"I have some of my opinions"- Merab Dvalishvili’s coach addresses claims of overlooking Petr Yan with a brutally honest take

Merab Dvalishvili's coach, John Wood, recently addressed the talks that his pupil took Petr Yan lightly ahead of UFC 323.

After Yan’s unanimous decision win to reclaim the bantamweight title, several fans pointed out that Dvalishvili was potentially overlooking the Russian as a challenger, since he had already beaten him in March 2023. Wood pushed back firmly on that interpretation.

From his perspective, the work in camp never changed, and neither did the respect for Yan’s danger. Speaking in an interview with Submission Radio, he said:

"No, I do not think there was any overlooking at all. I have some of my opinions that I would gladly share after I speak to Merab. I am not going to speak for him or put anything out there, but four fights in a year at that magnitude, with the weight cuts and everything, it is a lot. It would be disrespectful to Petr and his team to say we overlooked him because the work was done. We trained for him, and we trained very, very hard. There was nothing different."

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He added:

"There are some things that played into a factor that maybe made it look that way, but there was definitely no overlooking that man. Everybody knows how dangerous Petr is, and it would be disrespectful to him and his team to even think that. Merab is not a guy that takes people lightly, and I am not a coach that takes people lightly. Every fight at the top level is against the next most dangerous fighter in the world."

Check out John Wood's comments below (10:45):

John Wood discusses the potential toll of multiple weight cuts on Merab Dvalishvili

John Wood framed Merab Dvalishvili's loss to Petr Yan as a matter of fatigue accumulation rather than a mindset issue. Four championship fights in a single year demand repeated camps, constant travel, and weight cuts that drain athletes.

He acknowledged that some in-cage decisions invited criticism, particularly the choice to strike more in the rematch, but rejected any link to complacency. Speaking in the aforementioned interview with Submission Radio, he said:

"All I am going to say is it was a lot. This camp was a lot. There was a lot going on. I am not going to speak for Merab, and I will never go out there and make excuses for him. That is up to him, but I will say as a coach, it was a lot. It was a lot for all of us. Definitely a lot for him. He has been on the record multiple times saying that weight cutting was not his favorite part of the game. It was a lot. That is all I will say."