Petr Yan Rallies Past Merab Dvalishvili to Win UFC 333 Trilogy

Petr Yan spent the first two rounds of the UFC 333 co-main event getting crowded, dragged into scrambles and forced to work at Merab Dvalishvili's pace. Then the fight flipped.

Yan swept the final three rounds on every official scorecard to retain the UFC bantamweight championship Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. All three judges scored the trilogy bout 48-47.

Dvalishvili had already shown Yan what that pressure could do. He dominated their first meeting in 2023 with relentless wrestling. Yan solved enough of the puzzle in their December 2025 rematch to take the title, and Saturday's rubber match became the hardest version of the same test.

Dvalishvili starts fast, Yan adjusts

Dvalishvili attacked early with leg kicks, right hands and repeated takedown attempts. Even when Yan stood back up quickly, the challenger stayed attached and made him defend again. Yan had little room to set his feet or build combinations through the first two rounds.

The third was where Yan found the answer. He began reading the entries, stuffing shots in open space and making Dvalishvili pay on the break. His left hand started landing cleanly. A body kick hurt Dvalishvili late in the round and gave Yan his first clear stretch of control.

Yan kept the pressure in the fourth. He met the takedown attempts with balance and underhooks, then went back to the body when Dvalishvili reset. The challenger never stopped moving, but motion was no longer winning the exchanges.

With the fight tied after four rounds, according to Yan's corner, the champion stayed patient. He defended the shots that mattered, landed the cleaner combinations and finished the fifth as the stronger striker.

"I was listening to my coach," Yan said afterward, according to MMA Fighting. "He said it was two-two, you win the fifth round, you win the fight."

A trilogy settled without much separation

The scores were unanimous, but this was no runaway. Dvalishvili's opening ten minutes forced Yan to win three straight rounds with almost no margin for error. That is what made the comeback so sharp: Yan did not need a lucky knockdown or a late finish. He changed the terms of the fight while it was happening.

Dvalishvili accepted the result without an excuse. "Congratulations to Petr Yan," he said in the cage, as reported by MMA Fighting. "He beat me today, he's the better man."

Yan now owns two consecutive wins over Dvalishvili and the deciding victory in a rivalry that covered 13 rounds across three fights. He declined to name one preferred challenger afterward, saying he would take whoever the UFC puts in front of him as long as the opponent makes weight.

There are contenders waiting, but UFC 333 belonged to Yan's adjustments. Dvalishvili made him defend at a frantic rate and put him behind early. Yan stayed composed, attacked the body and took the fight back one round at a time.