Petr Yan‘s ominous warning to Merab Dvalishvili before UFC 323 comes to mind. “Any machine is bound to break at some point,” Yan said at the presser. And he proved his point in their rematch, this time for the title. The audible scream from Merab after Yan landed a body kick was the first solid sign of ‘The Machine’ breaking inside the cage. You would think Merab learned his lessons there, but no.

Dvalishvili, as always, is doing the opposite of what he is supposed to do. The former UFC bantamweight champion was expected to take time off after a demanding stretch at the top with four title fights in 2025, which ended with him losing his crown to Petr Yan at UFC 323 in December.

But instead of slowing down, he’s heading into another high-level test outside the Octagon. On April 18, he’s set to compete in a wrestling match against Henry Cejudo at RAF 8 on April 18th in Philadelphia. But the condition he’s walking in with makes it even more concerning, as Dvalishvili has now revealed he has broken his nose again.

“What a good day and what a stupid accident. Again, 12 years after, my nose is f— up, even worse,” Dvalishvili shared in a video on social media, showing his nose plugged up. “As you see, it’s even more cracked, same direction. Yeah, when I touch, my bones are broken inside. And one side, I can’t even breathe. And yeah. I’m gonna do X-ray now. I’m sure UFC will help me with that. Even I don’t have a fight coming up and I’m gonna try the surgery to fix this nose. Let’s see how it goes. First time when I broke my nose it was in professional debut. Now it was just sparring. I got kneed, like I said.”

The video then cuts to the Georgian showing his medical scans, which confirmed the damage: two fractures, with a nose that had already been broken multiple times, now pushed further out of alignment. The doctor explained the complexity clearly: fixing it properly would mean re-breaking the bones around it to align it into place, followed by a long recovery. And that’s where the decision came in. Merab Dvalishvili proved why his nickname, ‘The Machine,’ just might be the most apt in all of MMA.

“I did my X-ray, and the X-ray shows that my nose is broken at two places. I just saw the doctor, nose surgeon, and he said if he fixes my nose and then make straight, he has to re-broke other bones too, and it will take one more year to heal up,” Dvalishvili said. “Of course, I don’t want to do that. And otherwise, he said, keep it the way, and you can do surgery after your retirement. I said I’m not going to retirement next 20 years, so I guess I’m gonna keep in my nose even more crooked than what used to be before, and I’m gonna deal with it, and I’m still gonna compete at wrestling tournament against Henry Cejudo at RAF, and that’s it.”

From a competitive standpoint, this isn’t just a side appearance. Henry Cejudo is an Olympic gold medalist, one of the most decorated wrestlers to transition into MMA. Their first meeting at UFC 298 already showed the gap Dvalishvili can close with pressure and pace. But this time, it’s on Cejudo’s terms.

Wrestling not only removes striking, but it also removes recovery moments—it’s constant engagement, unlike in MMA, where there are breaks between rounds. Now add limited breathing on one side. This is where it gets risky. There’s also a longer-term layer here. Choosing not to fix the injury now means accepting repeated damage.

But for Merab Dvalishvili, the trade-off is simple: stay active, stay competitive, deal with the consequences later. Several other fighters have found success with nose issues. Dustin Poirier and Dricus Du Plessis are two of the more popular ones. Du Plessis had his nose issues fixed in 2023 before the Robert Whittaker fight, and that apparently improved his gas tank. But cardio has never been a problem for Merab to begin with.

Still, according to Cory Sandhagen, ‘The Machine’ has what it takes to win back his belt from Petr Yan with one adjustment, which, fortunately, has nothing to do with his nose.

Cory Sandhagen backs Merab Dvalishvili to reclaim his title as he lays out what went wrong in Petr Yan fight

The rematch at UFC 323 didn’t play out the way many expected. Merab Dvalishvili had already beaten Yan convincingly in 2023, a one-sided decision built on pressure and relentless pace.

But in the second fight, Dvalishvili turned around in just two months after beating Sandhagen in October—no long camp, no deep reset. And against someone like Yan, that margin matters. The former champion came in sharper, more measured, and flipped the result with a technical performance that neutralized Merab’s usual strengths.

Cory Sandhagen didn’t sound surprised by Yan’s ability. But he did point to the timing in a conversation with Home of Fight.

“I thought that Merab was gonna win, but Yan did a good job,” Sandhagen said. “Merab took the fight way too soon, in my opinion. He should have gameplanned the fight for Yan for a lot longer, giving Yan a little bit more respect in that regard. In the next fight, I am pretty sure it’s going to be very competitive, where I can see Merab winning this one.”

That’s where the trilogy comes in. With Yan recovering from back surgery, the third fight isn’t immediate, but it is inevitable. However, if the same pattern continues: short turnarounds, fighting through injuries, skipping recovery windows, then the gap at the top only gets harder to close. This decision to prioritize activity over health is the very definition of a high-stakes gamble, one that could either cement Dvalishvili’s legacy or shorten his career.