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Merab Dvalishvili sends message to Petr Yan, promises to make Henry Cejudo ‘get drunk’ in Georgia after RAF match

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3 weeks ago

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Merab Dvalishvili sends message to Petr Yan, promises to make Henry Cejudo ‘get drunk’ in Georgia after RAF match

After four title fights in one calendar year, Merab Dvalishvili has been patiently waiting for word on his rematch against Petr Yan to settle their trilogy sometime in 2026.

Unfortunately, Dvalishvili hasn't heard a single word from the UFC on when he might actually get the chance to face Yan again and with the calendar already filled through August, the former champion is admittedly getting a little anxious. The original delay in booking the trilogy centered around Yan suffering an injury that was going to delay his return to action and Dvalishvili sent a message to the reigning UFC bantamweight champion in hopes of getting some kind of word about booking that third fight — hopefully sooner than later.

“I guess I'm not fighting in August and I haven't heard anything from Petr Yan,†Dvalishvili told MMA Fighting. “I'm just waiting for him and I'm praying he's coming back soon. I don't know.

“Petr, come back soon, bro. Let's fight. I want to fight. Let's go.â€

If there's one advantage to the time off, Dvalishvili has been able to heal up some nagging injuries, although he added to that list recently after breaking his nose in training and then again during a recent wrestling match.

Dvalishvili downplayed the severity of the nose injury on both occasions and he almost expects it to happen again, which is why he's not stressing that affecting his ability to fight in the near future.

“My nose is good now,†Dvalishvili said. “It's healed up. But if it happens, I don't care anymore. I'll be fine.â€

With the Yan trilogy still on hold, Dvalishvili has been keeping busy in his spare time by crossing over to freestyle wrestling with matches booked in RAF.

Following a win over UFC Hall of Famer Frankie Edgar in his RAF debut, Dvalishvili now gets the chance to fight at home with the promotion going to Georgia on Saturday for an international event with the former bantamweight champion facing Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo in the main event.

They were originally scheduled to clash at a prior RAF event but Cejudo dropped off the card at the last minute due to undisclosed reasons. Now Dvalishvili faces Cejudo in his native country and he admits that raises the stakes dramatically for him personally.

“This is pressure for sure,†Dvalishvili said. “I haven't competing in my country since 2010. It's going to be exciting but maybe a little bit stressful, too, because I can't lose [in front of] my people. It's going to be hard. Who knows?â€

When they met in the UFC, Dvalishvili was able to take Cejudo down and ultimately win a unanimous decision before moving onto capture the title at 135 pounds.

But that was MMA and this time Dvalishvili is a distinct underdog going against Cejudo, who captured an Olympic gold medal in freestyle wrestling back in 2008. No matter the result, Dvalishvili says he's planning for a raucous night in Georgia after he faces Cejudo and he wants the former two-division UFC champion that he better have his party shoes on after the match.

“Maybe he wants to avenge his loss and I'm sure he's training hard to beat me,†Dvalishvili said. “Let's see. He's the best at wrestling. I have an advantage competing at my home in Georgia but it's his sport wrestling. We'll see what's going to happen.

“Whatever it will be, I'll be happy. After our match, win or lose, I'm going to make Henry Cejudo get drunk in Georgia. Give him lots of good Georgian food and show him hospitality. I have so much respect for Henry. He's a good athlete and a good father.â€

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Sean Strickland slams Bud Light over Dustin Poirier sponsorship cut

Published

1 hour ago

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July 28, 2026

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Sean Strickland slams Bud Light over Dustin Poirier sponsorship cut
Sean
Strickland believes Bud Light mishandled the aftermath of
Dustin
Poirier's arrest.

Poirier was arrested at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International
Airport on a charge of public drunkenness after he threatened to
fight a police officer while intoxicated and even used a racial
slur. He has since owned up to his mistake while accepting his
issues with alcoholism since his retirement, vowing to stay sober
going forward.

However, Poirier (30-10) recently revealed that Bud Light canceled
his sponsorship due to the incident and
Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight king Strickland
isn't on board with the decision.

Sean Strickland criticizes Bud Light decision after Dustin
Poirier arrest

While Strickland had initially mocked Poirier for blaming his
depression, he has since expressed his heartfelt support for “The
Diamond.†Strickland had even warned Bud Light against canceling
Poirier's sponsorship. The two-time champion recently lashed out at
the beverage company for the same.

Strickland (31-7) says Bud Light already betrayed America by
printing transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney's photo on their
cans in 2023. He believes Poirier didn't deserve to lose his
sponsorship for nothing more than an embarrassing drunk incident.
Strickland says Bud Light should have instead extended their help
to Poirier to deal with his alcoholism.

“It made me so f*cking mad. Bud Light already f*cking betrayed
America with their f*cking tr–ny on a beer can,†Strickland said
on the “Shawn Ryan Show.†“How much of a piece of sh*t are you, Bud
Light? The moment something bad happens where you get a little
shame ‘cause you got drunk on a plane and tried to fight a black
cop. Which is funny; it's not racist. You want to terminate his
contract? They should have reached out to Dustin and said, ‘Hey
Dustin man, you might have a problem with drinking. We're a beer
company, we sponsor you, can we help you?' That's not what they
did. They're gonna say, ‘You used our product and you f*cked up.
Get the f*ck lost, we don't want that bad image.'â€

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Navajo Stirling recalls fighter having mental breakdown before DWCS bout

Published

3 hours ago

on

July 28, 2026

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Navajo Stirling recalls fighter having mental breakdown before DWCS bout
Navajo
Stirling saw a fighter in shambles right before his
Dana White's Contender Series bout.

