“No Mercy” isn’t too impressed.
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Bantamweight champion Petr Yan looks to reclaim the 135-pound strap against reigning king Merab Dvalishvili in the main event of UFC 323 this weekend (Sat., Dec. 6, 2025) inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Yan, however, remains unimpressed — and says Dvalishvili’s historic run hasn’t been as difficult as it seems.
“Can you remind me where all of Merab’s fights were?” Yan asked reporters during UFC 323 media day (watch here). When told they were all in Las Vegas, one reporter noted that one bout took place in Los Angeles.
“How long is the flight to LA from Vegas?” he asked, arguing the champion has essentially enjoyed home-field advantage. “It’s very easy to fight in your backyard here in Vegas or Los Angeles. It’s the same thing. You can fight every weekend in your backyard. When I signed in 2018, I had five fights that year, and they were not at home. If they were at home, I could fight ten times in a year.”
While Yan makes a fair point about travel, time zones, and comfort, defending a UFC title four times in a year — regardless of location — is an extraordinary accomplishment, and doing so against elite competition is extremely difficult. Still, the former champ is doing everything he can to frame the narrative heading into fight night.
Maybe the two will argue about it at tomorrow’s UFC 323 press conference.
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