"I thought we were winning and controlling" - Merab Dvalishvili's coach gets honest on Petr Yan title loss at UFC 323

Coach John Wood recently got honest about his pupil Merab Dvalishvili losing to Petr Yan in their rematch and shared his take on how the fight went.

Dvalishvili went up against Yan last weekend at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Given that Dvalishvili secured a dominant unanimous decision win in their first encounter, many expected 'The Machine' to beat the Russian fighter again. However, Yan pushed Dvalishvili to his limits over five rounds in their rematch and reclaimed the bantamweight title via unanimous decision.

Had Dvalishvili won, he would've made history as the first UFC champion ever to secure four title defenses in one calendar year. Given what was at stake, it's no surprise that the Georgian-born wrestling maestro's coach is struggling to come to terms with the title loss.

In an interview with MMA Fighting, coach Wood reflected on Dvalishvili's performance against Yan and said:

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"Obviously, a very rough weekend. It sucks. It’s a heartbreaker, but it is the sport... I thought we were winning and controlling, and I thought we were pressing and doing what we needed to do. Petr definitely had the bigger moments, and I think that shifted [the fight], and you just don’t know... He had the bigger moments in those things, and that really did account for the damage and the blood; those were the things that added up and took over."

He added:

“It sucks. It’s like waking up from a nightmare. This doesn’t go away. I thought we had the right things going on in this camp, and it was a quick camp, and it was a hard camp. There are a lot of things that go on behind the scenes. But it was Petr’s night." [H/t: MMA Fighting]

Watch coach John Wood's full interview below:

Coach John Wood on a potential Petr Yan vs. Merab Dvalishvili trilogy fight

Coach John Wood believes Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili will throw down in a trilogy fight next year. The veteran coach pointed out that Dvalishvili and Yan are now 1-1 against each other and put on an entertaining show for the fans both times.

In the same interview, coach Wood predicted a trilogy fight next year and said:

"There’s no doubt you will [see it again]. I’m sure that it might already be being talked about. It’s one of those things, two great fights and Petr coming out and performing like that against somebody that everybody thought was unstoppable at that time, sets up a huge trilogy."

He added:

"It was a phenomenal fight. So I mean, who’s not going to want to see that again? Those are two guys who leave it all out there, who are fighters’ fighters. There is no doubt in my mind that in 2026, you will see the trilogy for sure."