Petr Yan remains the standard at 135 pounds after retiring from his rivalry with Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 333 on Saturday in Abu Dhabi.
The UFC bantamweight champion’s score of the co-main event of the trilogy lasted the evening. After Dvalishvili’s patented pressure game overwhelmed him in the first two rounds, Yan rallied to win the final three with stiff boxing and lethal body kicks. His unanimous decision victory put him 2-1 up in the series against Dvalishvili, after reclaiming the title from “The Machine” last year in a more dominant effort.
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In Yan’s immediate shock of victory, thoughts ran about who would challenge “No Mercy” next. While another rematch seems obvious, UFC Hall of Famer and commentator Daniel Cormier suggested the challenger was not one of the most anticipated – including former UFC champion Sean O’Malley and coach Tim Welch.
Cormier suggested a rematch between Song Yadong and Yan in the champion’s post-fight interview, with Song sitting cageside and recently scoring a massive knockout of Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC Shanghai in August. Yan previously defeated Song via consensus decision in March 2024. O’Malley, however, seems like the next match after his past wins over Song and Yan, which is why Welch is so confused.
On Monday’s edition of “The Ariel Helwani Show,” Welch said he was troubled by the suggestion and plans to talk about it with Cormier.
“If you look at this year, ‘Sugar’ raised his hand in a unanimous decision towards Song Yadong,” Welch said. “Then at UFC 299, Petr Yan raised his hand against Song Yadong. I’m so curious if someone was in Daniel Cormier’s ear because Song was there, but I don’t think so. I think he was pushing the “DC” on Song because maybe the deep “Suck” rubs him the wrong way.
“Past comments a little. I don’t know. Let’s go to the bottom to talk with him. I’m curious, and since this could be completely bad, but it always seems like “DC” has something against “Sugar” and I don’t like to beat him.
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“I think the first time Yan fought Suge, Petr Yan won by takedowns,” Welch added.
Ultimately, Welch doesn’t care what his fighter’s next title shot is. The first fight between Yan and O’Malley – a split decision win for O’Malley – took place at UFC Fight Night 280 in late 2022, and their accolades have only grown since.
“The UFC knows what a great fight is, and they know how sweet of a fight this is going to be,” Welch said. “And if you want to see Song and Petr fight, go watch their UFC 299 fight. Of course, it wasn’t the most exciting thing. It was still a weak fight, but I was more surprised that Peter Yan didn’t call for ‘Sugar’ to answer more. If it involved a pay-per-view, I’m sure he would have been called for it a lot more. But now that Song Yadong is not there, who stands in the orthodox pocket. Him.
Suge thinks and remembers how Suge made him feel in that cage. Couldn’t track down “Suge”. It was hard for him. The first shot of Peter [takedowns] I know enough that I am often in battle and always on the run. I Peter Yan remembers how this felt.
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The result of Yan vs Dvalishvili 3 benefited O’Malley more than he wanted to win from Dvalishvili. Georgia’s best upset O’Malley in September 2024, locking him up again in a rematch, leaving O’Malley on the outside looking in for a future title fight.
Although the door is now open for O’Malley to rematch Yan, Welch understands the dangers “Sugar” faces. He’s had most of the praise for the recent stellar showing of the current champion, but he still sees areas that O’Malley can do.
“It’s scary because” [O’Malley] He’s one of my best friends,” said Welch. “Yeah, I’m his coach, but being locked in the cage with Peter Yan for five rounds is a scary thing, but I think Suge is giving him a lot of problems.”