Petr Yan found the one comparison guaranteed to make Daniel Cormier squirm, and he said it to DC’s face.
Talking game plan for his trilogy with Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 333, Yan told Cormier the body is where the fight gets won. A clip of the exchange made the rounds on r/MMA on Friday. In it, Yan said he had never seen Merab get beaten to the body like that before, then reminded Cormier that when Jon Jones started hitting DC’s body, Cormier forgot about his wrestling too.
That is a cold thing to say to a guy who was an Olympic wrestler, a six-time U.S. World or Olympic Team member and an NCAA Division I finalist at Oklahoma State. Cormier is also a former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion, and he now calls fights as a color commentator. Yan basically invoked DC’s most famous rival to explain how you turn a world-class grappler into a guy who just wants to stand there and breathe. I respect it enormously.
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The logic tracks with Yan’s background. Before MMA, he boxed for eight years and earned the rank of Master of Sport in boxing in the 64 kg category, so a man who learned to dig hooks to the ribs is betting his night on them. His read is that Dvalishvili’s relentless wrestling pace runs on lungs, and lungs live behind the liver and the ribs.
Yan’s resume backs up the confidence. He’s 20-5, sits at No. 1 in the Knockout Daily bantamweight rankings and is listed on Wikipedia as the current and two-time UFC bantamweight champion, plus a former interim champ. He’s No. 4 in the UFC men’s pound-for-pound rankings as of Sept. 22, 2026. His last fight came on Dec. 6, 2025.
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The fight is official. Both Yan and Dvalishvili weighed in at 135 pounds for the UFC 333 co-main event, and the two held what Championship Rounds billed as their face-off “for the final time” on Friday. Alexander Volkanovski vs. Movsar Evloev headlines.
What Yan’s comment really tells you is that he believes he already found the crack in the first two fights. He saw Dvalishvili hurt by body shots in a way he says he’d never seen before, and now he’s promising to go back to the well. If Merab’s motor holds up under that, the comparison to Cormier and Jones gets very awkward for Yan very fast.
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The trilogy goes down Saturday, Oct. 24, at UFC 333. Watch Yan’s left hand to the body in the first round. If it’s landing early, believe him.
