Four fights and four weight cuts in one year: why did Merab lose to Yan?
His coach put it bluntly: the hardest part of 2025 wasn't the fights but the weight cuts. We look back at the schedule that led Dvalishvili to lose his title.
By Equipo La Jaula Props · · 1 min read
Photos: MMAnytt, CC BY 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons, cropped)
Merab Dvalishvili reached December 2025 with a chance to make history: beating Petr Yan at UFC 323 would have made him the first UFC champion to defend a title four times in one calendar year. He lost by unanimous decision. Ten months later, ahead of the trilogy, that year's schedule remains the big explanation.
A 2025 without rest
- January 18, UFC 311: beats Umar Nurmagomedov by unanimous decision.
- June 7, UFC 316: submits Sean O'Malley in the third round.
- October 4, UFC 320: beats Cory Sandhagen by unanimous decision.
- December 6, UFC 323: loses the title to Petr Yan by unanimous decision.
Only two months passed between the last two fights, and each of those four nights required getting down to the 135-pound limit.
What his coach said
After the loss, John Wood, one of his coaches, acknowledged that four title fights in a year was a lot, and that the hardest part wasn't the fights but the four weight cuts. He insisted, however, that he wasn't making excuses.
Merab's self-criticism
Ahead of UFC 333, Dvalishvili himself admitted he wasn't mentally ready for the rematch, that his team underestimated Yan, that he couldn't impose his wrestling and that he regrets taking the fight on such short notice.
What's different now?
This time Dvalishvili has had ten months to prepare for a single opponent. The rest works in his favor; against him, a nose broken in April that he chose not to have surgically repaired. If he wins, at 35 he would become the oldest bantamweight champion in UFC history.
