Petr Yan climbing atop the bantamweight throne was an impactful moment to close out 2025, and a teammate of Yan’s who also won gold last December has weighed in on the former ACA standout regaining UFC hardware. In the same month that Yan regained the 135-pound strap and avenged a prior loss to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 323, but his Tiger Muay Thai teammate also won championship gold, but under the Rizin FF banner.
Ilkhom Nozimov halted Rizin’s longest tenured titleholder, lightweight king Roberto Satoshi De Souza, in thirteen seconds to wrest the RFF 155-pound belt from the division’s inaugural champ. Nozimov also previously mirrored the stylistic proclivities of Sean O’Malley during TMT training sessions prior to the fight that Yan had with ‘Suga.’
Speaking to that massive month that saw multiple Tiger Muay Thai fighters capture meaningful belts in different MMA promotions, Nozimov said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“Petr Yan is another tough guy. I spent the whole camp with him when he was preparing for Sean O’Malley. I was his main sparring partner for that fight and after sparring with him, after the camp with him, any fighting or sparring with anyone in my division, it was easy. Because Petr is someone who always make it hard for you.”
“I grew a lot and I learned a lot from that camp and still am using it, the knowledge from that camp. This is guy who always put you in danger, who always can inflict damage on you, and he’s still also evolving. Mentally now, he’s on another level and that’s why I’m super, super happy for him. Because I knew he always deserve to be champion again.”
Petr Yan vs. Merab Dvalishvili 3 for UFC White House card? The latter explains why not
Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili are tied up in their series at one win apiece, but the former champion explained why it will reportedly not happen on a particular Summer card for the UFC. The June event at the White House will supposedly not see Yan vs. Dvalishvili in a rubber match, which was expressed by the latter during an interview with MMA Pros Pick.
‘The Machine’ seemed to put the kibosh on his tiebreaker bout with the Russian champ happening in proximity to the Oval Office, as Dvalishvili stated,
“UFC told me our fight will not happen at the White House on Trump’s birthday in June, because he is Russian, and that’s impossible.”