UFC Bantamweight Champion Merab Dvalishvili is one of Georgia’s greatest ever fighters in UFC history.
“The Machine” has achieved 13 wins in a row in the UFC to become the top name in the Bantamweight division.
With a recent title win and his first two title defenses under his belt, Merab Dvalishvili will be looking to establish himself as one of the best champions in UFC history.
Here is everything you need to know about Merab Dvalishvili.
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Merab Dvalishvili’s age, height, and weight
Merab Dvalishvili was born on January 10, 1991, making him 34 years old (as of September 2025).
He has competed in the UFC since he was 26, debuting at UFC Fight Night: Swanson vs Ortega back in December 2017.
It took 7 long years before a 34-year-old Dvalishvili conquered the Bantamweight division, beating Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 to become the UFC Bantamweight world champion.
Dvalishvili stands at 5 feet 6 inches, the equivalent of 167cm. For his fight against Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311, Dvalishvili weighed in at 134 lbs, slightly below the 135lb limit of the Bantamweight division.
Where is Merab Dvalishvili from?
Dvalishvili was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, in the village of Vani. He was born just months before the dissolution of the USSR, so Georgia was a part of the Soviet Union while he was a baby.
He is the second Georgian to win a world championship in the UFC, following the success of Ilia Topuria, who was born in Germany to Georgian refugees.
He now resides in the United States, where he trained under former UFC stars Ray Longo and Matt Serra.
Merab Dvalishvili’s net worth
According to reports, Dvalishvili’s net worth is around $2 million, although that is expected to rise if he can keep his impressive UFC winning streak alive.
He has already earned huge money from his time as the UFC Bantamweight champion, which included a career-high $2.39 million payday for his fight against Sean O’Malley at UFC 316.
Additionally, Dvalishvili is reported to have earned a whopping $1.43 million for his first fight against O’Malley, which if invested well should take him well above the estimated $2 million net worth figure.
Merab Dvalishvili’s Instagram and X/Twitter account
Merab Dvalishvili has achieved 1.6 million followers on Instagram, posting mainly promotional posts and videos of himself training for his upcoming fights. His handle is merab.dvalishvili.
The UFC champion posts fairly regularly on his social media, although a fair amount recently have been adverts selling various products instead of genuine insightful photos.
Meanwhile, on the account MerabDvalishvil, he has 119,000 followers on X (formerly known as Twitter).
However, like so many other UFC stars, he has largely abandoned the platform and posts every few months, ignoring it in favor of Instagram most of the time,
Merab Dvalishvili’s hat
The hat that Dvalishvili wears to the ring is called a “Papakha”, a traditional wool hat made from sheepskin. It is used to protect against the extreme cold in his home country of Georgia.
It is the same kind of hat that Khabib Nurmagomedov wears to the octagon, which makes sense as both men hail from Eastern Europe.
Merab Dvalishvili’s MMA stats
The stats show how dominant Dvalishvili is in the octagon and why his record is so impressive.
The Georgian fighter lands more than 4 significant strikes per minute and takes his opponents down nearly six times per three-round fight, an extraordinary total for any fighter.
| Significant Strikes Landed per Minute | 4.36 |
| Significant Striking Accuracy | 42% |
| Significant Strikes Absorbed per Minute | 2.51 |
| Significant Strike Defense (the % of opponents’ strikes that did not land) | 57% |
| Average Takedowns Landed per 15 minutes | 5.89 |
| Takedown Accuracy | 35% |
| Takedown Defense (the % of opponents’ TD attempts that did not land) | 83% |
| Average Submissions Attempted per 15 minutes | 0.26 |
His significant strike defense and takedown accuracy, however, leave a lot to be desired and explain why he has four defeats on his record.
Merab Dvalishvili’s next fight
Dvalishvili’s next fight will be against Cory Sandhagen in the co-main event of UFC 320.
Sandhagen is coming off the back of a win against Deiveson Figueiredo, which ended in the second round due to a knee injury.
However, Dvalishvili is already looking past Sandhagen to a fight with Petr Yan in December, as he looks super confident going into the bout on October 4.
Merab Dvalishvili’s MMA record
| WLD | (T)KO | SUB |
| 20-4-0 | 3-0 | 2-1 |
Merab Dvalishvili vs Sean O’Malley
The first fight between O’Malley and Dvalishvili took place at UFC 306, where the Irishman defended his UFC Bantamweight title.
The fight didn’t last long initially, as the referee stopped the bout in round one due to “excessive coaching” from O’Malley’s team.
While O’Malley believes he really beat Dvalishvili, the judges awarded the Georgian the unanimous decision win after 5 rounds, handing him the UFC Bantamweight title in the process.
Their rematch at UFC 316 was more conclusive, with Dvalishvili choking out O’Malley to win with an impressive submission finish.