Dvalishvili return: “Rest as long as you want”

Former UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili is already plotting his comeback after his loss to Petr Yan last weekend.

Dvalishvili was aiming to become the first UFC champion to defend his title four times in a calendar year. However, Yan brought his A-game in their rematch and produced a clinical display to reclaim the title after four years.

Dvalishvili was speaking to MMA Pros Pick and confirmed he would get a crack at winning his gold back. The Georgian added that the UFC wanted him to rest up and then contact them for the trilogy:

“The UFC contacted me and said, ‘Please rest as long as you want. Your next fight is a rematch with Petr Yan for the belt. Rest as long as you want and call us when you are ready.’”

Dvalishvili added that he wasn’t hurt much from the fight. ‘The Machine’ also laid down a timeline for his return and when the fight with Yan could take place:

“They probably want to do the fight in the summer, but I don’t want to wait till the summer. I’ll repeat once again, I didn’t get any serious injuries from this fight. Anyways, I want to schedule the fight early, maybe in the spring, in April would be good or maybe the fight can be scheduled in the summer.”

The score between Dvalishvili and Yan is 1-1 after two fights and a trilogy would be incredible. Dvalishvili was a dominant champion since winning the gold from Sean O’Malley at UFC 306. However, Yan negated all of the Georgian’s moves and came out of UFC 323 the champion.

Check out Merab Dvalishvili’s comments below (via Championship Rounds on X):

Joe Rogan lauds Petr Yan’s win over Merab Dvalishvili

Petr Yan’s manner of victory over Merab Dvalishvili has been the talk of the MMA world since the weekend. Yan last held the belt in 2021 and this has been a bit of a resurgence for the Russian.

He lost three consecutive fights, including one against Dvalishvili, and seemed to be completely out of the title picture. However, after three straight victories, he put on that incredible performance at UFC 323.

Joe Rogan was on commentary duty for the pay-per-view and he lauded Yan’s performance, this time on his podcast.

Rogan was full of praise for Yan and highlighted the immense training camp Yan had this time around:

“F**k, what a masterclass. When you’re going to fight a guy like Merab, that is the masterclass. He put on a clinic… His training camp must’ve been hell, had to be hell, and he looked like it. I saw some videos of it. Some wild strength and conditioning, and plyometrics. He knew what he was in for. That’s the thing, if you’re going to fight a guy like Merab, you know what the mountain is. Are you ready to climb it?”