Merab Dvalishvili admits he knew he wasn’t going to beat Petr Yan in second round of their rematch

Merab Dvalishvili has opened up on his second fight with Petr Yan ahead of their trilogy.

Last December, Yan ended Dvalishvili’s dominant win streak by avenging the loss that he previously suffered to ‘The Machine’.

Their first meeting was so one-sided in the Georgian’s favor that few were expecting to see the bantamweight title change hands.

Dvalishvili knows that he can’t underestimate Yan, and it didn’t take him long to realize that victory was out of reach when they last stood across from each other.

The Russian challenger put on a masterclass to dethrone 'The Machine' in Las Vegas.

Petr Yan unanimously came out on top on the scorecards in the second half of his rematch with Merab Dvalishvili.

Their trilogy is now just 11 days away, prompting ‘The Machine’ to go back and reflect on the night that he lost the bantamweight title.

Dvalishvili has dominated most of his opponents with his grappling, but this wasn’t the case last December, with his challenger successfully defending 27 of the defending champion’s 29 takedown attempts.

The Georgian recently told UFC on Paramount+ that he realized things weren’t working out the way that he expected when Yan stopped one of these attempts in the second round.

Dvalishvili said that he came into the round planning to take his opponent down, but after putting it all into getting his opponent to the floor, he decided he’d have to switch up his approach after expending a lot of energy.

“In ten seconds, all my energy came out and then I’m like, ‘What now? I don’t think I can take him down, I’m going to have [to] just fight.’ Then I was just fighting…

“I was striking with him, he got me and then second round, I tried to take him down and I wasn’t able to and I’m like, ‘What should I do now?’ Then I was just having fun and I’m gonna enjoy the fight,” he said. “I realized in the second fight, I was not going to win this fight and I was just going to enjoy the fight.”

There was no point during UFC 323 where it was obvious that Merab Dvalishvili had realized he couldn’t win the fight.

‘The Machine’ once again lived up to his nickname by continuing to give everything and did it with a smile on his face.

Dvalishvili may have said that he made a conscious decision to just enjoy the fight, but it appears that he always does this anyway.

“I’m just happy, win, loss, good fight, bad fight, I’m just happy and I just try to enjoy,” he told UFC on Paramount+.