Merab Dvalishvili Exposes Opponent Who Asked Him To Not Post Photos After Fight

At the UFC 323 pre-fight press conference, Merab Dvalishvili stated that he prefers avoiding dramatic and toxic pre-fight buildups. Dvalishvili also disclosed that one of his previous opponents had requested that he refrain from sharing images of them following the fight.

This weekend at UFC 323, Dvalishvili will defend his bantamweight gold for the fourth time in 2025, when he runs it back with Petr Yan. If the 34-year-old manages to get past Yan, he will become the first champion in the promotion to have successfully defended the belt four times in 12 months.

During the post-fight presser, ‘The Machine’ discussed a former opponent who had asked the champion to refrain from releasing pictures of him after their fight. Although Dvalishvili did not name the opponent, he said:

“No, I never like to make this dramatic or something. It’s a fight, and we are professional fighters, and people would watch it anyway. We don’t have to… It was one guy, the spoiled guy who called me after our fight. He said, ‘Oh, Merab, don’t post pictures of me.’ We just built the fight … His assistant also called me.”

Check out Merab Dvalishvili’s comments below:

Merab Dvalishvili wouldn’t say the name but reveals an opponent and his assistant called him after their fight and asked Merab not to post pictures of him

“Some spoiled guy called me saying don’t post pictures of me, we were just building the fight” pic.twitter.com/p1DBS5UMUN

— FULL SEND MMA (@full_send_mma) December 4, 2025

Which Fighter Could Merab Dvalishvili Be Pointing To?

Merab Dvalishvili might be alluding to Umar Nurmagomedov, who got under his skin before their UFC 311 title fight. Before and after the bout, Dvalishvili took several digs at Umar by replicating the Team Khabib jacuzzi photo and also posting a few other images.

Previously, ‘The Machine’ has also called Umar a “little spoiled baby,” and he has shown no interest in running it back with the Russian fighter.

After losing to Dvalishvili, Umar recently returned to winning ways against Maurio Bautista. He is scheduled to fight Deiveson Figueiredo in January 2026, after which he has declared his wish to fight for the title again.

However, after UFC 323, ‘The Machine’ will be looking for fresher challengers like Aiemann Zahabi and Payton Talbott, among others, as he recently revealed.