Following Petr Yan’s imminent rematch with Merab Dvalishvili, Dvalishvili’s coach, John Wood, had a lot to say about Yan’s constant injury withdrawals.
The two fighters first met in 2023, where Dvalishvili emerged victorious after a five-round battle. More than two years later, the rematch is set, with Yan recently claiming he expects a much better result because he was “only at 50 percent” in the first fight.
“Petr Yan’s back into the mix and all of a sudden it’s ‘I was 50 percent for the last fight.’ Why are we hearing about that now two and a half years later or whatever?” John Wood told MMA Fighting. “Fifty percent? Well, OK, Merab’s a lot better than he was then, so I think it’s still going to balance out the same way for you.
“I do get tired of the whole fighters [saying] ‘I was injured.’ Don’t take the fight then. Don’t take the fight. If you’ve got bad ribs that are so bad that when you lose, you’re going to blame it on that, then why are we fighting? Don’t fight. Just shut your mouth and do what you’re supposed to do. Everybody gets in there injured.”
John Wood revealed that Dvalishvili was severely compromised going into the first fight against Yan but still powered through and got the job done.
“I’ll tell you this, when Merab fought Petr Yan, we had some nasty injuries,” Wood said. “His hand was the size of a football when he went in there. He could barely get his hand in the glove. He had a completely broken hand in that fight. Never heard a word about it. You’ll never hear a word about those things, and he still did what he did.
“Everybody’s going to say what they need to say to feel better, and that’s OK, that’s part of the game. The whole injury thing — saying you can beat another guy, no problem, I’m good with that. But saying ‘I lost because of injury,’ it’s kind of cringey.”
John Wood also admitted that he worried Dvalishvili might not get cleared by the commission before his last fight due to how unhealthy he was at the time.
“God as my witness, I was really hoping that maybe the commission wouldn’t clear him just because of how unhealthy he was,” Wood said. “It was never a thing of knowing he couldn’t do it. Because his sparring, even how messed up he was, was so good.
“This dude would come in, could barely walk, sick, and get in there and just beat the shit out of everybody for 10 rounds. Like nothing was wrong. Great sparring, and then leave and be busted up again. I knew he was capable of doing it. There was never a question, and I knew there was no way he was going to pull out of that fight.
“But it was a scary thought. Because Umar is a tough dude, a very talented, tough guy from a very good camp. Those fears of like, ‘Oh my God, if I don’t pull him out and something bad happens, it’s on me.’ But again, I know what kind of dog I’ve got in that fight, and Merab would have to lose a limb for me to probably pull him out of a fight.”
Dvalishvili has been on a roll in 2025, and he’ll be chasing history at UFC 323. If he defeats Yan in December, he’ll set a record for the most successful UFC title defenses in a single year.
Yan on otherhand is looking to secure to victory after scoring a win over Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC Macau.
