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Merab Dvalishvili severely injured his hand in training before fighting Petr Yan.
On March 11, Dvalishvili extended his winning streak to nine with a unanimous decision victory against Yan. The Georgian-born fighter recently revealed that he spent most of his training camp with only one arm, making the win even more impressive. He had this to say on Twitter:
“Two weeks before my fight I injured my hand I was only training with one arm. During the first minutes of my fight, I could feel the pain in my hand, but I was ignoring the pain so I could fight. During the fight I re-injured my hand and I still feel the pain in my hand today.”
Dvalishvili made his UFC debut in December 2017. Things didn’t go as planned for ‘The Machine,’ with his first two fights being losses against Frankie Saenz and Ricky Simon. Since then, the Georgian-born fighter has been nearly unstoppable, winning nine consecutive fights.
Dvalishvili’s last two wins have been against former UFC champions - Jose Aldo and Yan. After winning at UFC Las Vegas, the 32-year-old jumped over Sean O’Malley to become the number one-ranked bantamweight. The question is, what’s next for the Longo and Weidman MMA product?
What’s next for Merab Dvalishvili?
Merab Dvalishvili is in a weird spot in the UFC bantamweight division. Dvalishvili is a longtime training partner and close friend of reigning 135-pound champion Aljamain Sterling. ‘The Machine’ is close to earning a title shot, but he’s repeatedly said he would never fight Sterling.
‘Funk Master’ looks to secure his third title defense against former two-division world champion Henry Cejudo. The intriguing bantamweight championship matchup is scheduled for May 6 in the UFC 288 main event, which goes down inside the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
As for Merab Dvalishvili, he plans to continue fighting top bantamweight contenders until Sterling potentially moves up to featherweight. It’s unclear when ‘Funk Master’ plans to change division, but the expectation is another one or two title defenses. In the meantime, ‘The Machine’ might be matched up against the winner of Marlon Vera vs. Cory Sandhagen or the winner of Rob Font vs. Adrian Yanez.
