Merab Dvalishvili faces Marlon Moraes in wrestling match at RAF Abu Dhabi

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Marlon Moraes and Merab Dvalishvili in September 2021 | Jeff Bottari, Zuffa LLC Merab Dvalishvili and Marlon Moraes meet again, this time on the RAF mats. The one-time UFC opponents are set to meet in a wrestling match at RAF Abu Dhabi on Nov. 14, the promotion announced Wednesday. View this post on Instagram This is the second meeting between the combat sports veterans, with Dvalishvili holding a win over Moraes from their octagon encounter at UFC 266 in 2021. Dvalishvili survived an early scare to score a comeback knockout in the second round. Dvalishvili went on to dominate the bantamweight division, winning a UFC title in 2024 and recording three consecutive successful defenses before losing to Petr Yan at UFC 323. In his most recent outing, Dvalishvili fought Yan in a trilogy bout and again fell short on the scorecards after five thrilling rounds of action. Nov. 14 marks Dvalishvili’s fourth appearance for RAF. He defeated former UFC champions Frankie Edgar and Henry Cejudo in his first two outings before losing a rematch to Cejudo this past August. Moraes makes his RAF debut. The former World Series of Fighting champion and longtime UFC contender retired from MMA in 2023, but made a successful comeback in August with a unanimous decision win over Maximiliano Perez at a regional show in Sao Paulo, Brazil. RAF Abu Dhabi is headlined by Khamzat Chimaev vs. Colby Covington, with Arman Tsarukyan taking on Neiman Gracie in the co-main event.