Petr Yan has just defeated Merab Dvalishvili in a hard-fought trilogy bout at UFC 333, and it all came down to his reads and mid-fight adjustments.
Petr Yan delivered on his promise in the trilogy bout with Merab Dvalishvili. In fact, both men did, and it led to a more competitive fight than their second one. However, despite Dvalishvili starting strong, Yan ultimately grew into the fight by following an effective gameplan.
How Petr Yan triumphed at UFC 333
Ahead of the matchup, Petr Yan was asked whether he’d prefer a knockout or decision win over Merab Dvalishvili. Aware of his opponent’s level, he refused to choose a preferred outcome. A win is a win, he said, because Dvalishvili was never going to be an easy outing. In round one, ‘The Machine’ was just that, a machine. He fought at a much higher pace than he had at UFC 323, shooting for more takedowns than before. Crucially, he showed two key tactics that won him the first two rounds. First, he goaded Yan into boxing exchanges, allowing him to time his level changes to the moment Yan squared his hips to throw back, neutralizing the champion’s counterpunching and combinations.
But it did more than freeze Yan’s counters. It also created openings for Dvalishvili to land an overhand right every time he changed levels to tease a takedown. Second, he had developed a counter to Yan’s anti-wrestling. When he got in deep with a takedown shot, Yan would turn sideward to feed him the single-leg, then turn away fully to kick away and hop out of Dvalishvili’s grip. Instead of allowing this to happen, ‘The Machine’ followed Yan and secured a rear bodylock, tripping him to the mat. All of this, combined with Dvalishvili’s constant feinting and volume, which seemed to overload Yan’s decision-making process, forced the champion into a defensive shell for the first two rounds.
However, by round three, Yan had fully downloaded all of the data he needed to turn things around, and turn things around he did. First, he forced Dvalishvili to fight on the backfoot, applying more pressure to make timing takedowns more difficult. He also stopped committing to extended combinations that would allow Dvalishvili to shoot under him mid-combination. He kept a longer distance, giving him more time to sprawl, just like in their second fight. Crucially, whenever he’d throw more than two punches, he’d dip with a high guard in anticipation of a takedown attempt, stopping Dvalishvili from getting to his hips. When they would tie up, this defense allowed Yan to keep his hips farther back, and when Dvalishvili would break away, ‘No Mercy’ cracked him with a left hook.
He also started intercepting Dvalishvili’s level changes with an uppercut, before landing his left hook as a follow up, which created openings for a left hook to the body when Dvalishvili started anticipating the left hand over the top. Speaking of the body, the champion’s body kick returned, allowing him to hurt his rival. First, he threw it off a check, slamming his shin into Dvalishvili’s midsection before the challenger could fully retract his leg from the checked low kick. Then, he started throwing it whenever Dvalishvili incorrectly assumed he was safe outside of boxing range. Toward the end of the fight, Yan had taken over, ultimately winning via unanimous decision.
UFC 333 marked his first successful bantamweight title defense, and in the post-fight interview, Yan welcomed all challengers, whether it’s Song Yadong or Sean O’Malley, who has been eager to face him again.