Petr Yan vs Merab Dvalishvili headlines UFC Fight Night 221, an event taking place at The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Vegas on Saturday, March 11, 2023
Petr Yan vs Merab Dvalishvili Odds
Moneyline Odds
Petr Yan -260
Merab Dvalishvili +196
*Odds taken from Sports Odds Direct Thursday, March 9, 2023.
When, Where, and How to Watch?
Place: The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Paradise, Nevada
Date: Saturday, March 11, 2023
Time: ~10:00 PM ET
How to Watch: ESPN+
Petr Yan (16-4) is expected to win after two contentious split-decision losses. The oddsmakers have the Russian fighter winning UFC Fight Night 221’s main event at -200.
Nicknamed The Machine, Merab Dvalishvili (15-4) is renowned as somebody who won’t ever stopped. Perhaps he can outlast the main event on Saturday and take the fight by decision?
Petr Yan is a former UFC Bantamweight champion who lost his title to Aljamain Sterling by knockout in March 2021. His road to title begins on Saturday. He was disqualified for doing an illegal knee kick that many people thought was easy.
Seven months later, he intended to exact his vengeance, but Aljo withdrew from the fight just five days before the event. Yan fought Cory Sandhagen in his place and won by unanimous decision.
After that, Yan got a second chance to fight Sterling in his first fight of 2022. He lost on a split decision, which was unfortunate for him. Although it wasn’t as controversial as Yan’s most recent fight, it was a controversial decision nonetheless.
Yan fought Sean O’Malley in October. Yan eventually took control of the fight after a sluggish start. Even though 25 of the 26 representatives of the media thought he would win, two of the three judges gave O’Malley the win.
Yan has consequently fallen to No. 2nd place (below O’Malley) in the UFC Bantamweight Rankings. However, he is close to returning to the title conversation. His next fight will almost certainly be against O’Malley or Sterling if he defeats Dvalishvili on Saturday.
Merab Dvalishvili Searching for His ninth Consecutive UFC Win
The Georgian warrior is 15-5 by and large with nine straight wins in the UFC. The fact that eleven of his victories were decided by him is interesting. This is surprising because Dvalishvili has a background in Combat Sambo and is an excellent wrestler and grappler.
In his fight against Marlon Moraes, which he won by technical knockout, he demonstrated that he is also an excellent striker.
However, Dvalishvili’s athleticism is his greatest competitive advantage. He’s not nicknamed The Machine by some coincidence. This guy has a real drive that will allow him to keep hitting opponents and getting hit until the very end.
However, the fact that his fight with Yan on Saturday will be his first in a five-round format has to worry him.
