After weeks of speculation, a hotly contested bantamweight contender bout between Cejudo and Dvalishvili has been announced for February 17th.
It’s official! Henry Cejudo and Merab Dvalishvili will clash in a bantamweight scrap at UFC 298 in Anaheim, California.
The news was announced by Setana Sports and confirmed by Henry Cejudo on his YouTube channel.
“The cat is officially out of the bag,” he said. “That’s right, I’ll be fighting Merab Dvalishvili on February 17th, UFC 298. I mean, we all saw this coming. This fight’s going to decide who’s actually going to fight the eventual winner of [Marlon] Chito Vera and Sean O’Malley.”
“I’m excited, and I’m not sure if we’re going to co-headline this fight with Ilia Topuria and Alexander Volkanovski, but either way this fight is absolutely going to be bonkers.”
Ilia Topuria was on hand for UFC Vegas 83 on Saturday night and he shared his thoughts on the match-up.
“Yes, that’s what they offer me, I say yes, and I don’t know when we are fighting, what day, but I’m ready,” he told ESPN’s Heidi Androl. “I’m training every day, and I’m ready for fighting. [The hand] is good, it’s finally feeling good. It’s still not 100%, but I’m training, I’m sparring, I’m punching, wrestling, I’m doing everything and the hand is good now.”
“I give him respect and I give all my opponents respect, especially Henry Cejudo,” Merab added. “He was the greatest champion, and he was when Aljamain beat him. I’m excited, this is big test for me and I don’t know if I need tests any more because I have 9 fight win streak and I beat everyone they put in front of me. I think I deserve to fight title fight. But they give me another test.”
No promises have been made thus far from the UFC regarding a title shot for the winner of Cejudo vs. Dvalishvili. It would be hard for them to deny Merab though if he beats “Triple C” for his 10th win in a row. On the other side of the equation, bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley faces Marlon “Chito” Vera at UFC 299 on March 9th in Miami, Florida.