Petr Yan defeated Merab Dvalishvili for the second time to defend his title and settle a famous trilogy at UFC 333.Just like their previous two meetings, Yan and Dvalishvili went to war over five rounds at UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.Two-time bantamweight king Yan has now made the first defence of his second title reignAFPDvalishvili’s pace was too much for Yan early on, but the Russian rallied back in the championship rounds with crisp striking and body shots that left the challenger wounded.After five rounds, all three judges scored the contest 48-47 to hand Yan a deserved unanimous decision win.It marks the end of an iconic trilogy in the UFC, with both men having spent 15 rounds and 75 minutes in the Octagon together.Yan suffered a points loss to Dvalishvili in March 2023 but exacted revenge to dethrone ‘The Machine’ of the bantamweight title at UFC 323 last December.View Tweet: https://x.com/hashtag/UFC333?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwYan reacts to Dvalishvili win at UFC 333“I was listening to my coach and he said, ‘We’re going into the final round, it’s 2-2. If you take the fifth round, you take the fight,'” Yan said after his win.“I usually take a lot of time to warm up in my fights, but I knew he would eventually gas out.“So I needed to take the time for him to lose his power to take the fight.”Yan, the clear fan favourite the entire night, then thanked the crowd at Etihad Arena.Story of the fightFor the first two rounds, Dvalishvili was relentless and largely prevented Yan from inflicting any damaging attacks.The former champion was shooting for a takedown after almost every punch, timing his attempts much better than during the pair’s December rematch.Yan began landing with authority in the second half of the fight to take the nod on the judges’ scorecardsGettyCoach John Wood told Dvalishvili to keep pushing and that Yan was tiring as the fight entered round three.That may have been true, but Yan came out swinging over the next three rounds.The turning point came when Yan landed a massive body shot straight on Dvalishvili’s liver in round three.Dvalishvili certainly felt it as he quickly grabbed his body, showing that he was hurt.In the championship rounds, Dvalishvili was clearly slowing down and Yan began breaking him down.Dvalishvili had 47 takedown attempts before the fifth and final round, but wasn’t able to turn them into anything meaningful.Yan will doubtless go down as one of, if not the best bantamweights, in UFC historyGettyIn the final few minutes, Dvalishvili battled exhaustion and a striking masterclass from Yan, who landed a big knee towards the end to slow the challenger down once more.The Abu Dhabi crowd gave both men a standing ovation as the final bell sounded and Yan was awarded the win.What’s next for Yan?The 33-year-old is now expected to put his belt on the line against a different top bantamweight contender like Song Yadong or Sean O’Malley next.Yadong was featured live on the UFC 333 broadcast in Abu Dhabi, but O’Malley will feel like it will be him challenging Yan for the belt.After all, Yan already has a win over Yadong in the UFC and lost to O’Malley at UFC 280 in 2022, before ‘Suga’ became a first-time champion.Nonetheless, Yan is now arguably the greatest bantamweight of all time.UFC Meta RankingsThe UFC ranking system is ever-evolving and is now more different than ever.Right up until the summer of 2026, the UFC used its official rankings based on media votes.However, as of June 22, 2026, the UFC began transitioning away from the traditional media panel to new AI-based rankings in partnership with Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta.The new rankings will be automatically calculated and updated every Monday following official events.And talkSPORT.com have made it easy for MMA fans to stay up to date with the new system through a full and regularly updated UFC Meta Rankings list, including stars from the heavyweight and lightweight divisions.His 13 UFC bantamweight wins come just one short of Aljamain Sterling and Marlon Vera for the most in divisional history.Yan is also just one of three two-time bantamweight champions in UFC history, alongside Dominick Cruz and TJ Dillashaw.