Merab Dvalishvili looks to make history in trilogy bout with Petr Yan at UFC 333: 'Age is just a number'

Dvalishvili will look to recapture his bantamweight title at 35 on Saturday, which would make him the oldest champion in the division's history

Oct 21, 2026 at 2:03 pm ET • 6 min read

For a fighter with seemingly boundless energy, a daredevil spirit outside of the Octagon and possibly the greatest cardio the sport of MMA has ever seen inside of it, Merab Dvalishvili isn't worried about anything related to the physical realities of the aging process.

In fact, it has been difficult to find an interview with Dvalishvili over the past year, a proud native of Georgia who now fights out of Las Vegas, where the former UFC bantamweight champion isn't making some kind of proclamation about his intention to fight professionally forever.

"My number is 50, I want to fight on until [the age of] 50," Dvalishvili told CBS Sports in September. "Then, I want superfights after that!"

The numbers, however, don't lie.

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Dvalshvili (21-5), the 12-year pro who saw his incredible 14-fight win streak snapped last December when he lost his 135-pound title via unanimous decision to Petr Yan in their rematch headlining UFC 323, will be 36 in January. And should he regain his belt on Saturday when he faces Yan (21-5) in their trilogy bout at UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi, Dvalishvili will become the oldest bantamweight to do so.

"Age is just a number for me," Dvalishvili told CBS Sports last week. "I feel even better than what I was feeling when I was 25. I'm only getting better. Age is bullshit, man. Look at [37-year-old UFC featherweight champion] Alexander Volkanovski and look at [Glover] Teixeira, when he won the belt and he was [42]. Look at Randy Couture [who won the UFC heavyweight title at 43]. It's about how you won it, how you fight and who you fight."

Still, it's difficult to make an argument against the idea -- even if Dvalishvili openly disagrees -- that the majority of the pressure entering this trilogy is on the shoulders of "The Machine," who remains a slight betting underdog.

In 2023, after the Russian-born Yan was already two years and three losses removed from losing his UFC title by disqualification, Dvalishvili scored a key victory on his own road to the title via unanimous decision in their first meeting. Dvalishvili set a UFC record with 49 takedown attempts in the fight (completing 11), and Yan endured through a pre-existing broken right hand that left him unable to throw it more than twice in a fight that his manager and trainer had begged him to pull out of.

But two years later, their rematch (and the circumstances surrounding it) were completely different.

Dvalishvili was daring to be great in his attempt to become the first champion in UFC history to make four title defenses in a single calendar year, which led him to accept the Yan rematch on just a two-month turnaround from his October win over Cory Sandhagen (where Dvalishvili set a UFC record with 20 successful takedowns while equaling the bantamweight record for consecutive title defenses).

The 33-year-old Yan had entered the rematch riding a three-fight win streak, and he went on to shock the world by quickly getting up from the two times Dvalishvili took him down en route to completely neutralizing the two biggest weapons in his opponent's arsenal: cardio and wrestling. Not only did Yan go on to visibly hurt Dvalishvili on his way to a unanimous decision win, but he used his own wrestling to record more takedowns (5) against  "The Machine" than any UFC opponent had ever done.

In the 10 months since their rematch, Dvalishvili has admitted that he wasn't mentally ready for the fight and that even his team had overlooked the danger and overall skill Yan was bringing to the table.

"Petr Yan was better and I did make some mistakes," Dvalishvili said. "I was just ready for a fight but not a fight for Yan. Yan is another level, he's a different fighter and you need the proper training against him. It's hard to take him down, it's dangerous to strike with him. He doesn't get tired, but he's fighting me.

"I know, when I'm myself, I'm happy. And when I'm myself, I can win this. Now, I have the proper training, and my mindset is in the right place. This time will be a much different fight."

Dvalishvili admitted he knew the Yan rematch wasn't going his way as early as Round 2, when Yan essentially ended the threat of his takedown attack. And once the fight was reduced to that of a kickboxing match, Yan aggressively held the upper hand.

In Round 3, Yan wobbled Dvalishvili with a left hook before hurting him again thanks to a kick to the body. Yan went back to the body a second time later in the round with a kick that left an audible sound, not just of the strike's impact, but from Dvalishvili, who grimaced in pain yet remarkably remained on his feet to finish the round.

"When I watch [the replay], it doesn't look too bad, but how I felt, I believe most fighters would give up and they just can't take the pain," Dvalishvili said. "But because I have experience and I am tough and don't quit, I just stay in and just fight through it. He not only kicked me once, he punched me a second time and kicked me again. Once you get hit in the liver the second time, it's even weaker. Maybe you can handle the first liver shot, but second and third is almost impossible.

"But thank God I stayed in. It was never in my mind that I was going to quit. He was going to have to knock me out cold, otherwise I'm going to stay fighting."

Asked whether he regrets taking the Yan rematch on such a short turnaround after daring to be great in search of UFC history, Dvalishvili said no and that he's happy with the decision because "this is who I am, this is what I do." But he also said he wouldn't attempt it again should the opportunity present itself.

Nagging injuries to Yan pushed the trilogy fight back by 10 months after their second meeting, which is something new to Dvalishvili, who prefers to stay busy. He did just that by competing in wrestling with Real American Freestyle and says he will enter the third meeting armed with a new arsenal of strikes in order to deal with everything Yan brings to the table.

Even though Dvalishvili knows that a victory on Saturday would do a lot for his overall bantamweight legacy, especially since he considers Yan the toughest fighter in the division's current era, he maintains that history or even the title has much to do with his focus.

This one is simply about Dvalishvili's love for competition after being given the immediate opportunity to run back his first professional setback since 2018.

"I just want to win against Petr Yan. [Debating the bantamweight GOAT] is up to you guys," Dvalishvili said. "You can judge whatever the records or the statistics. I'm going to win this fight and I'm excited to prove a lot of people wrong. It's a fight, so anything can happen. But I believe that unless he knocks me out, I'm going to win this fight.

"[The fans] are going to see a smart Merab and a winning Merab."