Merab Dvalishvili aims to extend winning streak against Petr Yan in UFC 323

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Merab Dvalishvili said fighters can win and be respectful at the same time, and even if his opponent Saturday night, Petr Yan, takes an occasional verbal jab, he's not going to sweat it.

Besides, Dvalishvili will have plenty other things to sweat about, such as making weight, which he sounded confident he would do when he puts his bantamweight belt on the line in UFC 323.

“I never like to make it drama,” Dvalishvili said. “It’s a fight. We are professional fighters. The people will watch anyway.

“I don’t like to talk trash for no reason. I don’t like somebody to disrespect me for no reason.”

This is the last UFC pay-per-view fight because it agreed to a seven-year contract with Paramount Plus under which future bouts will be on the streaming service.

Dvalishvili, who lives on New York's Long Island and has dual American and Georgian citizenship, is a substantial -425 favorite at BetMGM Sportsbook.

The 34-year-old enters on a 14-match winning streak and is 21-4. A victory over the 32-year-old Yan (19-5) would move Dvalishvili into a tie with Kamaru Usman for the third-longest streak in UFC history. The record holders are Anderson Silva and Islam Makhachev with 16 each.

Dvalishvili seems to be racing toward that record. This will be his fourth title match this year,.

“That was my goal to be busy this year,” Dvalishvili said. “Thank you to UFC for making this happen.”

His last defeat occurred on April 21, 2018 when Ricky Simon won by submission.

Then Dvalishvili began his winning streak, and along the way defeated Yan by unanimous decision in a nontitle fight on March 11, 2023. That bout was known as much for the nasty build-up — the Russian shoved Dvalishvili at the weigh-in — as the fight itself.

“That time, it was personal for me,” Dvalishvili said. “Now, it’s more competition. We fought once and I beat him. Every time he was fighting, I was cheering for him. Look at Instagram. He’s a great father. He’s a good fighter. The only problem I have with him is he was bullying. He was talking trash about me, about (Aljamain Sterling), about our team. He doesn’t give us respect.

“No matter what happens, I will shake his hand and wish him the best.”

Yan was mostly respectful this week, referring to Dvalishvili as “a great warrior” and “a deserving champion.” As the third-ranked challenger, Yan said he thought should have been No. 1 in line for the championship, a point will make clearly if he pulls off the upset victory.

But Yan wasn't quite over what he thought would be a working relationship with Dvalishvili as coaches for a reality show in Thailand. Yan said Dvalishvili gave every indication he would be there, but decided not to make the trip.

“At the very end, he got scared and didn’t come out and sent Sterling instead of him,” Yan said through an interpreter. “So I was there for a month big-brothering Sterling.”

Dvalishvili said he was advised not to go, but other than that, didn't offer a lot of details about the supposed snub.

Now they get to put on another kind of reality show when both step into the octagon.

“Just think about this,” Yan said. “I flew across the entire planet. I come back to rematch Sterling or Merab in their hometown. Everything’s against me. Just think about how much pressure that is. Just think about hard that it is. Obviously, it’s much harder for me than it is them.”

In the co-main event, flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja (30-5) of Brazil takes on No. 1 challenger Joshua Van (15-2) of Myanmar.

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