On Saturday, December 6, 2025, UFC 323 took place, hosting many incredible matchups. It was a strong card to close out another year of mainstream combat sports. The fights didn’t disappoint with numerous finishes and controversies, especially the Alexandre Pantoja versus Joshua Van Co-main event, though this ended prematurely due to Pantoja’s injury. This card had nearly every possible outcome you could imagine in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) competition.
The highlight of the night for me was the scheduled main event of the card, which featured the reigning, defending undisputed bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili attempting to make four historic title defences in a calendar year versus the former champion Petr “No Mercy” Yan. Petr Yan was up against no ordinary opponent; Merab is considered by many to be the division’s greatest fighter. Merab also proved in the first fight that he could beat Petr Yan and did so in dominant style, winning all five rounds.
From a competitor’s point of view, rematches are treated as a different fight, but when the first fight was as one-sided as Petr Yan and Merab’s, the outcome rarely changes. This fight was completely different. Petr Yan not only won, but he won convincingly, hurting Merab on multiple occasions and exploiting a weakness that Merab has: vulnerability to body shots. Many hardcore fans in the MMA community have speculated that Merab may be weak to the body since the first Sean O’Malley fight. The “Machine” was truly broken this fight, with the script flipping entirely through a perfectly executed fight strategy.
Since the Petr versus Merab rematch, many fans have begun to rank this fight as one of the greatest comeback wins of all time. Petr hasn’t been champion since 2021, and following those four years, Merab emerged as one of the most dominant champions in recent memory, winning 14 fights in a row with 4 title wins. This win by Petr Yan is reminiscent of Dominick Cruz’s performance against TJ Dillashaw to recapture the Bantamweight title in 2016. The win alone was legacy-defining and puts Petr Yan in the upper echelon of the bantamweight division’s greatest fighters.
To highlight how impressive this win against Merab Dvalishvili was, we’d have to look at the fact that Merab hasn’t been out-struck in a fight in eight years, which was a fight against Frankie Saenz on the Swanson vs Ortega fight night card (UFC, n.d). Additionally, none of his prior opponents have out-grappled him either (UFC, n.d). In both facets of MMA, Petr Yan was able to showcase his superior fight IQ by adjusting from the first fight, and this led many to believe that Yan vs. Dvalishvili 2 was a vintage performance. Yan seemingly turned back the clock during the fight by controlling the centre of the octagon, carefully measuring the range with his long guard boxing stance, subsequently switching to high guard defence at times, and brilliantly displaying body weight transfer to outshine Merab in the wrestling sequences (UFC, n.d).
From 2023 until now, Petr Yan has won four fights without losing a single fight, and he’s looked his most impressive against a contemporary rival that is highly regarded in Merab Dvalishvili (UFC, n.d). This gives hope that at 32 years old, Petr Yan has reached his physical prime and may very well reign as champion for some time, further cementing an already great legacy.
References
UFC. (n.d). Merab Dvalishvili Stats. Retrieved from. http://ufcstats.com/fighter-details/c03520b5c88ed6b4
UFC. (n.d). Petr Yan Stats. Retrieved from. http://ufcstats.com/fighter-details/d661ce4da776fc20
Bleacher Report. (2025, December 7). Merab Dvalishvili, Petr Yan’s Next Best Fights After UFC 323 Results. Image retrieved from Merab Dvalishvili, Petr Yan’s Next Best Fights After UFC 323 Results
