Merab Dvalishvili isn’t waiting long to compete again. He’s just doing it on the mats.
The two have met before in MMA. Dvalishvili beat Moraes by second-round TKO at UFC 266 in September 2021.
Dvalishvili is coming off his loss to bantamweight champion Petr Yan at UFC 333 in the same arena. He’ll also be looking to bounce back on the RAF side after losing to Henry Cejudo at RAF 12. Before that, he beat Cejudo at RAF Georgia and Frankie Edgar at RAF 09. Dvalishvili signed with RAF earlier this year.
Moraes will be making his RAF debut. The former UFC bantamweight title challenger retired from MMA in 2023, then returned in August and picked up his first win in almost seven years at LMC 2 in Brazil. He joined the Coral Springs (Fla.) Police Department in 2024.
