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The headline fight at the UFC Fight Night event on March 11 at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas will reportedly feature the former UFC champion Petr Yan and the rising star Merab Dvalishvili. There is already an agreement in place for the fight to happen even though the match agreements have not yet shown up.
Dvalishvili (15-4 MMA, 8-2 UFC) enters the battle on an eight-fight winning streak. He last competed in August, defeating Jose Aldo at UFC 278 by unanimous decision. Dvalishvili, a rising star in the high echelons of the UFC rankings, has publicly said he will not challenge champion and comrade Aljamain Sterling.
After a two-fight losing streak that included close decisions against Sterling and, more recently, Sean O'Malley, Yan (16-4 MMA, 8-3 UFC) will try to make a comeback. Aldo, Cory Sandhagen, Urijah Faber, and Magomed Magomedov are just a few of the opponents Yan has defeated in the past.
The UFC Vegas 71 lineup includes:
Merab Dvalishivli vs. Petr Yan
Abu Azaitar vs. Sedriques Dumas
Lukasz Brzeski vs. Karl Williams
JJ Aldrich vs. Ariane Lipski
Raphael Assuncao vs. Kyler Phillips