You can beat Merab Dvalishvili up in the cage and take his belt. You can post numerous insulting AI photos of Merab as a waiter serving you in a jacuzzi. But it better be you on your social media account
doing it, not your manager or an employee.
That seems to be the issue between Dvalishvili and new bantamweight champion Petr Yan, who have been jousting back and forth in friendly fashion since UFC 323. That event saw Yan beat Dvalishvili via unanimous decision, snapping Merab’s 14 fight win streak and ruining his plan to be the first fighter to ever defend his title four times in one year.
Leading up to their fight, Merab offered to share his hot tub with Petr as a sign of friendship. Yan took it as condescension from someone who thought they’d win easily. He shot down the offer, stating Dvalishvili already had too many boys in his jacuzzi. Since then, the two have traded numerous photoshops of various hot tub scenarios, although it’s seemed pretty friendly.
Friendly, that is, until Merab found out that he was interacting with Yan’s coach and not Yan himself. Asked about the chummy exchanges when he returned the bantamweight belt to Russia, Yan revealed the truth.
“What friendly exchanges? Where?” Yan asked. “Ah, Twitter. My manager Sayat [Abdrakhmanov] does my Twitter, it’s he who talks to Merab there … No, I don’t think we’ll be friends.”
“Fans and Friends – Listen to this guy now Petr Yan,” Dvalishvili tweeted shortly after. “Never believe a word he says – just admitted he doesn’t write his own social media. Said he never said see you friend or said speedy recovery friend yesterday on Twitter – ‘wasn’t him.’ How quickly he changed his mind – thought he was humbled when I beat him in 2023 and I was friendly toward him. Forget it now liar – Game On.”
Dvalishvili spent way too much of UFC 323 trying to be friendly with Petr Yan, who clearly had no interest in being his friend. Now “The Machine” has lumped Yan back in with other Russian fighters he doesn’t like.
Hey Petr Yan – you would be respectable if you really called me friend,” he tweeted. “But instead you choose these two as ‘friends.’ Anatoliy Malykhin bet me $50,000 – never paid his bet like a real man. Mr_Saint_Patrick1 called out and cursed at my friends mother. Then instead of taking me on like a man after I slapped his coward face – he made me pay fines and go to court. Yea – you got some good friends there!”
‘Mr_Saint_Patrick1’ is a fan of Yan’s that Dvalishvili allegedly sucker-punched at UFC 273, when Yan was fighting Aljamain Sterling for the second time. Yes, that’s right: another incident where Merab attacked a fan.
We were never a fan of Merab’s attempts to get chummy with Petr, but this is just getting weird. How about this: no more hot tub photos, and no more guilt by association. Dvalishvili takes some time off, comes back, and fight Petr Yan like he’s trying to end Merab’s career at the top. Because that’s exactly what he’s trying to do.
