Merab Dvalishvili
| Merab Dvalishvili | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dvalishvili in 2025 | |||||||||||||||
| Born | January 10, 1991 Vani, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union | ||||||||||||||
| Native name | მერაბ დვალიშვილი | ||||||||||||||
| Other names | The Machine | ||||||||||||||
| Nationality | |||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 135 lb (61 kg; 9 st 9 lb) | ||||||||||||||
| Division | Bantamweight (2014–present) Featherweight (2016) | ||||||||||||||
| Reach | 68 in (173 cm) | ||||||||||||||
| Fighting out of | Long Island, New York, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Team | Serra-Longo Fight Team (2013–present) | ||||||||||||||
| Trainer | Ray Longo and Matt Serra | ||||||||||||||
| Rank | Black belt in Judo Purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Matt Serra | ||||||||||||||
| Years active | 2014–present | ||||||||||||||
| Mixed martial arts record | |||||||||||||||
| Total | 26 | ||||||||||||||
| Wins | 21 | ||||||||||||||
| By knockout | 3 | ||||||||||||||
| By submission | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| By decision | 16 | ||||||||||||||
| Losses | 5 | ||||||||||||||
| By submission | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| By decision | 4 | ||||||||||||||
| Other information | |||||||||||||||
| Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog | |||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| YouTube information | |||||||||||||||
| Channel | |||||||||||||||
| Subscribers | 142 thousand | ||||||||||||||
| Views | 18.3 million | ||||||||||||||
| Last updated: January 16, 2026 | |||||||||||||||
Merab Dvalishvili (Georgian: მერაბ დვალიშვილი [ˈmerab ˈdʷaliʃʷili]; born January 10, 1991) is a Georgian and American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is the former UFC Bantamweight Champion. Dvalishvili is considered as one of the greatest Bantamweights of all time. He is also the first Georgian-born champion in UFC history. As of December 9, 2025, he is #1 in the UFC bantamweight rankings, and as of March 10, 2026, he is #8 in the UFC men's pound-for-pound rankings.
Dvalishvili's UFC career began with two losses against Frankie Saenz and Ricky Simón. After that, he had a 14-fight win streak—the fourth longest in UFC history—defeating former champions, including José Aldo, Petr Yan, Henry Cejudo and Sean O'Malley. His 119 successful takedowns are the most in UFC history.