BREAKING: Petr Yan vs. Merab Dvalishvili to headline first UFC card at Virgin Hotels on March 11

Petr Yan is scheduled to return to the octagon on March 11 as the UFC hosts their first event at The Theater at Virgin Hotels, Las Vegas. 'No Mercy' will take on surging contender Merab Dvalishvili in the main event at UFC Vegas 71.

The booking was first reported by the Las Vegas Review Journal.

Petr Yan will fight Merab Dvalishvili at #UFCVegas71 on March 11th. (first rep. @reviewjournal) #UFC #MMA #UFCESPN #UFC2023 #MainEvent https://t.co/N1UfR7aPij

UFC Vegas 71 will go down a week after UFC 285 in Vegas and a week before the UFC 286 card in London. The card currently looks like this:

Petr Yan vs. Merab Dvalishvili

Anthony Smith vs. TBA

Raphael Assunção vs. Kyler Phillips

Tyson Nam vs. Bruno Silva

Mario Bautista vs. Guido Cannetti

JJ Aldrich vs. Ariane Lipski

Sedriques Dumas vs. Abu Azaitar

Lukasz Brzeski vs. Karl Williams

***Updated Schedule UFC Fights 1/14/23***

#UFCVegas68 #UFCVegas69 #UFCVegas70 #UFCVegas71 #UFC283 #UFC284 #UFC285 #UFC286 #UFC287 #UFCSanAntonio #UFCLondon #UFC2023

eurosport.nl/mixed-martial-… https://t.co/H4p5rXOhSk

Petr Yan will look to bounce back from consecutive split-decision losses that made it three in his last four for the former bantamweight king. 'No Mercy' dropped a closely contested title shot against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 273 in April and a three-rounder against Sean O'Malley at UFC 280 in October.

Meanwhile, Merab Dvalishvili is riding an eight-fight win streak of which seven came via unanimous decisions. The only KO win of the Georgian's UFC career came against Marlon Moraes in 2021. 'The Machine' is coming off a controversial decision win over Jose Aldo that saw him jump to the third spot on the bantamweight ladder.

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