Stirling earned his
Ultimate Fighting Championship contract with a knockout win on
Contender Series in 2024. He was sharing the locker room with
Quemuel
Ottoni, who was set to face Kody
Steele. Ottoni eventually didn't make the walk to the Octagon
and Stirling has now detailed what happened behind the scenes.

Navajo Stirling recalls Quemuel Ottoni's dramatic Dana White's
Contender Series fight-week incident

Stirling (10-0) recently revealed that Ottoni (12-4) was aggressive
towards Steele, and even other fighters, throughout fight week
until the weigh-ins. However, the Brazilian's nerves got the better
of him right before stepping out for his bout and he allegedly
started crying backstage, even ripping off his hand wraps multiple
times.

Cutman Brad Tate, who was in charge of wrapping Ottoni, refused to
repeat it after a point. The bout was eventually called off and
Steele won his contract in a later Contender Series outing.

“The guy that was on Contenders [Series] was probably the worst
one,†Stirling told Full Send MMA. “He was fighting Kody Steele. He
choked out Alex
Pereira back in the day. I was in the locker room with him… At
the weigh-ins, he is puffing his chest, he is even looking at me,
like, ‘You wanna go?' I'm like, ‘Bro, save it for tomorrow.' He's
staunching Kody Steele out at the weigh-ins. And I was thinking,
‘This is going to be a banger.' We get to the fight night and he
just started crying. He took his gloves off three or four times.
They had to re-wrap his hands. I think he had cutman Tate. The
cutman said, ‘F*ck this guy, I'm not wrapping his hands
anymore.'â€

Both Tate and Steele have confirmed Stirling's story about Ottoni,
who had choked out UFC superstar Pereira in the latter's
professional MMA debut in 2015. Ottoni and Pereira's careers have
taken contrasting trajectories since. While Pereira went on to
become a two-division champion, Ottoni is yet to make it out of the
regional scene. He has fought only once since the Contender Series
fiasco, suffering a first-round technical knockout loss.

Meanwhile, the undefeated Stirling already has five UFC wins to his
name. The Kiwi is now scheduled to face Jan
Blachowicz (29-11) on less than three weeks' notice at
UFC Belgrade in Serbia on Aug. 1.

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Matt Brown scoffs at anybody telling Justin Gaethje he should retire now: ‘What we’re doing is prize fighting’

Published

4 hours ago

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July 28, 2026

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Matt Brown scoffs at anybody telling Justin Gaethje he should retire now: ‘What we’re doing is prize fighting’

Justin Gaethje has hinted that he plans to continue fighting after his stunning upset over Ilia Topuria at the UFC White House card, but there are still plenty of fighters, fans, and critics who believe he should walk away now while he's on top of the sport.

It's been well documented that Gaethje's dream was becoming undisputed UFC lightweight champion and now he's finally accomplished that goal. But retired UFC welterweight Matt Brown thinks it's crazy that anybody is telling Gaethje to walk away right now when he's poised to make arguably the biggest paydays of his entire career.

“That's what we talk about all the time on here — don't forget what we're doing is prize fighting,†Brown said on The Fighter vs. The Writer. “Justin's value is higher than it's ever been. Take advantage of this shit while you can.â€

The biggest argument against Gaethje fighting again really comes down to a storybook ending for his career with the win over Topuria in June. He entered that fight as a massive underdog and it almost felt like he was being led like a lamb to the slaughter in that fight.

But instead, Gaethje survived some tough moments in the fight and then started dishing out his signature brand of punishment as he battered Topuria on the feet and on the ground. After the fourth round ended, Topuria couldn't continue and the fight was stopped with Gaethje being crowned UFC champion.

That moment is definitely unforgettable but Brown argues that win really just gives Gaethje the leverage to get more money and potentially avenge a couple of past losses while he's champion.

Add to that, Gaethje's legacy is already solidified as one of the most exciting fighters in the history of the sport, but he's not quite in the same conversation as fighters like Jon Jones, Khabib Nurmagomedov or Georges St-Pierre as the greatest of all-time.

“He's not in a top five pound-for-pound [all-time] argument,†Brown said. “He's not even in a top greatest lightweights argument really. He doesn't have anything to lose going for it. He's playing with house money. He goes out and he wins a couple of fights, defends the title against a couple of top guys — Arman [Tsarukyan] would be a huge one I think. I think that's a huge notch on the belt. Avenging a loss to either Max [Holloway] or Charles [Oliveira], another huge notch on the belt.

“He doesn't have anything to lose. He loses to those guys, his legacy isn't any less than it was before.â€

Looking at the lay of the land at lightweight, Brown points to Tsarukyan as the most worthy contender, but the UFC could easily look towards somebody like Holloway or Oliveira as a potential matchup for Gaethje due to the history they share.

Brown believes that all of those potential fights are matchups that Gaethje could win and that only adds to his legendary status.

That's why he's adamant that Gaethje could take some time off to rest and recover from his fight against Topuria but then he should start lining up opponents in 2027 to defend his title and take home a huge amount of money while doing it.

“When you look down the line at the potential matchups, that's a great lineup for him to go on a little title defense streak and have a whole new legacy,†Brown said. “Everybody not only talking about how he's must-see TV, and one of the greatest, most exciting fighters of all time, bonus machine, but now he's got a legacy of title defenses to go on top of that.

“Those are winnable fights for him. He didn't get dominated in those fights. Khabib [Nurmagomedov] is a tough fight for him, I think that's pretty clear. But those are winnable fights. I say shoot for it. Go for it.â€

Listen to new episodes of The Fighter vs. The Writer every Tuesday with audio only versions of the podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and iHeartRadio

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