Merab Dvalishvili Losses: Is ‘The Machine’ Undefeated in the UFC?

With 17 victories under his belt, Merab Dvalishvili has greatly impressed the fight fans with his fighting prowess. He was just 21 years old when he moved to the US and began training to become a professional mixed martial artist. Winning both of his amateur fights gave him the confidence that he needed to move to the professional fighting world.

However, ‘The Machine’ faced quite a bit of trouble while kickstarting his professional career. Today, let’s take a deep dive into all the defeats that the Georgian fighter had to face.

Merab Dvalishvili’s two UFC losses

Dvalishvili began his career under the banner of Ultimate Fighting Championship with a couple of defeats. The first time he stepped into the Octagon was when he faced Frankie Saenz at UFC Fight Night 123, back in 2017. Despite giving it his all, the bantamweight number 1 couldn’t secure a win in his UFC debut. Saenz claimed the victory in that bout via a split decision.

‘The Machine’ didn’t push the brakes and he went on to fight Ricky Simon at UFC Fight Night 128, one year after his UFC debut. Unfortunately, this was another defeat that blotched the Geargian mixed martial artist’s professional MMA record. In the final round of the fight, Simon executed a successful guillotine choke and submitted Dvalishvili.

Needless to say, the UFC BW contender’s fighting prowess was well above average. This was the reason why he found his way to back-to-back victories in the later bouts that filled his career.

But these two aforementioned defeats aren’t the only losses that the bantamweight phenom had to face. There are a couple of other opponents that Dvalishvili failed to defeat.

Has Merab Dvalishvili lost outside the UFC?

The first loss in Merab Dvalishvili’s career came in his very first professional MMA bout back in 2014. The Georgian lost a close, majority decision to Darren Mima after three rounds of their Ring of Combat 47 contest. The only other loss on record prior to joining the UFC came in 2017 at the hands of Ricky Bandejas who defeated him via a unanimous decision.

The #2 ranked bantamweight contender has lost two times in the UFC, with his first loss coming on debut to Frankie Saenz in December 2017. His second appearance in the UFC Octagon proved even more disastrous as the Georgian submitted to Ricky Simon in the third round of their UFC Fight Night 128 bout. However, after a rocky start to his UFC career, Dvalishvili has bounced back strongly. Let’s take a look at the Georgian fighter’s current streak.

Overall MMA record and current winning streak of ‘The Machine’

The 33-year-old has won all of his UFC fights since and is on a 10-fight win streak currently. His winning spree began when he faced Terrion Ware at UFC Fight Night 136. With the judges scoring in Dvalishvili’s favor, 2018 became the year that would witness the rise of a powerful bantamweight fighter.

It was Henry Cejudo that Dvalishvili last fought against. Even though Cejudo is a pretty strong grappler, he wasn’t able to compete against the Georgian’s skills. ‘The Machine’ dominated the Octagon in the final couple of rounds and won via a unanimous decision. Apart from ‘Triple C’, Dvalishvili has also secured victories over Petr Yan and Jose Aldo.

Now, the bantamweight #1 is all set to face Sean O’Malley with the UFC BW championship belt on the line. Will his experience take Dvalishvili to a victory at UFC 306 and make him the new bantamweight champion? Or will he face his first defeat in 6 years? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.