Watch: Petr Yan shoves Merab Dvalishvili after being called a ‘b*tch’ during final face-off

Petr Yan
Mandatory Credit: Alex Behunin

Things got heated between Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili on Friday ahead of their UFC Fight Night main event clash scheduled for Saturday night.

The two top-five bantamweight standouts will meet inside the Octagon in a potential title eliminator at The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. Ahead of the highly anticipated matchup, the 135-pound standouts went face-to-face for the final time and things got a little chippy between the two. In the video clip, which you can see below, Dvalishvili can be heard calling his opponent a “b*tch” as they stood side-by-side. Petr Yan then shoved Dvalishvili by the throat.

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The fighters were quickly separated to prevent any further incident as Merab Dvalishvili flashed a smile, clearly amused by the fact that he got under his opponent’s skin.

Merab Dvalishvili Enters Fight with Petr Yan as a Moderate Underdog Despite Eight-Fight Win Streak

‘The Machine’ will enter the biggest fight of his MMA career riding an eight-fight win streak dating back to 2018. That run includes wins over John Dodson, Cody Stamann, Marlon Moraes, and Jose Also. Despite that, Dvalishvili enters the bout a moderate +220 underdog. That number is especially surprising when you consider that Petr Yan has lost three of his last four contests.

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Of course, those losses were all scrutinized by the MMA community, the first being a fourth-round disqualification following an illegal knee to opponent Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259. ‘No Mercy’ bounced back with a win over Cory Sandhagen, but has since lost back-to-back bouts against Sterling and No. 1 ranked bantamweight contender Sean O’Malley. Yan found himself on the wrong side of heavily-debated split decisions in both matchups.