Merab Dvalishvili reacts to Petr Yan’s ‘sneaky’ staredown throat chop: ‘See you in Octagon’

Fight fans got more than they bargained for during UFC Las Vegas’ official weigh ins earlier today (Fri., Mar. 10, 2023) when Petr Yan throat chopped bantamweight counterpart Merab Dvalishvili during their face-off (see HERE).

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BANTAMWEIGHT CONTENDERS COLLIDE! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) departs APEX for a special “Fight Night” extravaganza at The Theater inside Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas, Nevada, this Sat. night (March 11, 2023) on ESPN+ featuring a bang-up bantamweight showdown between former champion and No. 2-ranked Petr Yan and No. 3-seeded Merab Dvalishvili. In the UFC Las Vegas co-main event, No. 8-ranked heavyweight hurter Alexander Volkov battles No. 14-ranked Moldovan mauler Alexandr Romanov in a clash of 265-pound contenders.

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The incident caught many by surprise as Yan and Dvalishvili don’t necessarily have bad blood heading into their main event at UFC Las Vegas on Saturday night. The two have mixed it up this week and have traded some small barbs, but nothing that would lead us to believe things would get physical during weigh ins.

Dvalishvili, who is making his first UFC main event appearance and his biggest step up in competition, tried to retaliate after Yan chopped his throat. Fortunately, security was on point and prevented the Georgian fighter from getting close to the former UFC champion.

After the incident, Dvalishvili took to social media to issue a statement about the entire ordeal. The bantamweight contender laid it all out as he blamed Yan for a week of unprofessional acts. Check it out below via Instagram:

“First I ask petr yan to talk together with a journalist since we did not have a press conference and he agreed with me and said talk anything but families. The journalist @theschmo312 reached out and he refused. I approached him myself at hotel and he said no to me this time because he knows he can’t talk man to man with me. Then talked trash saying I just wanted to promote myself. He was unprofessional at the face off and again wouldn’t look at me man to man and throw his arm at me in a sneaky way. See you in the Octagon.”

Luckily, we will get a resolution to this newfound feud Saturday night when Yan and Dvalishvili square off in the UFC Las Vegas main event live on ESPN+ from inside The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Las Vegas fight card right here, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” matches, which are scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. ET, then the remaining main card balance (also on ESPN+) at 6 p.m. ET.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC Las Vegas: “Yan vs. Dvalishvili” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the updated and finalized UFC Las Vegas fight card and ESPN+ lineup click here.