Merab Dvalishvili reportedly reveals his next fight, and it's not a rematch against Umar Nurmagomedov

Merab Dvalishvili recently held a press conference in Georgia, during which he addressed his next bantamweight title defense, and it does not seem like a rematch with Umar Nurmagomedov is on the cards. The revelation was made by a Georgian MMA journalist known as 'She Loves The Gloves.'

She was present at the press conference, revealing on X/Twitter that there are no known recordings of it, only an article penned in Georgian. However, according to her, Dvalishvili is being scheduled to defend his bantamweight title against either Petr Yan or Sean O'Malley in June.

"@MerabDvalishvili is holding a press-conference in Georgia right now. He says the UFC is planning for his next fight to happen in June, with either Petr Yan or Sean O'Malley being his opponent. He then would like to fight the next contender in NY in November."

A rematch with Yan was teased before the UFC scheduled the previous bout between Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov. Meanwhile, the promotion has shown an increasing interest in ushering O'Malley back into title contention, despite 'Sugar's' last fight being a lopsided loss to Dvalishvili himself.

If Dvalishvili does indeed fight in June, he will compete at UFC 317, the only card, pay-per-view or otherwise, the promotion has scheduled for the month.

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Merab Dvalishvili is quickly cleaning out the bantamweight division

Merab Dvalishvili has just one title defense as bantamweight champion but has spent so long fighting top contenders that he's well on his way to cleaning out the division. Almost no one in the top five is in any legitimate position to challenge Dvalishvili for his title.

Sean O'Malley and Umar Nurmagomedov lost to him recently, while Petr Yan lost to him not that long ago. Both men comprise the top three.

Meanwhile, Cory Sandhagen, Deiveson Figueiredo and Marlon Vera are all coming off losses to others, while Henry Cejudo last lost to 'The Machine' himself.