Petr Yan expects immediate rematch for Merab Dvalishvili if he beats him at UFC 323: ‘Would be a really cool trilogy’

Petr Yan knows he will have to beat Merab Dvalishvili twice if he’s going to remain the bantamweight champion.

Yan is set to return to the Octagon in the main event of UFC 323 in a rematch against Dvalishvili for the bantamweight title. Although Yan is a sizable underdog and was dominated by Dvalishvili two years prior, he has full confidence that he will get his hand raised.

If Yan does pull off the upset and become the bantamweight champion, he knows he will need to fight Dvalishvili again in his first title defense.

“I think Merab deserves any rematch that he wants. Whether he calls it out, or the UFC calls it out,” Yan said at UFC 323 media day. “I think he deserves a rematch. If I do win, I think that it would be a really cool trilogy to put that third fight together.”

Dvalishvili is looking to defend his belt for the fourth time this calendar year. So he likely deserves an immediate rematch. But the Russian is confident he has all the tools to beat Dvalishvili back-to-back to remain the bantamweight champion.

Petr Yan is confident he’s more prepared for Merab Dvalishvili

Yan was dominated by Dvalishvili in March of 2023, and the former champ knows he’s much better than that.

The Russian has won three straight fights since losing to Dvalishvili. Yan believes he does better in rematches and plans to shock the world on Saturday at UFC 323.

“Obviously, we have a lot of information that we’ve downloaded about each other,” Yan said. “We know each other better. But if you look at my first two rematches with (Magomed) Magomedov and (Aljamain) Sterling, you could see that I’m 100 percent better in the second fight. So I’m determined to make sure I’m much better in this second fight against Merab.”

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