serghei Spivac

Zachary Reese vs. Sedriques Dumas

UFC 311 Early Preliminary Card

Grant Dawson vs. Carlos Diego Ferreira

Karol Rosa vs. Ailín Pérez

Rinya Nakamura vs. Muin Gafurov

Ricky Turcios vs. Bernardo Sopaj

Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Clayton Carpenter

*UFC 311 fight card is subject to change

Check out the opening odds for the UFC 311 fight card main event. We will have more stories on the betting odds of the UFC 311 co-main event: Dvalishvili vs. Nurmagomedov as fight night nears.