Media merab calls out yan for trilogy fight

[TheMMAnalyst]

Oh, maybe it was that. Remembering him saying that he was told it's Merab again next, so maybe it isn't exactly what he wanted even if he is cool with it.

Petr Yan: Merab Dvalishvili won’t get immediate rematch after UFC 323

“Understand the fact that for me to get the opportunity to fight for the belt again, the UFC made me go three more fights before I was able to get to the contender position again,” Yan said.

Ultimately, though, it seems Yan is prepared to defend his title against whoever the UFC puts in front of him, and adopted one of the catchphrases of his fellow Russian champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, to show his intentions as a champion.

“I don’t care. I flew 30 hours to get here,” Yan said. “I don’t care. Put me in Alaska, anywhere. Twelve-hour time difference, completely different climates, continents, just tell me where, that’s it. Give me location.”



Yan seems built in that Islam/Khabib mold of "just send location" and will fight anyone. He probably feels a certain way about it since he got used as promotional fodder to give Suga a launch-pad title shot in a complete robbery. But he doesn't seem the type to cherry-pick fights, just likes to bully his opponents inside and outside the cage lol.

 

[Alpha_T83]

I think there is a real chance Merab took that fight with a serious injury, after his crazy active 2025 year. He probably should have pulled out of the fight, but he's too much of a warrior.

IMO Merab wins the rematch if he's healthy.

 

[xhaydenx]

Yan seems built in that Islam/Khabib mold of "just send location" and will fight anyone. He probably feels a certain way about it since he got used as promotional fodder to give Suga a launch-pad title shot in a complete robbery. But he doesn't seem the type to cherry-pick fights, just likes to bully his opponents inside and outside the cage lol.

Yan had an easier path to the belt than Suga though. Yan went through some lower level guys, including washed Faber, and then fought Aldo, who hadn't ever won in the division, for the vacant belt.

At least Suga had to actually fight a top fighter in Yan himself.

I always liked that when Yan won the belt he immediately started talking about wanting to prove himself against only top fighters. Didn't want to have gotten the relatively easy path and then just cherry picked more easy fights. Dude wanted all the hard stuff.

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

Yan had an easier path to the belt than Suga though. Yan went through some lower level guys, including washed Faber, and then fought Aldo, who hadn't ever won in the division, for the vacant belt.

At least Suga had to actually fight a top fighter in Yan himself.

I always liked that when Yan won the belt he immediately started talking about wanting to prove himself against only top fighters. Didn't want to have gotten the relatively easy path and then just cherry picked more easy fights. Dude wanted all the hard stuff.

Let's compare resumes pre-title fight - I'll rate the opponents in difficulty from 1-5 (1 being relatively easy, 5 being as tough as it gets):

Ishihara > 1
Son Jin-Soo > 2
Silva de Andrade > 3
Dodson > 3
Rivera > 4
Faber > 3

vs.

Ware > 1
Soukhamthath > 1
Quiñónez > 1
Wineland > 1
Vera > 3 (lost)
Almeida > 1
Moutinho > 1
Paiva > 2
Munhoz > 3 (no contest)
Yan > 5

Basically Yan fought progressively tougher guys up through Rivera and then circumstantially got a title shot off a Faber destruction which was kind of the result of Faber playing hardball; he had just come back out of retirement and finished Ricky Simon in a main event in a minute and told the UFC he wanted to fight for the title. They saw Yan as the future champ so they said OK, beat Yan and we'll give you title shot, and he went and got obliterated worse than he's ever gotten obliterated except against Aldo in the WEC.

They were hand-picking opponents to make Suga look good from the beginning and throughout his career until Yan - slow, short, relatively unskilled or limited strikers with no wrestling whatsoever so that he could style on them and get highlight reel finishes. The two times he got real steps up he lost to Vera on the perennial nerve injury and then eye-poked Munhoz in a fight where he lost the first round and it ended in a no contest. He showed he was worthy of fighting elite contenders in being competitive but clearly losing to Yan, but to get a title shot off what is pretty much a universally agreed upon loss (to the point where we have to question why the judges gave him the win) is far more outrageous than destroying a name/legend in Faber when the division was short of contenders.

