Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili went the full 25 minutes in the UFC 333 co-main event on Saturday, and almost nobody watching came away talking about anything else. The bantamweight title fight, which Sherdog billed as a championship rematch between Yan as the reigning king and Dvalishvili as the challenger, swung hard in both directions before landing somewhere close to a coin flip on paper.
Ariel Helwani called it a Fight of the Year contender on X right after the final horn. He wrote that he had no idea how the two of them found the motor to keep that pace for five rounds and then still jump over the cage afterward. That last detail tells you plenty about the gas tanks involved.
How it turned
The opening stretch belonged to Dvalishvili. Henry Cejudo noted on X early in the fight that Merab was bringing a lot of pressure and activity, and wondered whether he could hold that pace or whether Yan would figure out the defense. The UFC’s own account flagged the same thing, posting about the challenger’s early pressure.
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Then the fight changed. By the end of Round 3, Cejudo wrote that Yan had hurt Dvalishvili and was starting to build momentum, though he still had Merab up 2-1 heading into the fourth. Damon Martin gave Yan Round 4 and had the cards level going into the last five minutes. Martin’s final tally was 48-47 Yan, and he pointed to two things: Yan shrugging off the takedown attempts and the striking he put on display across the last three rounds. The body work was a big part of that turn, and it’s the kind of investment that shows up on the scorecards late.
The buildup
The two men made weight cleanly, both hitting 135 pounds on Friday, per Championship Rounds. Dvalishvili posted that he was at 154 pounds roughly five hours after stepping on the scale, a 19-pound rehydration. At the press-week face-off on Thursday, he told Yan: “Talk now, enjoy. Saturday I will show you. I will eat you.” Championship Rounds framed Friday’s staredown as their final face-off.
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The sources here don’t include an official decision or any announcement about what comes next for either man, so treat Martin’s 48-47 as one informed card and nothing more.
My take: this is exactly the fight I want bantamweight to produce. Dvalishvili did what he always does, which is make you defend for your life from the opening bell, and Cejudo’s 2-1 card after three rounds was a fair read of how much he banked early. What decided the back half was Yan’s adjustment. He stopped letting the shots dictate where the fight happened, stayed upright, and started digging to the body until Merab’s pace finally had a cost. Fighters who fix the problem between rounds instead of hoping it goes away are my favorite kind. If the official cards come back anything wider than one round either way, I’ll have some words for the judges.
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