For UFC, big fights at Bantamweight are seemingly becoming the norm at this point. The first fight card of 2023 saw rising prospect Umar Nurmagomedov defeat Raoni Barcelos to leave a strong statement. Now, Merab Dvalishvili vs Petr Yan is being eyed for March in a fight for the ages.
All the top contenders in the bantamweight are getting booked one after the other. The Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera vs Cory Sandhagen fight was booked recently. Sean O’Malley is also looking to get the mud off his name by taking on Henry Cejudo. The champion Aljamain Sterling is currently absent from the picture.
Recently, the Funkmaster talked about his reasons for pulling out against Henry ‘Triple C’ Cejudo stating, “It’s whether or not I can compete with this torn bicep again. Going through another training camp with a torn bicep, against a guy who is stronger in the wrestling department, who will use his wrestling more…I’m going to need this bicep to compete at 100%. And I don’t take Henry Cejudo lightly…is it realistic for me to fight in March? I don’t think it really is.”
This leaves a void on the top of the super-stacked division where so many great fighters await.
How Merab Dvalishvili vs Petr Yan fight got made.
Petr ‘No Mercy’ Yan is often touted as the most brutal fighter in all of Bantamweight. He went a bit overboard in his first title defense against Sterling and lost his title by disqualification. He defeated Cory Sandhagen when Aljo was recovering but did not manage to secure the win in his second fight versus Aljamain.
Merab has been pretty vocal about not entering a title match until his training fighter Sterling is the champ. The Georgian warrior had a rough start for the UFC after losing his first 2 fights but has gone on to win 8 bouts in a row. Since he can’t fight for the title, the next best option is a top contender like Petr.
Who will you favor in a Petr vs Merab matchup?
