09/12/2025
Should champs be limited to 3 title defenses a year? COMMENT. IT'S TIME TO DISCUSS,
Did Merab's Brutal Weight Cut Finally Catch Up? The Real Culprit Behind His UFC 323 Loss
Yeah, that grueling schedule we talked about? The weight cuts were the silent killer. After defending his bantamweight title four times in 2025 (wins over Umar Nurmagomedov in March, Song Yadong in June, Cory Sandhagen in September, and the loss to Petr Yan on Dec. 6), Merab Dvalishvili's old-school approach to dropping to 135 lbs finally showed cracks. He made weight at the UFC 323 weigh-ins (135.0 lbs on the dot), but analysts like Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier called it out immediately: Merab looked drained—more hollow-eyed and sluggish than ever.
How the Weight Cut Hit Him Hard
The Method: Extreme and Outdated – Merab skips modern nutritionists at the UFC PI. Instead, he chills at his natural walking weight (~150-155 lbs) until fight week, then goes nuclear: No food from Tuesday, zero carbs/water from Wednesday, straight starvation mode till Friday's scale. Rogan broke it down: "He stops eating on Tuesday. That’s so crazy... The weight cut for Merab is absolutely brutal." DC added: "He looks awful. He looks terrible because he has such hard weight cuts." Even Merab admitted pre-fight: "It’s a mental game... I feel low energy. It’s always hard."
The Toll: Visible Drain, Subtle Sabotage – His cardio held up (pushed for all five rounds, as always), but he entered the cage looking "more drained than we’ve ever seen." That liver shot in Round 4 buckled him worse than usual—experts say repeated dehydration saps recovery power and explosiveness. Four cuts in one year? "Crazy," per Rogan—his body was running on fumes after 23 months of non-stop wars.
If UFC limits to 2-3 max, champs like him stay sharper longer. Thoughts? This loss hurts, but props to Merab for the warrior spirit—he'll rebound, but damn, at what cost? 💔