Georgian UFC bantamweight Merab Dvalishvili spoke about the extra pressure during his March 12 fight against Petr Yan at the UFC Fight Night 221 tournament.
The fight between Dvalishvili and Yan lasted the entire distance and ended in Merab's favor via unanimous decision of the judges.
I had extra pressure of representing my country, my people, my team, and we worked so hard. I want to represent the good. I didn't care about losing other fights against anybody, but if I lost to him, I'd have to kill myself or something.
Merab Dvalishvili
Dvalishvili defeated Jose Aldo by unanimous decision at UFC 278 in August 2022. In September 2021, Merab won by TKO over Marlon Moraes. The Georgian has 16 wins and four defeats under his belt. Yan has 16 wins and five defeats on his record.