Yan dismisses bantamweight rivals ahead of UFC 333 trilogy with Dvalishvili

Petr Yan will make the first defence of his reclaimed UFC bantamweight title against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 333 on October 24, and the Russian champion says the division has done little to capture his attention while he has been away.

Yan has been sidelined for ten months since defeating Dvalishvili at UFC 323 to become a two-time bantamweight champion — a win that also denied Dvalishvili the chance to become the first UFC fighter ever to successfully defend a title four times in a calendar year. During that absence, Yan underwent back surgery in January, and the division kept moving: Song Yadong scored an upset knockout over Umar Nurmagomedov, Mario Bautista climbed past Cory Sandhagen in the rankings, and Sean O’Malley stopped Aiemann Zahabi to maintain his position.

None of it has given Yan pause. “To be honest, I’ve been watching the division and nothing really impresses me,” he said via a Russian translator. “Some people are winning, some people are losing, but let’s say Song and Umar — Song knocked out Umar, but I’ve beaten Song already. So there’s really not all that much that I’m impressed with. Same kind of people swirling around, so I’m happy to come out and fight everybody and beat everybody.”

The October rematch will be the third meeting between Yan and Dvalishvili. Their first encounter, in March 2023, saw Dvalishvili hand Yan a third consecutive defeat. Yan then strung together three straight victories to earn a rematch at UFC 323, where he produced what he described as a complete performance to reclaim the belt.

On the question of future challengers, Yan is content to leave the decisions to the matchmakers. “The champ doesn’t choose his opponents,” he said. “We have matchmaking here for a reason. I think whoever they’ll put there, I’ll be ready to fight them.”

Both previous bouts between the pair went the full distance, with each man claiming a convincing win. Yan is hoping the trilogy ends differently. “I think it’s going to be just as exciting,” he said. “And I think this time around, I want to prove myself and also everybody else that that wasn’t a fluke, that there was a reason for that. And hopefully this time it’s going to be a knockout.”