Merab Wants Song Yadong in November — Even If Yan Beats Him
GOATIFYMerab Dvalishvili has a title fight to win on Saturday, yet he is already talking about another opponent before November is over. The former UFC bantamweight champion says he would consider facing Song Yadong at a possible Madison Square Garden event, and he has even entertained the matchup if his trilogy fight with Petr Yan goes against him.
It is a striking proposal from a fighter who has spent roughly ten months away from competition. Dvalishvili is due to challenge Yan for the 135-pound championship at UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi on October 24. Song, meanwhile, has earned a serious place in the contender conversation after stopping Umar Nurmagomedov in Shanghai. The ingredients for a major fight are there. The contract, timing and title stakes are not.
Merab's November Pitch Comes Before His Biggest Fight of 2026
Asked during UFC 333 media day whether he would approach his schedule differently after losing his belt, Dvalishvili offered an answer that was both cautious and characteristically ambitious. He acknowledged that a short turnaround against Yan had been a mistake, but said a different opponent could tempt him back into action much sooner. Song Yadong was the name he volunteered, with Madison Square Garden in November the location he floated.
That distinction matters. Dvalishvili was not announcing a booked UFC 334 fight or claiming that the promotion had offered him a contract. He was describing what he might be willing to do if the circumstances lined up. A fighter can express interest in an opponent without the opponent, event organizers or athletic authorities agreeing to the same plan. The only confirmed assignment in front of him is Yan on October 24.
His enthusiasm also comes with an unusually revealing qualification. Dvalishvili said that facing Yan again on a compressed schedule is precisely what he would avoid. Their December 2025 rematch ended with Yan taking the bantamweight championship, interrupting Dvalishvili's dominant run. Merab has had time to reconsider the relentless pace that helped define his reign, and he now recognizes that different matchups demand different preparation windows.
Yet the competitive impulse remains. Dvalishvili also mentioned wanting to open a gym and take some time to relax in November, a reminder that even a highly conditioned athlete has commitments outside the cage. He sounds torn between a natural desire to compete and the benefits of letting his body and mind reset. That tension makes his Song suggestion interesting: it is both a serious sporting idea and a test of whether he will follow the scheduling lesson he says he has learned.
Friday's weigh-in at Abu Dhabi offered the immediate counterweight to that future talk. Both Yan and Dvalishvili registered 135 pounds for their title fight, removing the most basic uncertainty about Saturday's co-main event. Dvalishvili later shared that he had regained 19 pounds within five hours of weighing in. That figure illustrates the scale of the rehydration process, but it does not predict his performance or prove that a quick second camp would be wise.
Song Yadong's Shanghai Knockout Made Him a Serious Contender
Song Yadong is not being mentioned merely because his name would look good on a poster. The Chinese bantamweight produced a statement result in August, knocking out Umar Nurmagomedov in the second round at UFC Shanghai. Beating a contender with Nurmagomedov's grappling reputation made Song's case more compelling than another routine victory over a lower-ranked opponent would have done.
That result also changed the questions around Song. He had previously shared the cage with elite names including Petr Yan, Cory Sandhagen and Sean O'Malley without consistently converting those opportunities into the breakthrough he wanted. Against Nurmagomedov, he showed that he could seize a decisive moment against an opponent widely regarded as one of the division's most demanding tests. A high-profile title eliminator or championship opportunity now looks like a plausible next step, even though no such booking has been confirmed.
Stylistically, Song would give Dvalishvili a different puzzle from Yan. Merab is known for pace, chain wrestling and the ability to force opponents into repeated defensive decisions. Song's threat is built around explosive striking, compact combinations and the confidence to punish an entry that arrives without enough setup. That is not a prediction that either man would win; it is why the pairing has a coherent competitive argument beyond their names.
There is a second layer to the matchup. Song has already lost to Yan, so a victory by Yan on Saturday would not automatically produce an obvious new title challenger in Song. Dvalishvili himself pointed to that complication when suggesting that a fight with Song could make sense even if he loses the trilogy. In that scenario, the bout might help establish who should stay near the front of the line while the champion considers his own next defense.
If Dvalishvili beats Yan, the calculus changes again. A newly crowned champion volunteering to face a dangerous contender within weeks would create a compelling headline, but five-round title preparation, medical checks and the UFC's calendar still have to align. The idea should be judged as an intriguing possibility, not an approved defense. Song deserves to be discussed as a real contender without being promised a fight that nobody has signed.
Yan's Trilogy Fight Is the Gatekeeper for Every November Plan
Saturday's trilogy is the reason every November scenario remains conditional. Dvalishvili dominated their first meeting in March 2023, sweeping the judges' cards 50-45. Yan responded in December 2025 with a disciplined decision victory to reclaim the belt. Two meetings produced two different answers, and the third will determine who leaves Abu Dhabi holding the title.
The most telling tactical contrast is in the wrestling. Dvalishvili completed 11 takedowns in the first fight but only two in the rematch, according to the pre-fight breakdown of their rivalry. Yan's improved ability to defend entries and keep exchanges in his preferred range helped reverse the result. That makes Saturday more than a test of toughness. Merab must show that he can vary the timing and shape of his attacks rather than repeat a pattern Yan has already solved once.
Yan, for his part, has publicly emphasized the importance of his game plan and promised to dismantle Dvalishvili's approach again. Fight-week talk is part of the promotion, but the strategic point is real: controlling distance and denying sustained wrestling sequences would put more of the contest in Yan's hands. Merab needs pressure that creates productive positions, not simply activity that looks impressive on a statistic sheet.
Both fighters successfully made the bantamweight limit on Friday, with the championship bout set for five rounds. UFC 333 takes place at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on October 24, with the main card scheduled for 2 p.m. Eastern Time on Paramount+. The event is headlined by Alexander Volkanovski's featherweight title defense against undefeated Movsar Evloev, while Yan-Dvalishvili provides a second major championship storyline.
There is also an unavoidable question about turnaround time. The outcome could involve a hard five-round fight, injuries or a recovery period that nobody can accurately estimate beforehand. A November appearance would depend on how Dvalishvili emerges, not simply on his willingness to say yes during media day. The same principle applies to Song: he has earned consideration, but his next opponent should be chosen in light of the division's actual title picture after Saturday.
Dvalishvili's willingness to meet Song Yadong is genuine news because it identifies a specific opponent, a possible venue and even a scenario in which he would take the fight after another defeat. It also reveals a competitor wrestling with the balance between ambition and preparation. Those details are more useful than pretending a November bout is already on the schedule.
Song's knockout of Umar Nurmagomedov has given him the credibility to demand meaningful opposition. Yan's December victory has given the reigning champion the leverage to shape the division's next chapter. The cleanest way to understand the situation is to separate those facts from the possibilities. First comes the UFC 333 trilogy. Only then can a Dvalishvili-Song matchup be evaluated as a real booking rather than a compelling fight-week idea.
