TBILISI, December 8 – Georgian UFC star Merab Dvalishvili has lost his championship belt after falling to former titleholder Petr Yan in a super bantamweight showdown on Saturday.
The bout, held under the UFC’s super bantamweight division, marked Dvalishvili’s fourth title defense and ended a run that turned him into one of the sport’s most consistent fighters. His defeat hands the belt back to Yan, who reclaimed it in one of the division’s most closely watched matchups of the year.
UFC officials reported no controversy around the result, which brought an end to more than a year of uninterrupted success for the Georgian champion.
Dvalishvili first captured global attention in September 2024 when he beat Sean O’Malley. He defended the belt again in January 2025 against Umar Nurmagomedov, then repeated his victory over O’Malley in June.
Those wins cemented him as one of the most reliable titleholders in the UFC’s lighter-weight categories and earned him a substantial fan following.
