“The Machine” joined an exclusive group of champions to successfully defend their titles three times in the same year in 2025, kicking things off with rallying win over Umar Nurmagomedov before submitting Sean O’Malley and out-hustling Cory Sandhagen to assert his dominance over the bantamweight division. He could have called it a year there, but instead, the Georgian dared to be great, declared he wanted to fight one more time even before dispatching Sandhagen in October, and put his title on the line against Petr Yan at UFC 323, dropping the fight and the title to his Russian rival in what was a virtuosic performance by the now two-time champion.
View Merab Dvalishvili’s Athlete Profile
We all clamor for active champions and there was none more active than Dvalishvili, who logged nearly 18 rounds across four fights against the absolute best the division had to offer, and while it didn’t end the way he envisions, you have to tip your cap to the 34-year-old for trying to do something no one else has done.
There is always going to be room to second-guess his decision now that we know how things turned out, but winning three championship fights in one year is still an insane achievement and more than enough to earn Dvalishvili top spot on this list.
2 – Joshua Van
Van opened the year as an intriguing prospect in the flyweight division and closed out 2025 as the champion, having won four fights in 10 months, setting the table for what should be a fascinating year in the 125-pound weight class in 2026.
I will never tire of the fact that Van told the late Tom Gerbasi ahead of UFC 310 that if he was victorious against Cody Durden at that event, this year was going to be his breakout campaign, and then had the biggest breakout you could possibly have, going from outside the rankings to sitting atop the division, raising his game through each of his first three fights before an early injury to champion Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 323 brought his year to an unsatisfying, but still impressive close.
