This Machine never breaks: Dvalishvili breaks silence after UFC 333 loss

A first statement, not a new fight

This is a development, not a new result. UFC 333 itself was already covered in the 2026-10-26 morning edition. What is new is what Merab Dvalishvili said afterwards.

In his first statement since losing the trilogy bout to Petr Yan last Saturday in Abu Dhabi, the former bantamweight champion thanked the people around him, said he was healthy, and promised to return soon. He did not name a next opponent, a date, or a weight class, and this article does not invent one for him.

That restraint matters. After a second straight defeat to the same champion, his message, reported on Tuesday 2026-10-27, was less about concrete next steps than about how he intends to meet this moment.

What Dvalishvili actually said

As reported from his social-media post, Dvalishvili began with thanks to God, then to his cornermen, and then to the two training bases that have shaped his career: his Las Vegas teammates and training partners, and his New York team, including the Long Island group he has long called his own. He thanked the UFC for the opportunities it has given him, and finished with family, friends and fans.

"I cannot wait to be back in that cage doing what I love to do! I am healthy and motivated and will be back soon! This Machine never breaks! See you all soon."

"The Machine" is not just his nickname; it describes his pace, which few bantamweights have ever sustained. After a defeat in which that pace was checked, the phrase reads as defiance rather than denial — not a claim that the decision should have gone his way, but that the engine behind his performances is intact.

The wording carries a single BJPenn origin as reported, since carried by other outlets, so this draft quotes the short, widely reported closing passage rather than embellishing it. Where reports differ on whether the post appeared on Instagram or on X, that platform detail is not the story: in every version the substance is thanks, health, motivation, and a promise to return soon, without a booking attached.

How the trilogy ended

The context is a five-round fight that turned in its second half. Dvalishvili won the first two rounds on all three judges' scorecards, pressing forward with the relentless wrestling pressure that has defined his best work. Yan, however, defended increasingly well, worked the body, and landed the cleaner, more damaging striking over the final three rounds. All three judges scored the bout 48-47 for Yan, giving the champion a unanimous-decision victory in the UFC 333 co-main event at Etihad Arena.

By UFC.com's account, it was a genuinely competitive closing chapter. Dvalishvili had won their first fight; Yan won the second, at UFC 323 last year, taking the title. UFC 333 settled the trilogy at 2-1 to Yan and gave him his first successful defence of that title.

In the cage after the fight, Dvalishvili had already congratulated Yan and called him the better man on the night. The statement keeps that tone: no complaint about the scoring, no demand for an immediate rematch, no reframing of a clear result as a controversy.

What he is leaving behind

Before these two losses to Yan, Dvalishvili's championship run was one of the strongest in recent bantamweight history. During that run he beat Cory Sandhagen, beat Sean O'Malley twice, and beat Umar Nurmagomedov. Those wins are why the current position feels so stark. He has not suddenly become a lesser fighter; he has run into the one opponent who has now solved him twice in a row, at the very top of the division.

That history also explains why the next step is complicated, even though none has been announced. MMA Mania's reporting put him at No. 1 at 135 pounds, but with Yan holding the title, another immediate title fight is not the natural next move, and he has already beaten many of the division's other leading names.

That puzzle must not be confused with speculation. Other outlets have discussed names that could make sense in the abstract, and the separate title picture around Yan, including a possible rematch with O'Malley. None of that is a Dvalishvili announcement. A return against another top-five contender is speculation until the UFC or Dvalishvili says so, and no flyweight move is announced in this statement.

Why "soon" is not a date

Dvalishvili's promise to be back soon should be taken at face value and no further. Fighters often use that language after a loss, and it can mean a quick return, a longer recovery, or simply a state of mind. What can be said, on the evidence of the statement itself, is narrower: he reports himself healthy, he reports himself motivated, and he wants to fight again. He does not say when, against whom, or at what weight.

That distinction is the point of reporting a first statement carefully. Dvalishvili has, in effect, asked for thanks first and a return on his own timetable afterwards — consistent with a career built on relentless cage work, generosity outside it, and no excuses in defeat.

For now, the story ends where the statement ends. The trilogy is closed. The champion is Yan. The challenger who lost it has spoken for the first time since, thanked his teams in Las Vegas and New York, thanked the UFC and his supporters, and declared that this machine never breaks. The next chapter, whenever it comes, has not yet been written, and it has certainly not yet been announced.