Merab Dvalishvili employs new coach to his team ahead of potential UFC title rematch with Petr Yan

Ahead of his potential trilogy against Petr Yan, Merab Dvalishvili has made a big change to his camp.

Last December, Merab Dvalishvili‘s dominant bantamweight title reign came to a shocking end when he lost a unanimous decision to Petr Yan at UFC 323.

Following that fight, ‘No Mercy’ Yan underwent surgery on his back which has kept him out of the Octagon since then.

‘The Machine’ on the other hand has been attempting to stay active by competing outside of the UFC, wrestling twice under the RAF banner before booking a lightweight crossover title fight against Henry Cejudo for RAF 12.

Dvalishvili employs new coach ahead of potential Yan trilogy

Because of how dominant his reign over the 135lb division was, the Georgian is expected to receive an immediate rematch against Yan.

Not only that, but the pair are now 1-1 against each other, with the trilogy and rivalry needing to be settled.

Despite that, the UFC has been warned against booking the trilogy by Sean O’Malley, who has claimed the UFC risks missing out on the biggest fight in bantamweight history between him and Yan.

However, the 35-year-old former champion recently claimed that he is now in training camp for a rematch against Yan.

“This is pretty much how I’m gonna work against Petr and this feels like a real training camp for me, we talk a lot, we’re training smart and this is what I need, last time I fought Petr I was training hard, now I’m training smart,” he said during a recent livestream.

And with that, Dvalishvili revealed that he has employed a new wrestling coach to help him prepare for his upcoming title fight.

Earlier this year, Dvalishvili bizarrely leaked his mobile number online when asking for coaches to get in contact with him.

“This is my second training session (of the day), and I have a private wrestling training with coach Jesse, he is my new coach, he has been helping me with private training in his gym in Vegas.”

Ever since moving to Las Vegas from New York, Dvalishvili has been training at Syndicate MMA with coach John Wood, continuing his relationship with Ray Longo at the same time.

In his rematch against Yan last December, the Georgian machine attempted a whopping 29 takedowns on Yan, only landing two of them.

‘No Mercy’ landed five of his nine takedown attempts on Dvalishvili, also dominating him in the striking exchanges.

At this moment, it is unclear when the trilogy fight between Yan and Dvalishvili will take place, but it is fair to say Dvalishvili is now ramping up his training.