LAS VEGAS — Seconds into his important bantamweight bout with Petr Yan, Merab Dvalishvili gave away his game plan: He pushed a relentless pace, using superior cardiovascular conditioning, to beat up the former champion and scored a dominant shutout victory at The Theater the the Virgin Hotels.
Yan had few moments of note in the bout and the best of them came as a result of him defending takedowns. His balance and defensive wrestling were, as usual, superb, but he mounted precious little offense.
Saturday, he had little to offer Dvalishvili, who was bouncing and dancing into the ring like Clay Guida and seemed like he could have fought 10 rounds at the same pace. Yan was ranked No. 2 and Dvalishvili No. 3 heading into the fight, and Dvalishvili will clearly move up to No. 2 after this performance. Sterling and former double champion Henry Cejudo will fight for the title on May 6 at UFC 288 in Newark, New Jersey.There is little doubt, though, that Dvalishvili is a threat to anyone in the division. Dvalishvili is coming off a one-sided win over Hall of Famer Jose Aldo, but he didn’t get full credit for that win at UFC 278 on Aug.
He said he was motivated to win for multiple reasons, including as a way to show support from the Ukrainian people after Russia invaded it last year.
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