Petr Yan

Overview

Seventeen UFC fights, only four finishes, and a belt anyway. Petr "No Mercy" Yan is 13-4 in the UFC, nine of those wins went the distance, and he is the bantamweight champion. His 21-5-0 professional record covers all promotions; the UFC mark is the 13-4.

The recent run is the case for him. Five straight wins come into his next fight, including two title fights against Merab Dvalishvili, the man who beat him in 2023.

One loss to Dvalishvili, then two wins.

UFC Career

Yan debuted at UFC Fight Night: Cowboy vs. Edwards in June 2018 with a first-round TKO of Teruto Ishihara at 3:28. A decision over Jin Soo Son followed, then a second-round TKO of Douglas Silva de Andrade at UFC 232. Decision wins over John Dodson and Jimmie Rivera came next, both against opponents our model rates as strong.

Then two more TKOs. He stopped Urijah Faber in the third round at UFC 245, and beat Jose Aldo by TKO in round 5 at 3:24 at UFC 251, a five-round fight. That made seven wins in a row, his longest UFC streak.

It ended at UFC 259, where Aljamain Sterling beat him by disqualification at 4:29 of round 4. A unanimous decision over Cory Sandhagen at UFC 267 went the full five rounds. Then came three straight losses, all on the scorecards: a split decision to Sterling in the UFC 273 rematch, a split decision to Sean O'Malley at UFC 280, and a unanimous decision to Dvalishvili in the March 2023 main event, again over five rounds.

He didn't stay down. Song Yadong lost a unanimous decision to him at UFC 299, and Deiveson Figueiredo did the same in the November 2024 main event. A unanimous decision over Marcus McGhee followed in July 2025.

Then the title. At UFC 323 in December 2025, Yan beat Dvalishvili by unanimous decision in a five-round title fight, then did it again at UFC 333. Both opponents were elite by our model's tiers.

Lost to him once, beat him twice.

Fighting Style

Yan is a busy, accurate striker who is hard to hit. He throws a high volume and lands a lot of what he throws, and his defense keeps him from taking much in return.

He is also very hard to take down, and he rarely hunts for submissions. His own takedown attempts are about average, but the grappling is there to keep the fight standing, not to win it.

All four of his UFC finishes have been TKOs, spread across rounds 1, 2, 3 and 5, with only one coming in the first round. Nine of his 13 UFC wins have gone to the scorecards.

(I dropped the line about five-round fights, since the facts don't give that count.)

Notable Wins

• Merab Dvalishvili — unanimous decision, round 5, title fight, UFC 333 (2026)
• Merab Dvalishvili — unanimous decision, round 5, title fight, UFC 323 (2025)
• Deiveson Figueiredo — unanimous decision, round 5, UFC Fight Night: Yan vs Figueiredo (2024)
• Jose Aldo — TKO, round 5, 3:24, UFC 251 (2020)

Quick Facts

• Division: Bantamweight (champion)
• UFC record: 13-4
• Professional record (all promotions): 21-5-0
• UFC debut: June 2018
• Reach: 67"
• Height: 5'8"
• Born: Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia