One win each. Five rounds each time. Now they get 25 more minutes to finally settle it.
Petr Yan vs Merab Dvalishvili 3 takes place at UFC 333 on Saturday 24 October, with Yan defending the UFC bantamweight championship in Abu Dhabi.
Their rivalry has already produced two completely different fights.
Merab overwhelmed Yan with relentless pressure in 2023 and barely allowed him a second to settle. Yan returned the favour at UFC 323, putting together arguably one of the best performances of his career to take the belt back by unanimous decision. This time, I think Merab gets it right again.
Not easily. Not because Yan’s last win was some kind of fluke. And definitely not because I think Yan has suddenly become easier to beat.
I just expect a fresher, more disciplined version of Dvalishvili to turn up in Abu Dhabi.
For the latest markets as fight night approaches, visit the BetVictor UFC betting and odds page.
When Is Petr Yan vs Merab Dvalishvili 3?
Petr Yan vs Merab Dvalishvili 3 takes place on Saturday 24 October 2026 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
It is the co-main event of UFC 333, underneath Alexander Volkanovski’s featherweight title defence against Movsar Evloev.
The key details are:
- Fight: Petr Yan vs Merab Dvalishvili 3
- Event: UFC 333
- Date: Saturday 24 October 2026
- Venue: Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi
- Title: UFC Bantamweight Championship
- Yan record: 20-5
- Dvalishvili record: 21-5
- UK main card start: 7pm BST
- UK broadcaster: TNT Sports
The UFC currently lists the UFC 333 main card for 2pm ET, which converts to 7pm BST in the UK.
That is a lovely change from the usual 3am alarm.
What Time Is Yan vs Merab 3 in the UK?
The UFC 333 main card begins at 7pm BST on Saturday evening.
Yan vs Dvalishvili is currently scheduled as the co-main event, so a reasonable estimate would put their cage walks somewhere around 9pm to 10pm BST.
That is only an estimate.
There are several fights beforehand and UFC timings can move quickly if the earlier bouts end inside the distance.
For British fans, though, the important bit is simple. You should not be watching this one at four in the morning.
Our UFC schedule 2026 has the rest of October’s confirmed cards and UK start times.
What Happened in the First Yan vs Merab Fight?
The first fight was barely competitive.
Merab beat Yan by unanimous decision in March 2023, with all three judges scoring it 50-45.
What stood out was not one particular takedown or exchange. It was the volume. Merab just never stopped.
He repeatedly changed levels, pushed Yan backwards and forced him to defend for practically the entire fight. The UFC record book still lists their first meeting as the record-holder for takedown attempts in a single UFC fight.
Yan usually gets better as fights go on. Merab never gave him the time.
Every time Yan looked like he might establish his boxing, another takedown attempt arrived.
It was probably the purest version of “The Machine” we have ever seen.
How Did Petr Yan Win the Rematch?
This was completely different.
By UFC 323 in December 2025, Merab was champion and trying to complete something ridiculous.
He had already defended his title three times during 2025. First came Umar Nurmagomedov in January.
Then Sean O’Malley in June. Then Cory Sandhagen in October. Yan was fight number four.
The rematch took place only two months after the Sandhagen defence.
Yan won by unanimous decision, with scorecards of 49-46, 49-46 and 48-47.
And there really isn’t much to argue with there. Yan was superb.
He defended much more effectively, punished Merab to the body and refused to spend the entire fight reacting to the Georgian’s pressure. Instead, he stepped forward and made Merab deal with him.
The result made Yan UFC bantamweight champion again.
Whatever explanation we give for Merab’s performance, none of it should take away from that.
Yan solved problems he could not solve in the first fight.
Did Merab Fight Too Often in 2025?
I think this is one of the most interesting parts of the trilogy.
Merab fought four five-round fights in less than 11 months during 2025.
Umar Nurmagomedov in January. Sean O’Malley in June. Cory Sandhagen in October. Then Petr Yan in December.
Three of those were successful title defences before he finally lost the championship in the fourth.
Did that definitely cause the Yan loss? No. We cannot know that. Yan was better on the night and deserves full credit for it.
But I also find it hard to believe that schedule had absolutely no effect.
Merab’s entire fighting style is based around pace. He does not conserve energy and look for one perfect moment. He shoots repeatedly, scrambles, pressures, throws and then does it again.
That is physically demanding even when you are fighting twice a year. Doing it four times at championship level is something else.
This time he has had the chance to properly reset. That matters to me.
Merab Says He Got the Rematch Wrong
Interestingly, Merab has not blamed the schedule. He has blamed himself.
