A pivotal bantamweight matchup is in the works for
UFC Fight Night 221, as Petr Yan and
Merab
Dvalishvili are expected to meet on March 11.
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The
Las Vegas Review-Journal was first to report the bout. Both
fighters have verbally agreed to the pairing. UFC Fight Night 221
takes place at the The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas.
Yan, a former 135-pound champ, has lost three of his last four
promotional appearances. Most recently, “No Mercy” suffered a
controversial split-decision loss to Sean O’Malley at UFC 280 this
past October. Yan’s resume includes triumphs over the likes of
Cory
Sandhagen, Jose Aldo,
Urijah
Faber, Jimmie
Rivera and John
Dodson.
Dvalishvili, a training partner of reigning bantamweight champ and
two-time Yan opponent Aljamain
Sterling, enters the matchup on an eight-fight UFC winning
streak. In his lone appearance of 2022, “The Machine” outpointed
Aldo at UFC 278.