“If I win, I want to turnaround quick and fight in December,” he said on the Full Send Podcast. “I will ask the UFC for a favor to give me another fight in December or even November. Petr Yan is clear contender right now. He deserve it. I don’t wanna make him wait too long.”
That’s some supreme cockiness from “The Machine.”
Indeed, not only does he believe he’ll beat Sandhagen, but that he’ll emerge completely unscathed and capable of fighting another top name immediately after. But, Merab is riding high on confidence, as the interview showed.
When asked about potentially rematching “spoiled baby,” Umar Nurmagomedov, Dvalishvili didn’t hold back.
“If we fought again I would destroy him,” he said. “This time I will beat the s–t out of him. I win so I can talk about this now. My back was killing me, and then I had infection in my leg and that was very stressful training camp.”
Nevertheless, another man with a dislike for Nurmagomedovs is Conor McGregor, and Dvalishvili says he may end up traveling after his next two 2025 fights to train with “The Notorious.”
“When I was in China I met his friends and we Facetimed and he asked me if we could training and I said, ‘Let’s go, Conor. I would like to training with you,’” Merab revealed. “Now, I have a fight, I’m not gonna go nowhere. After my fight I wanna fight again this year. After I can go visit him.”
Those are some big plans — two title defenses back-to-back in one of the toughest divisions of the sport.
Dvalishvili certainly seems untouchable right now, but walking into a second fight with little time to recover doesn’t seem wise. But, then again, fighting Umar with a bum back wasn’t wise, either.
