LAS VEGAS (AP) — Petr Yan stunned Merab Dvalishvili with a dominating effort to capture the bantamweight championship by unanimous decision at UFC 323 on Saturday night.
With punishing strikes and several crushing kicks to the rib cage, Yan (20-5) ended Dvalishvili’s 14-match winning streak.
“I’m very happy to stand here with the championship belt, thank you to all the fans,” Yan said, through an interpreter. “I worked so hard, I prepared so hard for this moment.”
Dvalishvili (21-5) hadn’t lost since April 21, 2018, when Ricky Simon won by submission. It was his fourth title match of 2025.
Yan exacted revenge for his last loss when Dvalishvili defeated the 32-year-old by unanimous decision on a UFC Fight Night card on March 11, 2023.
Dvalishvili, 34, closed a -425 favorite, which meant a bettor laid $425 to $100 at BetMGM. Anyone wagering $100 on Yan would have won $320.
“I lost today,” Dvalishvili said. “Congratulations to him.”
In the co-main event, challenger Joshua Van won the flyweight belt from former champion Alexandre Pantoja with a TKO just 26 seconds into the first round after a quirky finish.
In what appeared to be a freak accident, Pantoja (30-6) injured his left shoulder just after throwing a right roundkick to Van’s head. But as Van (16-2) blocked the kick, Pantoja used his left arm to brace his fall, but his arm buckled, and he immediately grabbed it and waved to referee Herb Dean to stop the bout at 26 seconds.
In a display of sportsmanship, Van immediately joined Pantoja on the canvas to check on him once the bout was called.
Also from the main card:
In what was a scheduled three-round flyweight bout, No. 5 Tatsuro Taira (18-1-0) earned the biggest victory of his career, a first-round stoppage over No. 2 Brandon Moreno (23-9-2) at the 2:24 mark of the second round after capitalizing on a rear-mount ground-and-pound.
In a three-round bantamweight match, unranked rising star Payton Talbott (11-1-0) dominated 10th-ranked Henry Cejudo (16-6-0) to earn a 30-27 unanimous decision over the former two-division champion. Cejudo, who fought for the last time, was honored with a tribute video after the bout.
In a three-round light heavyweight bout, fifth-ranked Jan Blachowicz (29-11-2) and 11th-ranked Bogdan Guskov (18-3-1) fought to a majority draw. Blachowicz was given the 29-28 edge by one judge, while two others had it 28-28.
It marked the last UFC pay-per-view fight after the organization agreed to a seven-year contract with Paramount Plus under which future bouts will be on the streaming service. The partnership, which includes the two popular series Dana White’s Contender Series and The Ultimate Fighter, begins Jan. 24 with UFC 324 in Las Vegas.
AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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