Is Dana White losing his matchmaking touch? Sure, he finally announced the big fights, but they were not the ones fans wanted, except maybe Khamzat Chimaev vs. Dricus Du Plessis. Ilia Topuria is fighting Charles Oliveira instead of Islam Makhachev, while Makhachev was forced to vacate the 155 lbs title to fight Jack Della Maddalena for the welterweight title, while there are other welterweight contenders like Shavkat Rakhmonov waiting for their opportunity. But the greatest mismatch seems to have happened at bantamweight, and no, we are not referring to the rematch between Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley.
After the bantamweight champ took the title off O’Malley at UFC 306, he had two names in mind – the first was Deiveson Figueiredo, and then it was Petr Yan, who beat Figueiredo at UFC Macau in November last year. He even asked the UFC to put him up against Yan at UFC 313. During a recent conversation with Helen Yee, Dvalishvili weighed in on his former opponent and claimed, “I think Petr Yan also has good cardio.” This was evident from their previous matchup at UFC Fight Night 221.
Therein, Yan and Dvalishvili went against each other for 25 minutes straight, and ‘No Mercy’ showed phenomenal strength against the Georgian star. So, when Helen Yee pointed out that Yan was actually set to fight #13 Marcus McGhee in Abu Dhabi in July 2025. Dvalishvili was disappointed. After all, the duo desperately wanted a rematch and asked for it on multiple occasions.
‘The Machine’ said, “This is tough fight actually. The Marcus guy, he’s strong. He looked good. It’s a tough test for Petr Yan. I thought he was fighting for the belt, and now he has to fight another contender. Yeah man. That means that our division is very stuck. And it’s not easy to fight for the belt. And good luck to him, you know. Of course, I will be cheering him. I mean, you know, we fought and I always cheer to the guy I fought. So, it’s gonna be tough test for him but I’m sure he’ll get it.”
This is not the first time Yan has been a victim of ‘unfair’ matchmaking. Back at UFC 280, the then #1 ranked former champ was matched up with a #11 ranked Sean O’Malley. What’s worse, he got the wrong end of an extremely close and highly contested split decision. This was six months after a split decision loss to Aljamain Sterling in their title rematch and four months before losing a unanimous decision to Dvalishvili.
January 18, 2025, Inglewood, California, USA: MERAB DVALISHVILI 19-4-0 of Tbilisi, Georgia defeats UMAR NURMAGOMEDOV 18-1-0 of Kizilyurt, Russia by unanimous decision 48-47, 48-47, 49-46 during UFC 311 at the Intuit Dome, Inglewood, California Inglewood USA – ZUMAo117 20250118_zsp_o117_077 Copyright: xMikaelxOnax
But ‘The Machine’ seemed to have a different opinion on ‘No Mercy’ this time. But did you know that the duo were engaged in a scuffle back in 2023? Of course, it was the same year the duo fought. But after a fight, Dvalishvili usually steers clear of altercations. Let’s see what he had to say about his bad blood with Yan.
Merab Dvalishvili recalls his altercation with Petr Yan
It’s worth noting that Aljamain Sterling and Dvalishvili have a pretty strong relationship. And when someone brushes Sterling in the wrong way, ‘The Machine’ lashes out. Just before UFC 280, a similar thing happened with Yan and Dvalishvili. Talking to MMA Fighting, the bantamweight champion pointed out that he was respectful to Yan when he saw him in Abu Dhabi before Yan’s fight with O’Malley. But the same wasn’t true for Yan. Dvalishvili said, “He pointed at me and he said, ‘He’s small.’ I go and stand [near him] like it was funny, I tried to size him up, and then he pointed to me again and he said I’m a zero.”
Initially, the bantamweight champion laughed and sized him up. But all he did was smile big. He was being respectful because ‘No Mercy’ and ‘The Funkmaster’ had fights coming up. Dvalishvili didn’t want to mess that up for them. He continued, “If he didn’t have a fight, of course I would slap him. Especially he said right before, when he was getting to Aljo, Petr said — I’m just going to repeat his words — ‘When I see Aljo and Aljo’s team, we will kill and smash his team.’ That’s what he mentioned. Like what the f—? I’m his team, I’m Aljo’s team. He wants to smash me.”
Nevertheless, things seemed to have settled down until Dvalishvili became the bantamweight champion at UFC 306. Ever since then, he has been asking White for a rematch with Yan. And that’s something that has the potential to entertain us to the greatest extent. But having ‘No Mercy’ fight another contender instead of the champion has the possibility of taking away that rematch. So, should the UFC have planned things better?
The post Merab Dvalishvili Accepts Bantamweight’s Bitter Fate as Petr Yan’s Next Fight Highlights Dana White & Co’s Ignorance appeared first on EssentiallySports.