It worked out in Yan's favor that the top of the division ate itself alive during his come-up; TJ and Cody had their two fights which ruined Cody, then TJ tried to drop to FLY and ruined himself against Cejudo, then Cejudo fought for the vacant belt against Moraes and almost lost before getting a washed Cruz and retiring.

So he fought 2 of the top 10 from the start of the year (Rivera was 5, Dodson was 8), they probably didn't want to waste Yan in a fight against Assunsao who fights very negative/defensively, there weren't a lot of options at the time once Cejudo vacated they needed to make a title fight to keep the division moving. If anything Aldo was the one who didn't deserve the title fight, he was 0-1 coming off a loss against Moraes (regardless if you think he won or not, they literally gave him a title fight off a loss). I don't see any reason to give Assunsao or Lineker or Aljo (at that time) a shot over Yan.

 

[wrb]

Honestly it does not really matter what Yan or anyone thinks, if Merab wants the rematch he has the rematch. I honestly love Merab but don't really care to see a trilogy however it does not matter what I think. Nobody will ever care about defending if they don't give Merab a rematch after what he just accomplished. "As soon as Merab is ready and fully recovered, it's going to happen." Ever champ should just say this after they win, this bullshit about fighters saying other fighters are "not deserving a rematch" is fucking banannas. Props to Yan but honestly its not going to be easy, I think both guys needed surgery after the last fight.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Petr Yan: Merab Dvalishvili won’t get immediate rematch after UFC 323

“Understand the fact that for me to get the opportunity to fight for the belt again, the UFC made me go three more fights before I was able to get to the contender position again,” Yan said.

Yeah, after he was on a 3 fight losing streak. This is such dumb logic.

-He "earned" his first shot despite being behind Aljo in the ranks, not having better wins (and often the same wins as Aljo, after Aljo got them), and his opponent for the shot being behind Aljo's opponent and off a loss.

-He lost his belt after zero defenses getting rightfully DQ'ed and then was immediately plugged into a title rematch, which turned into an interim title fight against Cory before getting and then losing the title rematch against Aljo.

-He then lost a title eliminator against Sean. A robbery, but officially a loss nonetheless. He should have won, but "should have" in an eliminator doesn't get you a title shot.

-THEN he lost to Merab. At that point, he was 1-4 in his last 5 and on a 3 fight skid.

Getting just 3 wins before a title shot is a fucking godsend in that position.

 

[Ludwig von Mises]

Merab can go to back of the line. Omally. Umar. Then Merab if he gets some wins.

 

[PeterGriffin]

If Yan had his way, it wouldn't be Merab. If the UFC has their way, Merab gets the nod for having done enough during his reign to warrant an immediate rematch. Sherbros' opinions don't figure into this one.

Merab vs. Yan II was a good fight, not sure why people don't want to see that one run back.

 

[Limeade]

Go merab. Bring that belt back to the USA.

He can do it with rest and more entries to his takedown.

 

[piropiro]

Not usually a fan of rematches let alone trilogies, but Merab is one of the rare cases when an immediate one is absolutely deserved.

Was extremely active as a champion (perhaps even too active which might have contributed to the loss), gave Yan the rematch despite beating him very convincingly, lost the second fight but it wasn't some kind of brutal finish.

Definite trilogy case.

 

[Luckyme]

I don't want to see Merab fight either but if O'Malley can be given back to back title shots, Merab absolutely deserves a remark considering how active he was as champion.

 

[Natural Order]

Nothing more embarrassing than a man who caps off jeans and a collared shirt with big tacky running shoes that look like they came off a cartoon character.

Somebody help this guy out, the cringe is too heavy.