Las Vegas — As of UFC 320, bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili has tied the record for most title defenses in a year, and extended his UFC takedown record to an absolutely insane 117.
The next closest fighter in that category is the legendary Georges St-Pierre. With 90. Across a greater number of fights.
Dvalishvili put on another dominant showing on Saturday, coming close to finishing Cory Sandhagen in the second round of their co-main event fight. More impressive, the takedown after takedown that “The Machine” landed throughout the five-round affair.
“I had about 20 takedowns, and this is good of course,” Dvalishvili said following his 14th consecutive victory, speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press. “There was some moments during the fight, I was taking down because I was like ‘this is another for my takedown record.’ I was just doing it because of the record.”
With the accolades piling up and Dana White calling Dvalishvili the bantamweight GOAT, Merab added that “I’m just grateful for everything: what I am, how far I came. Like I said before, I’m just getting better. And I feel like this is the beginning for me. It was hard to get here, but now I just keep training hard and keep getting better.”
Merab Dvalishvili now has his sights set on breaking the record he tied on Saturday: he wants one more title defense this calendar year, hopefully at the final Pay-Per-View of 2025.
“I would love to fight in December. Because otherwise, I have to many opportunities to travel somewhere — it’s good, I love it, I enjoy where ever I go, but it’s going to take away my fights,” stated Dvalishvili. “The most I enjoy is this feeling, fighting. I want to be busy. I don’t want to wait to make weight too much. The next contender, I think Petr [Yan] is [on a] three fight win streak, he’s a former champion, and I think he deserves a title fight. I think so. If the UFC wants, I’m ready to fight in December, no problem.”
Dvalishvili defeated Yan back in 2023, but has no problem fighting him again over two years later. He also has no problem fighting anywhere, it seems, though he would like the UFC to head to his native Georgia.
“You need money for that. We’re trying,” he told Cageside Press, going on to add that “we are fighters, and we have many more talented fighters who could fight at UFC Georgia. I will do my best to help UFC, or help Georgian government to make this happen. But we deserve it.”
Watch the full UFC 320 post-fight press conference with Merab Dvalishvili above.
