UFC 333 Star Merab Dvalishvili Reveals Shocking Weight Gain Hours After Weigh-Ins

It didn’t take long at all for Merab Dvalishvili to rebound from cutting weight for his UFC 333 trilogy bout with Petr Yan.

Scheduled to take place at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE, UFC 333 is headlined by a featherweight title fight between defending champion Alexander Volkanovski and undefeated challenger Movsar Evloev.

UFC gold will also be on the line in the co-main event, as Dvalishvili and Yan are set to meet in a trilogy fight after “No Mercy” took the Georgian’s bantamweight title in their rematch at UFC 323 last year.

Merab Dvalishvili Regains 19 Pounds Hours After UFC 333 Weigh-Ins

The loss to Yan ended a staggering 14-fight win streak for Dvalishvili, which began in 2018 after he opened his UFC career with back-to-back losses against Frankie Sanez and Ricky Simon.

That unbeaten run also saw “The Machine” successfully defend the bantamweight belt on three occasions, and Dvalishvili appears well-prepared to try and reclaim his title given that he managed to regain 19 pounds just five hours after he hit the scale at championship weight for UFC 333.

“It’s been only five hours since I made weight, and I’m back already. I’ve been drinking water…19 pounds. In only five hours, I gained back 19 pounds. That’s why how we do. Let’s go, now I’m back. Drinking, and recovering. Now I’m gonna start eating. Let’s go. Eat food first, and tomorrow, you guys already know who I’m gonna eat. Let’s f***ing go.”

"The Machine" Was Chasing UFC History as Champion in 2025

After defeating Yan via unanimous decision in their meeting in 2023, Dvalishvili also bested former two-division UFC titleholder Henry Cejudo at UFC 298 to secure a bantamweight title shot.

“The Machine” put on a dominant performance at UFC 306 to unseat Sean O’Malley, who had successfully defended the belt once earlier that year when he avenged his only previous loss to Marlon “Chito” Vera.

Dvalishvili wasted no time once he finally became UFC champion, as the Georgian competed four times during the course of 2025 and bested Umar Nurmagomedov, Cory Sandhagen, and O’Malley a second time before relinquishing his belt to Yan.

Petr Yan Failed to Defend Bantamweight Belt During First UFC Title Reign

While Dvalishvili is getting an immediate chance to reclaim his title, Yan ended up facing Sandhagen in an interim bantamweight title bout after an illegal knee landed against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259 brought an end to his brief reign as undisputed champion.

The 33-year-old ended up dropping a split decision to Sterling in their rematch at UFC 273, which kicked off a three-fight skid that saw Yan suffer a controversial loss to O’Malley before he also dropped a unanimous decision to Dvalishvili in their first meeting.

Following nearly a year on the sidelines, Yan returned at UFC 299 and defeated Song Yadong to kick off what has now turned into a four-fight win streak that was capped off by his title-winning performance last December.