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Merab Dvalishvili is well aware of the risks involved in another fight against Petr Yan. Ahead of the trilogy at UFC 333, the Georgian looked back on their last bout and admitted that he learned an important lesson from that painful loss.
UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan will return to the Octagon later this year. The Russian will headline the co-main event of UFC 333, where he will face Merab Dvalishvili for the third time. Given the history of both fighters and the stakes of the bout, this matchup can safely be described as one of the biggest in the history of the bantamweight division.
Yan pulled off a huge upset at UFC 323. The Russian defeated the reigning champion by unanimous decision and avenged his earlier loss to Dvalishvili. Their head-to-head record now stands at 1-1, and this trilogy is set to finally settle their long-standing rivalry.
Before his second fight against Yan, Gruzin was considered one of the best UFC fighters, regardless of weight class. A win at UFC 333 could put him back among the very top of the P4P rankings. Dvalishvili knows, however, that this time he needs to approach his preparations a little differently.
Merab Dvalishvili appeared on *The Ariel Helwani Show*, where he spoke about his upcoming third bout against Yan. The Georgian openly admitted that he is facing one of the toughest challenges of his career.
“I’m facing one of my toughest challenges. I usually do very well when I know I’m up against a tough opponent and a serious challenge, ” Dvalishvili said of Yan.
The former champion obviously has no intention of holding back in training, but at the same time, he has learned from his previous training camp. In his opinion, he worked hard before the rematch, but he didn’t recover properly. As a result, he had already pushed his body to the point of exhaustion before even stepping into the Octagon.
– I work very hard, but now I’m trying to do it smarter. I trained hard before my last fight, too, but I didn’t take any breaks and I just burned myself out. Petr Yan will never be an easy opponent for me. I knew that going in, but I was surprised by how good he is and how hard he hits.
Dvalishvili didn’t try to boost his confidence with grandiose statements. On the contrary—he openly admitted what might happen to him if he made mistakes again during his preparations.
– If I don’t prepare really, really well, he’s going to beat me up again.
Ahead of their third bout, it’s hard to accuse the Georgian of underestimating the champion. Dvalishvili has already learned the hard way just how skilled Yan is and how powerful his strikes are. At UFC 333, he’ll want to prove that he’s learned the right lessons from last year’s loss.
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