UFC fights this weekend: Find out fight card, date, time, venue and streaming details here

UFC Fight Night 221 (or UFC on ESPN+ 79) will take place this weekend, March 11th, at The Theater at the Virgin Hotels in Paradise Nevada. The event will feature former bantamweight champion and No.2-ranked 135-pound contender Petr Yan against Merab Dvalishvili.

UFC Fight Night 221 main card will take place at 6 PM ET on ESPN+ while the prelims will be available to stream on the UFC Fight Pass at 3 PM ET.

Yan will make his comeback against Dvalishvili, after his controversial loss to Sean O'Malley at UFC 280. Dvalishvili is currently ranked No.3 in the UFC bantamweight division and is riding an eight-fight win-steak.

The co-main event will feature No.8-ranked heavyweight Alexander Volkov facing off against No.14-ranked Alexandr Romanov. No.6-ranked light heavyweight contender Nikita 'The Miner' Krylov will fight No.8-ranked Ryan 'Superman' Spann in the fight preceding the co-main event.

Will Petr Yan find redemption at UFC Fight Night 221?

Petr Yan is currently riding a two-fight losing streak, despite being in highly competitive and closely contested bouts. In his last fight, he lost his No.1 spot to 'Sugar' Sean O'Malley at UFC 280, in what many considered a controversial decision.

Prior to his UFC 280 loss, the then-UFC interim champion Petr Yan faced current champion Aljamain Sterling in a rematch where Sterling convincingly beat the Russian.

Petr Yan faces a unique challenge against Merab Dvalishvili this weekend. 'The Machine', despite having a rocky start in the UFC with two back-to-back losses, went on to win his next eight bouts.

Dvalishvili beat Jose Aldo, Marlon Moraes, Cody Stamann and John Dodson in his last four fights. Against Moraes, 'The Machine' secured a second-round TKO victory at UFC 266.

Both fighters have four losses in their professional careers. One could argue that Petr Yan is the better striker with seven knockout victories compared to Merab Dvalishvili's three. Both fighters have one submission victory on their fight records.

Will Petr Yan be able to find himself in the win column against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC Fight Night 221? We'll have to wait and find out.

About the author

Rahil Ahmed is a writer and content marketer by profession with experience writing about Cryptocurrency and Blockchain, politics and educational technology. He joined Sportskeeda as a writer covering UFC and MMA content in the fall of 2022.

Rahil has keen eyes for the sport of MMA, having avidly followed the same since 2014. He is a practitioner of martial arts with 7 years of experience training Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and the rank of a blue belt. He has competed in and won (gold and silver) at several national-level sports jiu-jitsu tournaments in India.

Apart from work and training, Rahil is also a musician of more than 15 years with 12+ years of experience playing live. He is a founding member and bassist of the Bangalore-based prog-metal band 'Maneating Orchid'.

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