Merab Dvalishvili has a bone to pick with Petr Yan.
The pair of top-ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Bantamweight contenders are set to do battle this weekend (Sat., March 11, 2023) in the UFC Las Vegas main event. Dvalishvili and Yan are no strangers to each other thanks to Yan’s old rivalry with Dvalishvili’s best friend and teammate, Aljamain Sterling. While Yan appears to be all business, Dvalishvili noted yesterday (Weds., March 8, 2023) at media day that the match up has become personal.
Ahead of the fight, Dvalishvili ran into Yan in a Las Vegas hotel and recorded the scene as seen in the embedded video above. “The Machine” pressed “No Mercy,” telling him “let’s talk now.” It isn’t clear what specifically Dvalishvili was wanting to talk about, but during his media day appearance, the No. 3-ranked contender revealed how Yan’s friend, ONE Championship double champion, Anatoly Malykhin, owes him $50,000 from a bet on Yan’s rematch against Sterling.
A win for Dvalishvili will extend his current winning streak to nine and position him dangerously close to his long-awaited title shot. Yan, on the other hand, aims to snap a two-fight skid after last tasting defeat in a close split decision against Sean O’Malley in Oct. 2022 (watch highlights).
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