Back in January at UFC 311, Dvalishvili entered his first title defense against a very promising Nurmagomedov in the co-main event of the pay-per-view card. Dvalishvili had a tough fight in the first couple of rounds, but then went on to dominate and overwhelm Nurmagomedov to win a unanimous decision.

Sean O’Malley is set to have his father in his corner at UFC 316 this weekend, where “Sugar Sean” aims to regain the bantamweight title from Merab Dvalishvili. In September, Dvalishvili comprehensively outwrestled the striking specialist to win the belt, before retaining the gold with a comeback decision win against Umar Nurmagomedov in January.