Bloody Elbow · Mar 13, 2023
Biggest victory at UFC Vegas 71 goes unnoticed
Merab Dvalishvili celebrates his win over Petr Yan.Most fight fans will remember UFC Vegas 71 for Merab Dvalishvili’s dominant upset over former bantamweight champion Petr Yan Saturday.
The Tbilisi-born Dvalishvili stood up to the Russian striker for five rounds, wrestling him into what he hopes will be a humbling defeat. For Dvalishvili — who remembers being bombed by Russians as a teen in Georgia — it was a satisfying end to a bout preceded by personal attacks and tainted by current geopolitics.
But the greatest upset of the night went completely unheralded — even though it was pretty obvious to someone who’s just a casual observer of the sport, like me. Hell, I didn’t even watch the fight.