Henry Cejudo finally got his revenge against Merab Dvalishvili at RAF 12 tonight. In what was their third outing against each other, the second in RAF, the Olympic gold medalist was able to outdo the former UFC bantamweight champion to clinch the RAF lightweight crossover title. They had last met on July 11 at RAF Georgia in Tbilisi, where Cejudo lost an 11–8 decision to Merab. This narrow loss had set them up for the August 22 wrestling match. And this time, Cejudo did not leave anything to chance.
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The match ended in just 36 seconds as the UFC legend immediately went for a low single-leg takedown, meaning he grabbed one of Merab Dvalishvili’s legs and tried to bring him down. Dvalishvili tried to defend himself and spin away, but Cejudo reacted quickly. He reversed Dvalishvili onto his back.
The 39-year-old then controlled Dvalishvili on the ground. He scored a four-point takedown. While Merab attempted to get free, the UFC veteran kept control and pushed the Georgian onto his back and managed to pin his shoulders to the mat, ending the bout via a pinfall victory and handing the former two-division UFC champion the much-needed revenge he sought.
This was enough for fans to tear into Dvalishvili online and suggest that he is overrated. However, despite the fan sentiment, one need only look at his past wins to ascertain that he is far from overrated. Even his past wins over Henry Cejudo are enough to establish that he isn’t overrated.
They first fought at UFC 298 in February 2024, where Dvalishvili beat Cejudo by unanimous decision. Their second was at RAF Georgia last month, which also went Merab’s way.
Even though Dvalishvili lost their recent match badly, it does not change the fact that he is a talented fighter. This was his first loss in the RAF. He also has a 21-5 professional MMA record, and his record in the UFC is 14-3. Before losing to Petr Yan at UFC 323 in December 2025, Dvalishvili had won 14 fights in a row, one of the longest win streaks in the promotion.
Dvalishvili became the UFC bantamweight champion and defended his title several times before losing it to Yan. Some of his biggest wins have come against notable elite opponents like Henry Cejudo, Petr Yan, Sean O’Malley, José Aldo, Cory Sandhagen, and Umar Nurmagomedov.
On top of that, Dvalishvili is known as “The Machine” because of his remarkable cardio and strong wrestling. But in the end, it was a bad day for him.
After the win, Henry Cejudo expressed his happiness and challenged another UFC fighter.
“Merab is a machine,” Cejudo said after his win. “I’ve been fighting for 13 years on my feet, and I took the ‘L’ from him. I knew that he wasn’t necessarily scrambling … obviously I got the pin. Cody Garbrandt, you’re next bitch.”
On the other hand, Dvalishvili lost the match, but he now has another big fight ahead. He will focus on his third fight against Petr Yan, which is scheduled for UFC 333 in the co-main event in October. However, Dvalishvili is also open to fighting Cejudo again in the future.
“Absolutely. I love challenges,” Dvalishvili said. “Henry Cejudo called me out, and I said yes. He’s an Olympic champion for a reason. He beat me today. Let’s go for a trilogy in wrestling.”
Despite that, fans aren’t sold on Dvalishvili’s performance.
Merab Dvalishvili is facing fans’ wrath
The match ended in just 36 seconds, and that caught a very negative reaction from fans toward Merab Dvalishvili. They started comparing Henry Cejudo’s skills with his. “We’ve been telling you that Merab is a fraud,” one fan remarked. Another one took a dig at him, saying, “He’s an Olympic gold medalist for a reason”
Indeed, Cejudo is an Olympic gold medalist. He won the 55kg freestyle wrestling gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Before becoming an MMA fighter, he had a strong wrestling career, including a 2007 Pan American Games gold medal and several Pan American Championship gold medals.
Plus, his records are something that’s bringing more hate towards Dvalishvili. As another fan said, “MFs done forgot about the man who beat MightyMouse.” This refers to Cejudo’s famous MMA career. He defeated Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson and became the UFC flyweight champion.
Another fan added, “Henry Cejudo just took the remaining aura that Merab had left, yeah Petr Yan beats him in the rematch too.” This reaction comes from Dvalishvili suffering two major setbacks around this period. He lost his UFC bantamweight title to Petr Yan at UFC 323, and then the recent one tonight. The fan believes those losses have badly affected Dvalishvili.
Then comes the most hurtful comment. “Merab’s always been overrated…another nice humbling 👍🏽.” This fan is making a similar argument. Dvalishvili’s sudden loss after dominating their first RAF meeting gave critics another reason to attack him. Still, a 21-5 professional MMA record means something. Now, after a disappointing loss, let’s wait and see how fast Dvalishvili makes a comeback.
