Opinion: The UFC’s Malpractice Involving Merab Dvalishvili

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UFC 320 is just around the corner, and the organization’s promotional machine has been strongly behind the Magomed Ankalaev-Alex Pereira main event. Given how Pereira managed to capture the attention of the general public, this is obviously the right thing to do. Pereira dethroned Israel Adesanya when the longtime middleweight kingpin appeared untouchable and later claimed the light heavyweight title, all while stepping up on short notice time after time to salvage Ultimate Fighting Championship cards that were in peril. Pereira may not be champion, but he has proven to be one of the few marketable names on the roster at this point.

That’s where the UFC has continually dropped the ball with Merab Dvalishvili. The bantamweight champion happens to be on the same card—he fights in the co-main event—and it feels as though he has hardly been getting any sort of promotion. Given that he’s arguably the greatest bantamweight in the sport’s history, it sounds ludicrous.

I realize I’m not putting out an astonishing new revelation. It would be obvious to someone new to UFC fandom with minimal research that the company doesn’t care for Dvalishvili. He was clearly the top contender for the title after Sean O’Malley dethroned his teammate, Aljamain Sterling. However, the UFC opted to give the shot to Marlon Vera and forced Dvalishvili to fight former two-division champion Henry Cejudo before he could challenge for the belt. After he defeated Cejudo—it was his third consecutive victory over an ex-titleholder—Dvalishvili managed to take the crown from O’Malley.

Dvalishvili has since managed to become the ultimate company man, as he already owns the second-most title defenses of any current champion despite having owned the belt for just over a year. Granted, much of that’s due to the recent trend of fighters voluntarily vacating their championships, but one would think it would put Dvalishvili in better standing with the UFC. His first defense saw him defeat Umar Nurmagomedov despite a relatively quick turnaround of just four months. His next defense was almost as quick and came in a rematch with O’Malley, who had done nothing in the interim except rest up and prepare. Despite having the deck stacked against him, Dvalishvili once again managed to find success and authored a finish this time around.

‘The Machine’ Cut from the Georges St. Pierre Cloth

Now, Dvalishvili is pulling off his quickest turnaround yet, as his defense against Cory Sandhagen at UFC 320 comes in at just under four months since his most recent assignment, and barely a peep is being made about it. Sure, it isn’t expected to be as competitive as the rematch between Ankalaev and Pereira—Dvalishvili is heavily favored and appears to be a nightmare matchup for Sandhagen—but that never stopped the UFC from heavily promoting previous champions who were expected to dominate their opponents. The UFC treated every Anderson Silva title defense as a special moment in which no one knew what the Brazilian might do. Georges St. Pierre had a string of five defenses where he didn’t even lose a round and managed to become one of the biggest draws of all-time, despite securing just one finish in those five outings. Jon Jones’ title defenses were on the boring end of the spectrum towards the end of his run, but he was still pushed as the Greatest of All-Time.

Perhaps the argument would be made that they all had a special “it” factor about them. Silva did things that had never been seen in the cage; GSP’s unique personality and dominance made him the type of star the UFC has never been able to come close to replicating; and Jones, for all his faults, is probably the GOAT. There’s no way the UFC could push Dvalishvili like that, right? Well, only if you’re trying not to find ways to make Dvalishvili impressive. Dvalishvili is currently sitting on a 13-fight winning streak, second in the UFC only to Islam Makhachev at 15. If you want to count Jones’ no contest to Daniel Cormier as interrupting his run, Dvalishvili presently sits tied for third in terms of longest winning streak ever. He has demolished former champions and title challengers along the way, with none of the fights coming down to the wire on the judges’ scorecards. He hasn’t used just technical brilliance, either. Dvalishvili has absolutely broken his opponents mentally.


All one needs to do is look at what Dvalishvili has done to his opposition. He sent Jose Aldo into his first retirement. Petr Yan looked scared of his own shadow after spending 25 minutes with him. After years of declaring his loss to Marlon Vera a fluke, O’Malley could claim no such thing against the Georgian. Dvalishvili also managed to hang the first loss on Nurmagomedov. That leaves lots of room to promote him. “The man is unstoppable.” “He has beaten the best the division has to offer, past and present.” “He has broken every one of his opponents.” “Merab is a machine.” None of those phrases would be stretching the truth. Intersplice him finishing O’Malley with him kissing the beaten MMA Lab rep on the head and then show how depleted Yan looked after their fight, and it’s an easy video package to make. The material almost writes itself.

Throw in Dvalishvili’s goofy personality, and it becomes clear that the UFC is just not interested in promoting him. Remember when Dvalishvili wore O’Malley’s red jacket after a faceoff with Sterling? That stole all the attention away from the moment. Most of us have seen Dvalishvili jump into freezing water, too. The dude is nuts in a lovable way. I know timing and luck play a huge part in who the fans latch onto, but if GSP can be a star, there’s no reason Dvalishvili can’t be.

However, it looks like Dvalishvili is going the route of Demetrious Johnson. As much respect as Johnson gets from the hardcore fans, he doesn’t get the proper amount of love overall. At least the UFC put forth a minimal effort with Johnson. With Dvalishvili, the company has only had him headline PPVs against one of its golden boys in O’Malley. If the UFC only tried with Dvalishvili, it might have a star on its hands.