Former UFC men's bantamweight champion Petr Yan meets hot contender Merab Dvalishvili in the main event of UFC Fight Night on Saturday in Las Vegas.
The fights at the Theater at Virgin Hotels are on ESPN+, with the 6 p.m. ET main card preceded by prelims at 3 p.m.
Yan (16-4) is looking to get back on track after two straight defeats, most recently a split-decision loss to Sean O'Malley in October. Yan is No. 4 in the ESPN bantamweight rankings.
The fifth-ranked Dvalishvili (15-4) is on an eight-fight winning streak. His most recent victory came by unanimous decision against Jose Aldo in August.
How to watch the fights
Watch on ESPN+: Get ESPN+ here.
There's also FightCenter, which offers live updates for every UFC card.
UFC Fight Night card
ESPN+, 6 p.m. ET
Men's bantamweight: Petr Yan vs. Merab Dvalishvili
Heavyweight: Alexander Volkov vs. Alexandr Romanov
Catchweight (215 pounds): Nikita Krylov vs. Ryan Spann
Men's bantamweight: Said Nurmagomedov vs. Jonathan Martinez
Light heavyweight: Vitor Petrino vs. Anton Turkalj
ESPN+, 3 p.m. ET
Heavyweight: Karl Williams vs. Lukasz Brzeski
Men's bantamweight: Raphael Assuncao vs. Davey Grant
Middleweight: Sedriques Dumas vs. Josh Fremd
Men's bantamweight: Mario Bautista vs. Guido Cannetti
Women's flyweight: Ariane Lipski vs. JJ Aldrich
Men's bantamweight: Victor Henry vs. Tony Gravely
Men's flyweight: Tyson Nam vs. Bruno da Silva
Welterweight: Carlston Harris vs. Jared Gordon
Reed Kuhn's betting tip
Getting into a standup duel with Yan would be ill-advised, despite Dvalishvili's impressive pace of strikes from distance. More to his favor, Dvalishvili spends over a quarter of each round controlling opponents on the mat. Add in his control along the fence, and half of his fight time can be scored for him on control alone. Against Yan, however, the other half of each round will be a challenge. Yan has clear advantages in technical striking. And though he uses a slower pace, he strikes efficiently and has racked up 10 knockdowns to date, more than any fighter on the card.
For Kuhn's suggested bets on the main event and other fights on Saturday's UFC card, as well as Friday's fights in Bellator, check out the ESPN+ expert picks and best bets article (link below). It also features analysis by retired UFC welterweight and ESPN MMA analyst Alan Jouban as well as ESPN's other betting expert, Ian Parker.
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Expert picks and best bets: Where do betters lean on Yan-Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov-Henderson?
Sources: Petr Yan, Merab Dvalishvili agree to UFC main event