Sandhagen believes Merab
Dvalishvili rushed into his rematch against Petr Yan.
Dvalishvili (21-5) defeated Yan (20-5) via a lopsided unanimous
decision in their first matchup in 2023. While Dvalishvili won the
bantamweight title soon after, Yan hasn’t lost a fight since. Yan
earned a chance to avenge the loss in a rematch against Dvalishvili
at
UFC 323 this past December. Meanwhile, Dvalishvili looked to
defend his bantamweight title for the fourth time in a year in his
rematch against Yan. Dvalishvili made a two month turnaround from a
successful title defense against Sandhagen in October. Yan put on a
technical masterclass, outclassing Dvalishvili in every aspect to
earn a huge upset win.
Sandhagen admits he expected Dvalishvili to win the rematch against
Yan. However, Sandhagen believes “The Machine” slightly
underestimated Yan in making a quick turnaround for the rematch.
Yan is currently recovering from a back surgery and is expected to
face Dvalishvili in a rubber match when he returns. “The Sandman”
believes Dvalishvili will be better prepared for the trilogy and
get his hands raised against Yan.
More Respect Needed
“I thought that Merab was gonna win, but Yan did a good job,”
Sandhagen told Home of Fight. “Merab took the fight way too
soon in my opinion. He should have gameplanned the fight for Yan
for a lot longer, giving Yan a little bit more respect in
that regard. In the next fight I am pretty sure it’s going to be
very competitive, where I can see Merab winning this one.”