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UFC star Merab Dvalishvili has revealed the biggest mistake he made when he lost the bantamweight title to Petr Yan.

In the co-main event of UFC 333, Petr Yan will defend his UFC bantamweight championship against Merab Dvalishvili, the man who he beat to become champion once again. The two are currently at 1-1 in this series as we prepare for the third and potentially final meeting between them.

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Prior to the rematch, Merab Dvalishvili was viewed as one of the pound for pound best fighters in the world. Now, he’s hungry to go out there and prove that he still has what it takes to mix it up with the very best at 135 pounds.

In a recent interview, Merab Dvalishvili had the following to say about what went wrong for him against Yan at UFC 323.

Merab Dvalishvili admits Yan rematch mistake

“I think the second fight I was fighting his fight,” Dvalishvili said. “I was in front of him and then exchanged the boxing, but this time I will just be myself. I think I’ll be much sharper and I know I can beat this guy. He hits hard, he is good, he’s shown, so it’s going to be a good fight. I’m excited.”

Merab went on to talk about the current state of the bantamweight division and what the future holds.

“Division keeps going,” Dvalishvili said. “I love this. You have a lot of good guys like Raul Rosas. I’m friends with him, he’s a cool guy, very strong. There are lots of young, tough fighters in this division.

“Now we have a new contender, Song Yadong, I’m not going to say he gives me chills, but he makes me excited because he hits hard. He really hits like a truck and I want to test that.”

Quotes via MMA Fighting

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