UFC 333: Petr Yan Beats Dvalishvili Again, Retains Bantamweight Title

The trilogy is closed. On Saturday, October 24, in Abu Dhabi at UFC 333, Petr Yan beat Merab Dvalishvili by unanimous decision and remained UFC bantamweight champion. For the Russian it is the first defense of the belt he took from the Georgian last December at UFC 323. A third fight in a row against the same opponent is a wearying business for both men, but the audience got a real chess match in the cage.

The number of the night is 58. That is how many times Dvalishvili tried to take Yan down, according to sportmail.ru, and it is more than in their first fight. Merab's wrestling machine ran non-stop, but the judges gave the win to Yan. That makes the trilogy 2-1 in Yan's favor; Dvalishvili won the first fight, also by decision.

I am recounting the rest of the card with a caveat: the search turned up no Russian-language confirmation, only foreign reports. According to them, in the main event Alexander Volkanovski stopped Movsar Evloev by TKO in the second round, and Alexander Volkov beat Rizvan Kuniev by decision. Before quoting these results, check them against ufc.ru. The official results and Yan's further plans are there too.