“This is personal for me,” Merab Dvalishvili has a personal stake in his fight against Petr Yan

Merab Dvalishvili is taking the fight against Petr Yan personally because of many reasons including their nationality.

“This is personal for me,” Merab Dvalishvili has a personal stake in his fight against Petr Yan

Merab does not like Petr Yan (Image Courtesy - MMA News)

Merab Dvalishvili will take on former champion Petr Yan at the main event of the upcoming UFC Fight Night. It will be a high stake matchup as the winner has the potential to be the next contender for the title. For Merab, this fight is not just another fight. It is very personal for him.

During the media appearance before this week’s Fight Night, Merab Dvalishvili talked to the media members about his upcoming fight. When asked about the nature of the fight and what he thinks of Petr Yan, Merab said, “This fight is not only fight. This is personal for me” at the media appearance. Merab also said, “He’s not a humble guy. He is not a great human.”

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Merab Dvalishvili is a training partner of UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling. Sterling and Petr Yan were embroiled in a huge rivalry. Merab obviously remembers what happened then and did not like the attitude or behaviour of Yan for some reason. Merab is on an eight-fight winning streak, and a victory over Yan can get him a title shot.

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Petr Yan is coming off three losses in a row. The first was a DQ loss against Aljamain Sterling. Then, Sterling beat him by a split decision in a rematch. Recently, Sean O’Malley also beat Yan by a controversial split decision. A victory over Merab can keep his contender status alive, but a defeat will likely put him further away from a title shot.

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Merab says the fight is personal because of the politics between Russia and Georgia

merab
(Image Courtesy – Daily Star)

Merab revealed another reason for getting personal with Petr Yan in their upcoming fight. It has to do with the political tensions between their respective nations. Russia and Georgia have not had a blossoming relationship. Merab’s Georgian pride is at full display in his media appearance.

Merab said, “He’s from Russia. I from Georgia, and we all know Russia. What they do. What they do to Ukraine now, what they did to Georgia and Russia is not a democratic country. I want to win for my people, and I have so many support from my country.” Petr Yan took to Instagram to react to Merab.

The good thing about the rivalry is that we can see it get settled very soon. The fight card will also feature the cancelled main event between Nikita Krylov and Ryan Spann.

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