Petr Yan owned the UFC men’s bantamweight belt as far back as 2020, but he never looked more like a champion than he did Saturday night, when he dethroned Merab Dvalishvili by unanimous decision in an action-packed UFC 323 main event in Las Vegas.
Two judges scored the bout 49-46, while the other had it 48-47 for Yan.
Yan (20-5) was the aggressor throughout, which wasn’t the case in Dvalishvili’s previous fights, including their first meeting.
In 2023, after Yan’s reign as champion had ended and Dvalishvili’s had not begun, Dvalishvili scored a dominant decision win over Yan thanks to a relentless attack. Dvalishvili made 49 takedown attempts that night, and although Yan fended off 38 of them, he became fatigued and was put on the defensive all fight, never mounting an offensive threat.
The rematch played out much differently. Although Dvalishvili (21-5) entered the bout with 117 takedowns in his Octagon career, the most in UFC history, he did not add to his total in the first two rounds, going 0-for-13. Yan had the first takedown of the fight midway through the second round.
Dvalishvili was 2-of-29 on takedown attempts. Yan was 5-of-9, but it was his pinpoint striking that was the biggest factor. He landed 60% of his significant strikes, bloodying Dvalishvili’s face with sharp jabs and visibly hurting him with kicks to the body.
“I’m very, very happy. I worked so hard,” Yan said through a Russian interpreter. “I prepared so hard for this moment. This is my life.”
Although Dvalishvili is best known for his wrestling, he began Saturday’s fight by focusing on his striking, a curious strategy against Yan, who is a proficient boxer. Dvalishvili said afterward that his goal was to please the fans.
“I tried entertainment fight today,” Dvalishvili said. “I tried a good fight to give everybody.”
Dvalishvili succeeded at that, but Yan met him in the center of the cage and executed his own plan to return to the top of the 135-pound division as a two-time champion.
With Yan dethroning Dvalishvili and Joshua Van taking Alexandre Pantoja’s belt in Saturday’s co-main event, only one of the UFC’s 11 current champions (women’s flyweight Valentina Shevchenko) has made a successful title defense.