“Thank you so much @Owner1win one of the best gifts no doubt 🙏🏼,” Petr Yan wrote on X on Oct. 25, the morning after he defended his bantamweight title against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 333.
The gift was a Rolls-Royce Cullinan. The account he was replying to, @Owner1win, had posted that Yan “once again proved why he is one of the best fighters in the world” and promised the car outright: “For this victory, Petr will get a Rolls-Royce Cullinan from me.” Yan kept his response short, which fits a man who has never been accused of overselling anything.
The less flashy reward showed up three days later. Yan has moved up to No. 3 in the pound-for-pound rankings, according to a post that made the rounds on r/MMA on Oct. 28. His Wikipedia page listed him at No. 4 as of Sept. 22, so the trilogy win bought him exactly one rung.
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That feels about right for what he beat. Yan (21-5) is the current and two-time UFC bantamweight champion and sits No. 1 at 135 in Knockout Daily’s Cagefile rankings. Dvalishvili (21-6), the former champion and No. 2 in those same rankings, holds the UFC record with 124 successful takedowns. During his 14-fight win streak, the fourth longest in UFC history, he beat Yan along with José Aldo, Henry Cejudo and Sean O’Malley. Settling a trilogy against the most relentless wrestler in the division, after losing to him once, is the kind of result that pound-for-pound voters are supposed to reward.
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Who’s Next at 135
Nothing is booked. Daniel Cormier floated Song Yadong as a possible next opponent while talking to Yan after the fight, and O’Malley did not take it well. “DC, I don’t know what he’s thinking. I beat [Song] like 6 months ago. I’m fighting Petr Yan next, I don’t care,” O’Malley said, according to a clip posted by Championship Rounds. He also posted video of himself working out and calling Yan out directly: “Petr Yan! You’re out there celebrating your victory. I’m training, in the rain.”
O’Malley has already fought Yan, so this would be a rematch, and he is calling it the biggest bantamweight fight in UFC history. Yan has said nothing publicly about either name. His only posts since UFC 333 have been the Rolls-Royce thank-you and a photo with Alexander Volkanovski. My pick is that O’Malley gets the call. Song might have the better résumé argument, but O’Malley’s win over him six months ago cuts that argument off, and the promotion rarely turns down the fight that sells.
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