After successfully defending his bantamweight championship against Cory Sandhagen at UFC 320, Merab Dvalishvili asked the UFC for a quick turnaround. Dvalishvili got his wish after UFC CEO Dana White announced Monday that the champ would defend his belt against Petr Yan in the main event of UFC 323 in Las Vegas on Dec. 6.

The fight will help Dvalishvili's other goal of setting records in the UFC, making him the first man to defend a title four times in a calendar year. In addition to Sandhagen, Dvalishvili defeated Umar Nurmagomedov in January and Sean O'Malley in June.

Yan lost to Dvalishvili by decision when the pair met in March 2023. That fight was the third consecutive loss for Yan, a stretch that started when he lost the bantamweight title to Aljamain Sterling the year prior. Yan h

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