Petr Yan was right, fighting in Las Vegas is “very easy.”
Yan recaptured the bantamweight crown by handily defeating Merab Dvalishvili atop the UFC 323 pay-per-view (PPV) event last Sat. night (Dec. 6, 2025) at T-Mobile Arena in “Sin City.” The victory also avenged his UFC Las Vegas loss to “The Machine” back in March 2023.
What a difference an extra 50-percent makes.
Dvalishvili was outstruck, outwrestled, and outclassed en route to his first loss in over seven years. In addition to stripping “The
Machine” of his strap, Yan spoiled a couple of records along the way. Dvalishvili was looking to become the first UFC champion in history to defend a title four times within a calendar year.
That might be the combat sports version of Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak in baseball. UFC fighters rarely fight four times a year and champions typically fight event less, which is why there have only been two other champions (Kamaru Usman, Alex Pereira) since 2013 — a span of more than 12 years — to defend their titles three times within a calendar year.
Merab also failed to tie Usman at 15 on the promotion’s list of consecutive wins.
The sportsbooks were quick to release odds on their inevitable rubber match, which is likely to go down in spring of 2026. Despite his commanding performance at UFC 323, BetOnline.ag has Yan as the +130 underdog against -150 for Dvalishvili.
Easy money?
