Cory Sandhagen recently gave his two cents on Merab Dvalishvili’s title loss at UFC 323 and weighed in on a potential Petr Yan vs. Dvalishvili trilogy bout.
“The Machine” lost his bantamweight strap in December 2025 to Yan in a rematch by unanimous decision.
This year, the two are expected to run it back to complete their trilogy.
Yan, the current and two-time 135-pound titleholder, had lower back surgery a few weeks back and is now back in training. Dvalishvili, on the other hand, is ready as always to lock horns. The UFC has promised him an immediate title rematch whenever “No Mercy” gives the green signal to fight.
Cory Sandhagen breaks down what went wrong with Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 323
Recently, Cory Sandhagen appeared in an interview with James Lynch and highlighted 2 major reasons why he believes “The Machine” lost to Petr Yan at UFC 323.
The Georgian defended his title successfully three times in 2025, and in December, he wanted to become the first UFC champion to register four successful title defenses in one year. However, Yan ruined his plans.
During the aforementioned sitdown, Sandhagen, who has shared the octagon with Yan and Dvalishvili but came up short against both men, opined that “The Machine” should have invested more time in game planning for the Yan rematch, and Dvalishvili fighting four times in a year also took a toll on his performance. Cory Sandhagen said:
I thought that Merab was gonna win, but Yan did a good job. Merab took the fight way too soon, in my opinion, too. He should have game-planned for Yan for a lot longer, giving Yan a little bit more respect in that regard.”
Sandhagen believes Dvalishvili will win the Yan trilogy. He added:
In the next fight, I am sure it’s going to be very, very competitive, where I can see Merab winning this one. Give him enough time to get ready… I think it’s gonna be a much, much closer fight this time around.”
Check out Cory Sandhagen’s comments below:
“The Machine” has also confessed that he didn’t particularly train for Yan and was getting ready to take on any and every opponent.
This year, following ample rest and recovery, “The Machine” is expected to meet Yan after the second quarter of 2026. For now, he will make his Real American Freestyle debut at RAF 08 on April 18, headlining against Henry Cejudo.