Looking back on UFC 323, Dvalishvili admitted that he spent too much of the rematch trying to box with Yan instead of leaning into the wrestling-heavy approach that dominated their first meeting.
His plan for the trilogy is effectively to go back to being himself. That makes sense.
Merab does not need to prove he is the cleaner boxer. He needs to make Yan deal with 25 minutes of Merab.
There is a difference. If the trilogy becomes a technical kickboxing fight at range, I strongly favour Yan.
If it becomes ugly, exhausting and full of repeated grappling exchanges, Merab’s chances improve dramatically.
Petr Yan Looks Back to His Best
There is a danger in focusing too much on what Merab did wrong. Yan has become better again.
After a difficult run where close decisions and the disqualification loss to Aljamain Sterling sent his career in the wrong direction, he rebuilt with wins over Song Yadong, Deiveson Figueiredo and Marcus McGhee before finally getting another shot at Merab.
Then he took the belt back. Yan enters the trilogy at 20-5, with seven knockout wins and one submission victory on his professional record.
He has also had plenty of recovery time himself.
Yan has not fought since beating Merab and underwent back surgery during his time away. He will return after roughly ten months outside the Octagon.
So there is another question here. Will the layoff help him? Or will it take him a round or two to find his timing?
Against most fighters, you can probably afford that. Against Merab, losing the opening ten minutes while you settle in can become a serious problem.
Yan vs Merab 3 Odds
At the time of writing, BetVictor odds for Petr Yan vs Merab Dvalishvili 3 are not yet available.
That should change as UFC 333 gets closer. I would expect this to be relatively competitive.
Yan is the champion and decisively won the second fight.
Merab is still the No.1-ranked bantamweight contender and already owns an equally decisive victory over Yan from their first meeting.
The current UFC rankings have Yan as champion with Dvalishvili directly underneath him at No.1.
Once markets go live, odds can be checked through BetVictor and will naturally move as money comes in before fight night.
UFC 333 Fight Card
Yan vs Merab is only one half of the championship double-header.
Alexander Volkanovski defends his featherweight title against unbeaten Movsar Evloev in the main event.
The card also currently includes:
- Alexander Volkanovski vs Movsar Evloev, featherweight title
- Petr Yan vs Merab Dvalishvili, bantamweight title
- Lone’er Kavanagh vs Ramazan Temirov
- Alexander Volkov vs Rizvan Kuniev
- Aaron Pico vs Losene Keita
The UFC’s official event page currently lists Volkanovski-Evloev first and Yan-Dvalishvili directly underneath it.
Our Alexander Volkanovski next fight preview covers the other UFC 333 title fight in more detail.
Petr Yan vs Merab Dvalishvili 3 Prediction
I’m going Merab Dvalishvili by decision.
And this is one where I completely understand anyone picking Yan. The champion was excellent in December.
His takedown defence was better, his body work was effective and he looked far more comfortable dealing with Merab’s pressure than he had been two years earlier.
I’m not expecting Merab to suddenly erase all of those adjustments. What I do expect is a different version of him.
He had fought four times in 2025 by the time he walked into UFC 323. That is an insane schedule for anyone, let alone a champion who fights at the pace Merab does.
This time he has had more than ten months away from competition.
More importantly, he seems to understand what went wrong. I don’t want to see Merab standing in front of Yan trying to prove he can outbox him.
I want to see the first-fight version. Make Yan work immediately. Attack the legs. Push him towards the fence.
Chain one takedown attempt into another even if the first three fail. Force Yan to defend rather than letting him dictate.
Do that and I think the rounds become much harder to score for the champion.
Yan will still have success. I actually expect him to land the cleaner strikes and probably hurt Merab at some stage.
But over five rounds, I think Merab’s pace returns to being the biggest factor.
My prediction: Merab Dvalishvili by unanimous decision.
Probably a competitive 48-47 type of fight, rather than anything close to the 50-45 domination we saw first time around.
Who Will Win Yan vs Merab 3?
That is what makes the trilogy so good. We have already seen both arguments.
The first fight showed what happens when Merab can turn the contest into 25 minutes of constant pressure.
The second showed what happens when Yan controls those exchanges and forces Merab to spend more time boxing.
Now both men know exactly what the other wants. Yan wants to prove UFC 323 was not just the perfect night.
Merab wants to prove that one loss did not suddenly remove everything that made him one of the most dominant bantamweights we have seen in recent years.
On 24 October, one of them leaves Abu Dhabi 2-1. I have Merab. For more UFC previews, rankings, results and fighter news, visit the BetVictor UFC and MMA hub.
