Petr Yan accomplishes unprecedented feat with UFC 323 title win | BJPenn.com

Petr Yan put on a masterclass performance to become a two-time UFC bantamweight champion, but he also etched his name in the record books in a way no fighter had done before in the octagon. Yan avenged an earlier loss to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 323 to dethrone the dominant champion in a one-sided performance that shocked many due to the lack of competitiveness therein.

When Yan fell short to Dvalishvili in their first fight, it was the Russian fighter’s third straight defeat, with previous setbacks coming to Aljamain Sterling and Sean O’Malley. In a statistic of X account @MMAonPointit drew attention to the fact that no UFC fighter has ever regained his title after a three-fight losing streak since losing his hold on the gold.

In a vacuum, the kind of win Yan pulled off over a man many called the bantamweight GOAT is huge in itself. But the historical component takes it to a whole other level. To address this unprecedented feat within the confines of the UFC cage, the newly minted titleholder took to his personal social media to address the MMA world, as Yan said:

“History has been written. Thank you to everyone who supported me through all the hard times. Especially my family and my team, this victory is for you. Now everything is in the right place.”

Petr Yan doesn’t see the Merab Dvalishvili trilogy happening next

Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili now have one win each against each other in their two fights, but the former doesn’t see a rubber match taking place with the latter, at least not as the immediate next match. Despite the nature of both men posting dominant victories over each other in their respective victories, Yan seems to think Dvalishvili needs to get one more win before he gets another shot at the title.

In fact, the third man to win two-time bantamweight gold suggested that Dvalishvili has an entirely different kind of rematch with Umar Nurmagomedov and that the winner of that fight would be more ideally placed for another tear in the belt. This was expressed by Yan during the post-fight press conference of UFC 323, after the dust settled on what could be the UFC’s last ever pay-per-view offering as they enter the 2026 Paramount media rights deal.