Merab’s Championship-Round Surge Brought a Belt Defense
Merab Dvalishvili retained the bantamweight championship against Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 on January 18, 2025. Their five-round contest at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, also moved Dvalishvili past Georges St-Pierre’s career UFC takedown total.
The champion kept returning to his wrestling
Dvalishvili completed seven takedowns from thirty attempts, according to the event statistics reported by Sherdog. Twenty-one of those attempts came during the final two rounds as he intensified his pressure.
Nurmagomedov completed two of fifteen attempts and remained competitive in the striking exchanges. The challenger landed 104 significant strikes, compared with Dvalishvili’s 111, in a contest that demanded sustained effort from both fighters.
A final-round milestone extended beyond the belt
Dvalishvili’s last two takedowns of the fifth round carried him beyond St-Pierre’s ninety. He finished the event with ninety-two successful UFC takedowns.
That number reflected his career total at the time, combining the wrestling output from his rise through the division with another demanding championship performance. It became a second major achievement alongside the successful defense.
Every judge favored Dvalishvili after five rounds
The official scorecards were 48–47, 48–47 and 49–46. Dvalishvili’s unanimous-decision victory handed Nurmagomedov the first defeat of his professional career.
The win completed Dvalishvili’s first defense after taking the belt from Sean O’Malley. His late-round wrestling volume helped turn a competitive opening title assignment into another successful chapter in a run defined by pressure, repeated entries and the conditioning to keep pursuing them.
Sources
- Sherdog: UFCStats-based takedowns, striking totals and fifth-round milestone
- UFC: event date, venue and official scores
- UFC: ninety-two career takedowns before the next defense
- MMA Junkie: first professional loss for Nurmagomedov and historical takedown context
