All fighters in the UFC are hungry for success but one fighter at UFC 333 threatened to have a different kind of feast at his opponent's expense

Merab Dvalishvili has told his opponent Petr Yan, "I'll eat you", after piling on nearly one and a half stone in just five hours. Dvalishvili is hankering for revenge when he takes on his familiar rival at UFC 333.

At UFC 323 last year, Yan got the better of the Georgian by overcoming him in a five-round decision. At the time, Dvalishvili admitted he found shredding down to 135lbs (9.5-stone) difficult and suggested he made some mistakes in the process.

He got back down to the weight again, as confirmed in their weigh-in, but barely five-hours after that, Dvalishvili rehydrated himself by nearly 1.5-stone. He showed off the lightning fast weight increase in a video on social media, where he weighed in at 11-stone.

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He filmed himself stepping onto the scales and revealing the remarkable new figure. In the clip, he said: "It's been only five hours since I made weight, and I'm back already. I've been drinking water...19 pounds. In only five hours, I gained back 19 pounds. That's how we do it. Let's go, now I'm back," reports the Mirror.

"Drinking, and recovering. Now I'm gonna start eating. Let's go. Eat food first, and tomorrow, you guys already know who I'm gonna eat. Let's f****** go."

His confidence is as high as his weight at the moment. In a heated exchange during their press conference, Dvalishvili told Yan: "Talk now. Enjoy. I will show you. Saturday I’ll show you. I’ll eat you."

Weight cutting is standard practice in MMA and other combat sports, with fighters typically shedding water weight in the build-up to their bouts. It's not uncommon for a fighter to pile on the pounds between the weigh-in and the bout itself, due to rehydrating and consuming food.

However, this was a dramatic spike in weight over such a brief period, and could even hand him a sizeable advantage over his opponent. The UFC has introduced a number of measures in a bid to make weight-cuts safer.

Many of these include outlawing IV drips and establishing the Performance Institute, which offers fighters access to professional health specialists to guide them on how to shed the pounds safely.

Last year, Dvalishvili cut weight so frequently that he was regularly quizzed about his physical wellbeing. He got down to 135lbs to face Yan at UFC 323 last year, a bout he went on to lose in a five-round decision.

Following the defeat, he conceded that he had made some poor choices during his weight-cut, saying: "I tried to put on a show and I lost the fight. He had a better game plan. Congrats to him, but I want a rematch. Making 135 is always hard for me because I cut weight my own way - I don't trust nutritionists.

"I'm not looking for excuses. I tried to fight in an exciting way, everyone is happy - that's what matters most. I didn't want to wrestle, fighting boring. I wanted to stand and trade with him, and today he was better."

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