Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili face off Saturday in the co-main event at UFC 333 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
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Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili meet Saturday at UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, for a 5-round bantamweight title bout in the co-main event.
The event is scheduled to begin with early prelims at 10 a.m., followed by the prelims at noon ET and the main card at 2 p.m. ET, with the full broadcast listed as on Paramount+.
Yan enters the fight with a record of 20-5-0, while Dvalishvili is 21-5-0. Yan previously lost his bantamweight title to Aljamain Sterling at UFC 273 in a co-main event that also included Alexander Volkanovski, and he then lost his next two fights, including a loss to Dvalishvili at a Fight Night event on March 11, 2023.
After that stretch, Yan has won four straight fights, all by unanimous decision, including a rematch with Dvalishvili at UFC 323 on Dec. 6, 2025. The matchup is described in the source as a trilogy fight with everything on the line.
The source also notes that Yan has gone the distance in eight consecutive fights, with five unanimous-decision wins and one unanimous-decision loss to Dvalishvili, and that he dropped split decisions to Sterling (April 2022) and Sean O'Malley (October 2022).
For Dvalishvili, the source says he captured the belt from O'Malley at UFC 306 in September 2024. He then retained the title against Umar Nurmagomedov (January 2025), O'Malley in a rematch (June 2025), and Cory Sandhagen (October 2025) before losing to Yan last time out at UFC 323 on Dec. 6, 2025.
The source adds that Dvalishvili has gone the distance in seven of his past eight fights, compiling a 6-1 record in unanimous decisions, with a Round 3 submission by O'Malley at UFC 316 as the only outlier. It also says he has gone the distance in 13 of his past 15 bouts.
Betting lines provided by the source list Yan at -150 on the 2-way moneyline (bet $150 to win $100) and Dvalishvili at +125 (bet $100 to win $125). The “fight to go the distance” prop is listed as Yes at -300 and No at +210, with “lines last updated” noted as Friday at 5:37 p.m. ET.
The source’s betting-specific outlook says Yan is the pick in the third fight of the rivalry, and it also frames “yes” for the distance prop and an alternate interest in Yan winning by decision or technical decision as part of its suggested wagers.
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