UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili has named a possible date for a world title rematch with Petr Yan.
The Georgian's penultimate fight on his way to UFC 306, where he dethroned Sean O'Malley, was a victory over Yan in March 2023 at the UFC Apex. And after watching Russia's Deiveson Figueiredo defeat in Macau on Saturday morning, he has suggested the pair meet again in Sin City.
Yan impressed with his boxing and takedown defense to beat his Brazilian rival in a dominant five-round decision in China. In fact, no judge even scored a round against him as he headed for another shot at the gold.
Merab Dvalishvili wants to face Petr Yan in Las Vegas next year
After seeing Petr Yan take his second win of the year in China, champion Merab Dvalishvili took to social media to give his thoughts. His current top contender is Umar Nurmagomedov, but he is instead angling for a fight with the winner of the UFC Macau Main Event.
Dvalishvili believes that Figueiredo or Yan, as former world champions, have more impressive performances than Nurmagomedov, who is undefeated but unproven at the highest level. And he mentioned a possible date for a rematch with the Russian in a message to X this afternoon.
Dvalishvili shared a video of himself wearing the title belt, which is attached to a moving car, with a caption indicating the pair could meet at UFC 313 in Las Vegas on March 8 next year. The event has been confirmed by the promotion, but no main event has been confirmed yet.
In the video, Dvalishvili can be heard faintly saying to the camera: “Nobody can take this belt away from me – and yet!” In another pair of tweets, he wrote: “I'm impressed with @PetrYanUFC's performance tonight” and “What a great fight! @PetrYanUFC @Daico_Deiveson.”
Petr Yan defeated Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC Macau
It was back to his dominant best for Yan in a rare Saturday morning fight with Figueiredo in China on Saturday. He was taken out early by the Brazilian, who had boasted of his lack of ground game but managed to get on top and turn around the first round.
From then on, Yan's impressive boxing was enough to get him in range and find his punches. The uppercut in particular seemed to land at will and set him up for an impressive night in which he looked completely in control from the start of the second to the final bell.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
However, the former flyweight champion did assert himself. Even as he continued to lose round after round, there never seemed to be a moment where he was out of contention, and he really came into his own again in a back-and-forth fifth.
In the end it wasn't enough and Yan managed to take his second win of the year after a difficult run where he lost three on the jump. He has already faced Dvalishvili and his teammate Aljamain Sterling, but is confident of a rematch victory.
Petr Yan calls out Merab Dvalishvili after dominant UFC Macau win
Immediately after his victory, Yan took the microphone and told Michael Bisping exactly what he wanted next. He noted that the Georgian had believed that Figueiredo would be the next contender, which would see him jump into that spot by winning.
“Hey guys, before my fight, Merab said that Deiveson Figueiredo was the number one contender who deserved the title fight,” Yan told the former middleweight champion through a translator. “I want to say to Merab, what are you saying?!
“After I beat the number one contender in my division, I want to do a rematch with Merab – let's get him!”
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