Outside Source
Dvalishvili (21-4) puts his bantamweight title on the line in a rematch against Yan (19-5) at UFC 323 on Saturday in Las Vegas. While Yan believes Dvalishvili’s striking has improved since their first fight, he doesn’t think the champion will risk striking with him. Yan is eyeing an early stoppage win over Dvalishvili to avoid any controversy or doubt.
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Out for Revenge
“With Merab, you can see he is evolving,” Yan told the UFC. “You can see he is improving in striking. But I don’t think Merab’s plan will be to fight me standing. If we look at my boxing skills, he understands that it’s risky for him. I want to win early by knockout. When you finish the champ early, it leaves absolutely no talk, no speculations. I want to get the belt back and take my revenge. I have everything it takes to beat him.”
Yan dropped a unanimous decision against Dvalishvili in their first encounter in 2023, which put him on a three-fight losing streak. Dvalishvili won the title soon after and has since defended it three times. Meanwhile, Yan found the proverbial second wind in his career with consecutive wins over Song Yadong, Deiveson Figueiredo and Marcus McGhee.
Petr Yan plans to finish Merab Dvalishvili early to get his revenge for the first fight 😤🔥
“I want to win early by knockout. When you finish the champ early, it leaves absolutely no talk, no speculations. I want to get the belt back and take my revenge. I have everything it… pic.twitter.com/kBP5bDShFt
— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) November 29, 2025
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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