Merab Dvalishvili’s rise: why Petr Yan could find the answer
UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili will defend his belt against Petr Yan in the main event of UFC 323 later tonight.
It will serve as a rematch from their encounter just a few years ago, and on that occasion, it was Merab Dvalishvili who got the better of Yan. The Russian star claims that he was injured during that fight, but even so, he was able to stuff the takedowns of the Georgian sensation with real precision. Alas, it wasn’t enough, and it was still a fairly lopsided decision loss for Petr.
This time around, though, there’s something that people may not have been taking into consideration as much as they should have – Merab Dvalishvili’s activity. He has already gone 3-0 this year and after defeating Cory Sandhagen, he made it crystal clear that he wanted another quick turnaround for one more title fight before the end of 2025.
Of course, one more fight means one more weight cut for Merab Dvalishvili. His confidence is at an all time high right now and it feels like nothing is going to slow him down, but when you combine that much weight cutting in one calendar year with the potential of him overlooking a talented fighter in Petr Yan, could he be in some trouble?
The great Merab Dvalishvili
Yan has great striking, can defend takedowns, and he will have learned a great deal from his first outing against ‘The Machine’. While we aren’t necessarily suggesting that he is definitely going to win, we do think this is going to be a lot closer than people think, especially because Merab has a tendency to get hit more than people realize.
The smart money is still on Dvalishvili and we aren’t pretending otherwise, but keep an eye on how this fight develops through the first five to ten minutes, especially if Yan can keep it standing and start quicker than he usually does.
