Merab Dvalishvili has pinned his shocking 36-second loss to Henry Cejudo at RAF 12 in Cleveland on his primary focus: preparing for his high-stakes trilogy bout against Petr Yan.
Dvalishvili, who previously defeated the Olympic champion on points at RAF in Tbilisi, was caught on a pin in their submission grappling rematch. The Georgian fighter acknowledged the gamble of taking the match without a dedicated camp while preparing for his upcoming UFC title fight.
“It was risky. I had already beaten him in wrestling and knew he’d be coming with a specific strategy. But I didn’t have time to prepare properly for wrestling because my focus is fully on my next fight. Normally, I spend about a week prepping for RAF matches as extra training. I lost this one, but I was still happy for Henry,” Dvalishvili shared with Ariel Helwani.
The loss comes right before Dvalishvili attempts to reclaim his UFC bantamweight crown from Petr Yan at UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi, seeking revenge after losing the belt last December.
