Merab Dvalishvili has offered a candid reflection on his recent bantamweight title defeat to Petr Yan. The Georgian fighter, who had a dominant run, losing his crown in a rematch at UFC 323, admitted that his preparation for that fight was not specifically tailored to Yan.
Despite a successful year of title defenses, Dvalishvili’s streak was halted by Yan. The promotion has reportedly promised him an immediate rematch once Yan is ready.
In a recent interview with Demetrious Johnson, Dvalishvili confessed that while preparing for UFC 323, he trained for a general opponent rather than focusing solely on Yan’s unique fighting style. He acknowledged that despite his “Machine” nickname, he is human and susceptible to mistakes. Dvalishvili stated, “My nickname is Machine, but I’m a human being sometimes. Against Petr, I think also what happened was that I think I can beat everybody that day, maybe except Petr. Because Petr was really training for me. And his style is different, and he’s this tough, tough fighter. Everybody else, I think I can beat. Any striker or any other fighter in my weight class except Petr… I made some mistakes during training camp… I was just doing my thing, pushing the limit, and just doing a lot of grappling rounds.”
During the rematch, Yan successfully defended against Dvalishvili’s takedown attempts and was able to secure takedowns himself. Dvalishvili admitted that his submission attempts against Yan were unsuccessful, which allowed Yan to gain an advantage by taking him down and landing significant strikes.
In other news, Dvalishvili recently sustained a broken nose during training but has opted to postpone surgery until his retirement. Meanwhile, Yan has recovered from back surgery and is back in the gym, suggesting a potential third fight between the two later this year.