Petr Yan defeats Dvalishvili by unanimous decision to reclaim world bantamweight belt at UFC 323

Merab Dvalishvili started as favorite in all betting. The Georgian intended to break the record for title defenses in a calendar year, but he hit a wall he couldn’t break down. And that’s it Petr Yan was superior to Dvalishvili in all areas: inside strikingwhere he made the Georgian’s legs tremble with different body blows, and also in the fight, where defended as no one had done until now the attacks of The machine.

The former bantamweight champion barely managed to knock down the Russian twice, who He dared to challenge his rival on his own turf and even surprised him with several takedowns.. Even his cardio was on par with that of the incombustible Dvalishvili. Yan, who had already faced the Georgian in 2023 and was beaten, designed and executed a perfect strategy to get the belt back.

In July 2020, Petr Yan reached the summit for the first time in his career. He defeated José Aldo by TKO at UFC 251 and became the undisputed 135-pound champion.. However, his reign did not last long; In his first title defense against Aljamain Sterling, he made a mistake:an illegal knee— for which he was disqualified and with which his belt was taken away.

The Russian then begins a long and difficult journey in which he was considered hopeless after losing in the rematch to Sterling and later also to Sean O’Malley and Merab himself. We will have to wait until 2024 for Yan to find his way back to victory until obtaining a new title opportunity that the Russian did not miss.

For his part, Joshua Van has become the new flyweight leaderwithout having had the opportunity to prove his worth in the octagon. In the opening seconds of the fight, Pantoja threw a high kick that Van blocked and knocked the Brazilian off balance. While falling, El Caníbal put his hand on the canvas, but his elbow was broken and he was unable to continue the fight. Twenty-six seconds of combat and a new champion.