A broken nose usually forces fighters to step back. Merab Dvalishvili, as always, is doing the opposite. 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.

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 in Philadelphia. But the condition he’s walking in with makes it even more concerning. Because 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, with 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 knee, like I said.”

The video then cuts to the Georgian showing his medical scans, which confirmed the damage. Two fractures. 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 bones and going through a long recovery. And that’s where the decision came in as Merab Dvalishvili proved why his nickname, ‘The Machine,’ just might be the most apt in all of MMA.

“I did my x-ray and x-ray shows that my nose are broken at two places. I just saw doctor, nose surgeon, and he said if he will fix 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 away 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 only removes striking. It removes recovery moments. It’s constant engagement. Now add limited breathing on one side. That’s where this 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. Still, according to Cory Sandhagen, ‘The Machine’ has what it takes to win back his belt from Petr Yan with one adjustment.

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. That’s the trade-off Merab Dvalishvili is making in real time.