LAS VEGAS — Despite the steepest of odds, Petr Yan is the king of the bantamweight division once again after stunning Merab Dvalishvili by unanimous decision at UFC 323 on Saturday.
The fight was a complete reversal from the pair’s first meeting in March 2023, where Dvalishvili registered a historically dominant effort in a demoralizing defeat for Yan.
On Saturday, Yan made good on his promise to be the aggressor and delivered by landing bomb after bomb throughout the fight. Yan first stunned Dvalishvili with an explosive combo in the first round, and he delivered a cringe-inducing kick to the ribs in the third round that likely broke Dvalishvili’s ribs and served as the death knell for his record-breaking title defense.
Yan didn’t pinpoint that kick as the moment he won the fight, but he made it clear his mindset entering the evening was to leave no doubt about the result.
“I don’t know if there was actually a moment that I realized the fight was mine,” Yan said. “I knew the entire time, I had to push my initiative. I had to make sure to damage him. There wasn’t, like, an actual moment. This is his backyard. I flew 30 hours to get here. I knew that in order for the belt to go in my hand, I had to make sure to leave no stone unturned, no questions.”
Yan (20-5) won the judges’ cards 49-46, 49-46, 48-47.
His stunning upset prevents Dvalishvili (21-5) from becoming the first fighter in UFC history to successfully defend a belt four times in a single year. In most betting markets, Yan closed as greater than a 3-to-1 underdog.
Joshua Van, 24, became the UFC’s first 2000s-born champion with his first-round defeat of flyweight legend Alexandre Pantoja, but the way it happened was borderline nightmarish for all involved. Twenty seconds into the fight, Pantoja attempted a doomed headkick and broke his arm trying to brace for an awkward fall after the kick rolled off Van.
Van (16-2), who faced off with Pantoja (30-6) in the Octagon at UFC 317 after they each won their respective fights that night, expressed a desire to rematch with Pantoja and run their fight back the proper way when he’s healthy again. For now, however, it appears a non-Pantoja defense is next on the horizon for Van.
Following the fight, UFC CEO Dana White clarified that it was actually a dislocated shoulder that resulted in the gruesome-looking injury. White said Pantoja’s shoulder was put back into place backstage following the fight, but he doesn’t anticipate a recovery happening soon enough to challenge Van before another defense.
“They popped his shoulder back,” White said. “It wasn’t the elbow, it was his shoulder and they popped it back in backstage. Listen, I’m no doctor or anything, but I don’t see (Pantoja) coming back anytime soon. I think that there would be a defense before he comes back. I think he’s gonna need some time.”
The highly partisan crowd in favor of Mexican flyweight Brandon Moreno was met with disappointment rather quickly in the main card’s third fight, as the former champion lost by second-round technical knockout to Tatsuro Taira after a somewhat early stoppage.
The second bout of the main card featured a passing of the torch, as Henry Cejudo’s storied combat career as double UFC champion and Olympic wrestling gold medalist came to a close with a decisive but entertaining loss to rising bantamweight star Payton Talbott.
Talbott (11-1) managed to land two shocking early takedowns on the former wrestling champion, but Cejudo (16-6) managed to hold his own in the striking exchanges and in turn, it made for an action-packed 15 minutes.
Following his loss by unanimous decision, Cejudo received a video tribute and an outpouring of love from the Las Vegas crowd. Talbott, 27, also joined in, urging the crowd to show appreciation for Cejudo while giving him credit for saving the lightweight division before his move to bantamweight in 2019.
Cejudo, 38, who had said this would be his last fight, announced his retirement — for the second time in his career — after the bout.
Light heavyweights Jan Blachowicz and Bogdan Guskov opened the main card by fighting to a majority draw in a seesaw slugfest that started slow and finished fast. Blachowicz had the edge in a largely uninteresting first round that drew boos from the crowd, but Guskov opened the second with a devastating right hand that sent Blachowicz to the canvas and got the fireworks started.
Guskov controlled the remainder of the second and did so in such decisive fashion that two judges scored the round 10-8. This proved vital, as Blachowicz came back to life in the final round and regained control, even landing a last-second knockdown of his own with under 10 seconds remaining in the fight.
–Will Despart, Field Level Media
–Will Despart, Field Level Media
