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LAS VEGAS, Dec 7 : Russian Petr Yan put on a superb striking performance to dethrone Merab Dvalishvili and win the UFC bantamweight title via unanimous decision after a five-round war of attrition at UFC 323 at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night.
Two longtime champions were dethroned Saturday at UFC 323 in Las Vegas, but in completely opposite ways.
Petr Yan owned the UFC men's bantamweight belt as far back as 2020, but he never looked more like a champion than he did Saturday night, as he dethroned Merab Dvalishvili by unanimous decision in an action-packed main event of UFC 323 in Las Vegas.
ESPN's No. 3 pound-for-pound fighter, Merab Dvalishvili (21-4), will defend his bantamweight title for the fourth time this year at UFC 323 in Las Vegas on Saturday (10 p.m. ET on ESPN PPV; prelims beginning at 6 p.m. on ESPN+). The nine-year UFC veteran from the country of Georgia is taking on former champion Petr Yan (19-5) in a rematch of their 2023 fight that Dvalishvili won by unanimous decision. If Dvalishvili gets his hand raised for the 15th consecutive time on Saturday, he'll become the first UFC fighter to win four title fights in a calendar year.
With his fourth title defence of the year this weekend at UFC 323, Merab Dvalishvili is on course to be the fighter of the year.
Eight events remain on the UFC calendar for the rest of 2025, and there are many unanswered questions left to be explored. For instance, pound-for-pound king Ilia Topuria has fought only once this year, a first-round knockout of Charles Oliveira that won him the lightweight championship in June. Topuria has yet to defend his title, the biggest holdup being who would make the most sense to challenge him.
Reinier de Ridder took home a split-decision victory Saturday over Robert Whittaker in the main event of UFC Fight Night at Abu Dhabi. De Ridder (21-2-0 MMA) earned a 48-47 margin from two judges, Ben Cartlidge and David Lethaby, while Mike Bell was the lone judge to give the edge to Whittaker (27-9-0 MMA) at 48-47. Whittaker landed a big knockdown with a strike in the third round of the middleweight match, but de Ridder recovered and dominated the stat sheet. De Ridder landed 192 total strikes, while Whittaker connected on only 70.
A bantamweight title rematch between Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O'Malley will headline UFC 316 on June 7, UFC CEO Dana White announced Tuesday.