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Merab Dvalishvili, a Georgian UFC bantamweight fighter, recently opened up about his animosity towards Russian fighter Petr Yan.
Dvalishvili stated that his dislike for Yan stems from the latter's behavior outside of the octagon, which he describes as that of a "Russian bully." The pair are set to fight on March 12th in the main event of the next UFC Fight Night event. In an interview with The Schmo the #3 ranked bantamweight revealed why he wants to beat his Russian opponent:
"I just wanna finish him you know. I don't like the guy, I have all respect all my ex opponents but somehow I don't like this guy much you know. I have some respect, he's a good fighter, good family guy, but otherwise he's stupid you know, he is Russian Bully. So I just wanna finish him."
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The winner of this fight will be in a very good position to challenge for the bantamweight title next. Yan will look to get back to winning ways after winning just one fight in his last four fights. Merab Dvalishvili also called out Yan for being the champion and not knowing the rules of the UFC when he threw the infamous knee against Aljamain Sterling.
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Take a look at the interview:
Merab Dvalishvili says Petr Yan should be more humble while describing a run in between the pair in Abu Dhabi
The bad blood between Merab Dvalishvili and Petr Yan seems to have reached a boiling point ahead of their fight next weekend. The pair do not hold each other in high regard after multiple run-ins with each other.
The pair are set to put their differences aside in the ring on Saturday night. In an interview with Damon Martin, the No.3-ranked bantamweight spoke about one of their run-ins:
"He point to me and said 'oh he's small'. And I think it was funny and I tried to like size him up and then he point again to me and said I am a zero. He's like cocky, most fighters are humble, I don't think Petr is humble and he should be humble man."
Merab Dvalishvili also spoke about how the incident took place just days before Yan fought Sean O'Malley and so he and Aljamain Sterling did not really react to anything the Russian said. The No.3-ranked bantamweight will look to replicate his teammate's success when he fights Yan on Saturday night.
Watch the video below:
