Dana White has nothing but respect for what Merab Dvalishvili achieved during his bantamweight title reign.
Dvalishvili (21-5 MMA, 14-3 UFC) fell short at the final hurdle in his bid to become the first UFC champion to successfully defend his title four times in a calendar year, as he was outpointed by Petr Yan (20-5 MMA, 12-4 UFC) in the main event at UFC 323 on Saturday.
Prior to that, “The Machine” had defeated Umar Nurmagomedov, Sean O’Malley, and Cory Sandhagen in just nine months, asserting his dominance over the UFC bantamweight division.
Despite Dvalishvili’s loss at T-Mobile Arena, UFC President White was full of praise for the Georgian.
"We were doing 'Lookin' for a Fight' (in 2017), and we were in Jersey, and Merab was the main event of that fight, and we ended up signing him," White told reporters at Saturday’s UFC 323 post-fight press conference. "Matt Serra literally told me that night, 'This guy is gonna be your world champion, and he's a special fighter.' Matt Serra was absolutely right.”
Dvalishvili lost his first 2 fights after signing with the UFC, before embarking on a prolonged winning run that culminated in him beating Sean O’Malley at UFC 306 to become champion.
Despite a difficult start to both his UFC career and his relationship with White, the former champion has now earned the UFC President’s complete respect.
“One of the toughest fighters that I've ever come across. And let's just say: Merab and I didn't get off on the right foot early on. I have nothing but respect for him and everything he's accomplished. For Petr to come in and do what he did tonight ... it was an incredibly high-level fight. What a hell of a way to end the ESPN era."
