Petr Yan had the final word in his epic trilogy with Merab Dvalishvili.
Yan defeated Dvalishvili via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47) to retain the bantamweight title in the UFC 333 co-main event Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Yan took a 2-1 lead in his head-to-head series against Dvalishvili. He beat Dvalishvili by unanimous decision at UFC 323 last December to reclaim the 135-pound belt. In their first meeting in March 2023, Dvalishvili earned a lopsided decision victory over Yan in a non-title bout.
Dvalishvili got off to a terrific start in Saturday's trilogy bout, winning the first two rounds on all three judges' scorecards. He overwhelmed Yan with pressure, completing five takedowns, and even caught the champion with some hard punches.
But Yan came alive in the third round and never looked back. He began stuffing Dvalishvili's takedown attempts with ease and landed damaging shots to the challenger's head and body.
By the fifth round, Yan had all the momentum. The first few minutes of the round were close, but Yan battered Dvalishvili down the stretch to leave little doubt that he would leave the cage with the belt around his waist.
Dvalishvili made 56 takedown attempts, a new UFC record for the most in a fight. He completed just five of those attempts.
Yan is riding a five-fight winning streak after making the first title defense of his second reign. The 33-year-old Russian hasn't lost since his first fight with Dvalishvili more than three and a half years ago.
Dvalishvili has lost two in a row for the first time in his career. His first defeat to Yan snapped a 14-fight winning streak that spanned more than seven years.
Dvalishvili captured the title with a win over Sean O'Malley in September 2024 and defended it three times - against Umar Nurmagomedov, O'Malley, and Cory Sandhagen - before losing to Yan 10 months ago.
