UFC Vegas: Dvalishvili dominates Yan, sets record for attempted takedowns at 45

Benny A. King

In a highly-anticipated bantamweight match, Merab Dvalishvili defeated Petr Yan in a dominant performance at the UFC Las Vegas.

Dvalishvili, who was making his first UFC main event appearance, had been looking forward to facing Yan for months, citing Yan’s feud with his own teammate Aljamain Sterling and Anatoly Malykhin’s alleged welching on a bet as reasons for his disdain.

Yan, on the other hand, claimed that nobody cared about Dvalishvili, who had an impressive eight win streak heading into the event.

The match got off to an intense start, with Yan refusing to touch gloves with Dvalishvili before the action began.

Dvalishvili immediately took Yan down and landed several strikes, putting him on his knees. Yan was able to get back up, but he was warned by the referee for having his fingers extended. The rest of the first round saw both trading takedowns and strikes, with Dvalishvili finishing the round in control.

In the second round, Dvalishvili continued to dominate, landing leg kicks and step-in elbows that had Yan backing up. He was able to power through a double-leg takedown, planting Yan with authority. Yan managed to escape back up and deny the next takedown attempt, but Dvalishvili caught a kick and dumped Yan on his back. Yan was able to get back up, but he was clearly struggling.

Yan came out strong in the third round, attacking Dvalishvili’s legs, but Dvalishvili kept pushing off his takedown attempts and continued to push the pace. He dragged Yan down several times and was in control for most of the round. The fourth round saw Dvalishvili take Yan down again and pepper him with strikes, while the fifth round left Yan in desperate need of a finish, which he was unable to achieve.

Overall, Merab Dvalishvili’s wrestling was explosive, smothering, and dominant, leaving Yan unable to break free. While Yan may have stolen a round on the scorecards, Dvalishvili was the clear winner of the match.

All three judges scored the event 50-45 for Dvalishvili.

Merab Dvalishvili made history in his latest UFC outing by attempting a staggering 49 takedowns, surpassing the previous record for most takedown attempts in a single UFC event. Georgian managed to secure 11 of those takedowns, cementing his reputation as one of the best wrestlers in the UFC.

Dvalishvili’s incredible feat puts him in a league of his own when it comes to takedown attempts. The previous record holder, Khabib Nurmagomedov, attempted 21 takedowns in his bout against Abel Trujillo. Dvalishvili shattered that record with ease, making nearly 2.5 times as many attempts.

It’s worth noting that while Dvalishvili attempted a record-breaking number of takedowns, he didn’t simply rely on quantity over quality. Of the 49 attempts, he managed to secure 11, which is a respectable success rate, especially against a tough opponent like Yan.

With his latest victory, Dvalishvili also tied former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson with a total of 74 takedowns landed in the UFC. And with just 10 more takedowns, he will equal the record held by Georges St-Pierre, one of the greatest MMA pros of all time.