Petr Yan next fight has not been booked yet, but two former opponents are already in the conversation: Sean O’Malley and Song Yadong, who have both called for the fight. That shortlist arrived right after Yan kept the bantamweight belt at UFC 333 on October 24, 2026, beating Merab Dvalishvili by unanimous decision, 48-47 on all three cards.
The win closes the trilogy at 2-1 in Yan’s favor and moves his record to 21-5. It also clears the top of the division for a new name, which is why the Petr Yan next fight booking matters more than usual.
How Yan turned a two-round deficit into a 48-47 sweep
The co-main event at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi opened exactly the way Dvalishvili wanted. He set a frantic pace in rounds one and two, and Yan spent most of that stretch fending off takedown attempts instead of building his own offense. On the official scoring, both early rounds went to the challenger.
The turn came in round three. Yan settled into his rhythm, started landing more often and landed hard shots to the body. That body work mattered: a pressure wrestler who lives on cardio slows down when every exchange costs him something below the ribs.
Rounds four and five belonged to the champion. Yan did his best work standing, decided where the exchanges happened and landed the cleaner shots, while Dvalishvili kept walking forward without finding the takedowns he needed. All three judges arrived at the same 48-47 score, and each man earned a $100,000 Fight of the Night bonus.
Petr Yan record after the Dvalishvili trilogy
According to his official UFC athlete profile, the 33-year-old is now 21-5-0 and sits at No. 4 on the pound-for-pound list. His wins break down into 7 by knockout, 1 by submission and 13 on the scorecards. The 86% takedown defense figure explains a lot about how he survived a wrestler of Dvalishvili’s volume twice in a row.
The run of form is striking for its consistency. Each of his last five wins went to the judges, and three of them were five-round fights.
| Date | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Oct. 24, 2026 (UFC 333) | Merab Dvalishvili | Win, unanimous decision (5 rounds) |
| Dec. 6, 2025 (UFC 323) | Merab Dvalishvili | Win, unanimous decision (5 rounds), won title |
| Jul. 26, 2025 | Marcus McGhee | Win, unanimous decision (3 rounds) |
| Nov. 23, 2024 | Deiveson Figueiredo | Win, unanimous decision (5 rounds) |
| Mar. 9, 2024 (UFC 299) | Song Yadong | Win, unanimous decision (3 rounds) |
Yan wins by solving opponents over time. The full card results are on the UFC 333 results page.
Petr Yan next fight: O’Malley or Song Yadong?
Both men have called for the fight, and they are the names discussed most since UFC 333. Neither bout is official, and no date or event has been attached to either one.
The case for Sean O’Malley
O’Malley holds a split-decision win over Yan from UFC 280 in October 2022, a result that came during the stretch when Yan dropped back-to-back close decisions to Aljamain Sterling and O’Malley. That history gives the fight a built-in revenge story. O’Malley has also lost to Dvalishvili, who submitted him with a north-south choke in round three at UFC 316 in June 2025. Making O’Malley the Petr Yan next fight would mean pairing the champion with a man his rival already beat.
The case for Song Yadong
Song lost a unanimous decision to Yan at UFC 299 in March 2024, so this would also be a rematch. Song has not fought for the belt, and choosing him for the Petr Yan next fight would test whether he has closed the gap from that first meeting. The counterpoint is that Yan already has a clear win over him on his record.
Our read is that O’Malley is the stronger booking. The first fight was razor close, it is the bigger event, and it would be a straight technical striking contest. Still, the Petr Yan next fight decision belongs to the UFC, and Song remains a live option.
Where the loss leaves Merab Dvalishvili
Dvalishvili has nothing to be ashamed of, and the performance backs that up. He won the first two rounds of a title fight against a man who now leads their series 2-1. His first win over Yan, in March 2023 in Las Vegas, featured a record 49 takedown attempts, and he went on to beat Umar Nurmagomedov, O’Malley and Cory Sandhagen as champion. For more on how he got to the top, see our look at Dvalishvili’s climb in the bantamweight division.
Two straight losses to the same champion make a fourth fight hard to sell. Whoever lands the Petr Yan next fight, Dvalishvili likely needs a win or two over contenders before he is back in the title picture.
What the UFC has not announced yet
The UFC has not confirmed an opponent, an event or a date for the Petr Yan next fight. O’Malley and Song have both called for the fight, but nothing is booked. The promotion also has not said whether Yan will get a long break after two five-round wars with Dvalishvili inside eleven months.
The wider schedule offers some clues. The two title fights announced so far for UFC 336 in Toronto on January 30, 2027, are an interim welterweight bout between Carlos Prates and Michael Morales and Joshua Van’s flyweight defense against Manel Kape. For the featherweight side of the card, see our breakdown of Movsar Evloev’s record before UFC 333.
Frequently asked questions
Who won Petr Yan vs Merab 3?
Petr Yan won by unanimous decision at UFC 333 on October 24, 2026, with all three judges scoring it 48-47. He kept the UFC bantamweight title.
How old is Petr Yan?
Petr Yan is 33, according to his official UFC profile. He holds the UFC bantamweight title and ranks No. 4 pound-for-pound.
Has Petr Yan beaten Sean O’Malley?
No. O’Malley beat Yan by split decision in 2023. A rematch is one of the two options discussed most after UFC 333.
Why O’Malley should get the next call at bantamweight
Yan has spent three years answering the Dvalishvili question, and he finally has a clean slate. The fight that settles an old split decision is the one that tells us the most, which makes O’Malley the right Petr Yan next fight if the UFC wants the division’s best story. Song would be a fair title shot, but O’Malley is the unfinished business.