Petr Yan stunningly dominates Merab Dvalishvili to capture the bantamweight championship at UFC 323

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Petr Yan stunned Merab Dvalishvili with a dominating effort to capture the bantamweight championship by unanimous decision at UFC 323 on Saturday night.

With punishing strikes and several crushing kicks to the rib cage, Yan (20-5) ended Dvalishvili’s 14-match winning streak.

“I’m very happy to stand here with the championship belt, thank you to all the fans,” Yan said, through an interpreter. “I worked so hard, I prepared so hard for this moment.”

Dvalishvili (21-5) hadn’t lost since April 21, 2018, when Ricky Simon won by submission. It was his fourth title match of 2025.

Yan exacted revenge for his last loss when Dvalishvili defeated the 32-year-old by unanimous decision on a UFC Fight Night card on March 11, 2023.

Dvalishvili, 34, closed a -425 favorite, which meant a bettor laid $425 to $100 at BetMGM. Anyone wagering $100 on Yan would have won $320.

“I lost today,” Dvalishvili said. “Congratulations to him.”

In the co-main event, challenger Joshua Van won the flyweight belt from former champion Alexandre Pantoja with a TKO just 26 seconds into the first round after a quirky finish.

In what appeared to be a freak accident, Pantoja (30-6) injured his left shoulder just after throwing a right roundkick to Van’s head. But as Van (16-2) blocked the kick, Pantoja used his left arm to brace his fall, but his arm buckled, and he immediately grabbed it and waved to referee Herb Dean to stop the bout at 26 seconds.

In a display of sportsmanship, Van immediately joined Pantoja on the canvas to check on him once the bout was called.

Also from the main card:

In what was a scheduled three-round flyweight bout, No. 5 Tatsuro Taira (18-1-0) earned the biggest victory of his career, a first-round stoppage over No. 2 Brandon Moreno (23-9-2) at the 2:24 mark of the second round after capitalizing on a rear-mount ground-and-pound.

In a three-round bantamweight match, unranked rising star Payton Talbott (11-1-0) dominated 10th-ranked Henry Cejudo (16-6-0) to earn a 30-27 unanimous decision over the former two-division champion. Cejudo, who fought for the last time, was honored with a tribute video after the bout.

In a three-round light heavyweight bout, fifth-ranked Jan Blachowicz (29-11-2) and 11th-ranked Bogdan Guskov (18-3-1) fought to a majority draw. Blachowicz was given the 29-28 edge by one judge, while two others had it 28-28.

It marked the last UFC pay-per-view fight after the organization agreed to a seven-year contract with Paramount Plus under which future bouts will be on the streaming service. The partnership, which includes the two popular series Dana White’s Contender Series and The Ultimate Fighter, begins Jan. 24 with UFC 324 in Las Vegas.

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Jan Blachowicz, left, takes a punch from Bogdan Guskov, right, in a light heavyweight mixed martial arts bout during UFC 323, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)

Henry Cejudo, left, is hit with an elbow by Payton Talbott, right, in a bantamweight mixed martial arts bout during UFC 323, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)

Tatsuro Taira, of Japan, celebrates after defeating Brandon Moreno in a flyweight bout during UFC 323 Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)

UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja, right, is injured as he falls to the canvas away from Joshua Van during UFC 323 Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)

Petr Yan celebrates with a member of his team after defeating UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili during UFC 323 Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Mohamad Al-Assi ran beneath the concrete wall as the sun rose over Bethlehem. His Nikes pounded the gravel, his breath fogging the air as graffiti and paint splatter blurred past with each stride.

The road along the barrier separating Israel from the occupied West Bank makes up a stretch of a marathon route that Al-Assi and thousands of others ran on Friday. The event is open to people in other parts of the world running in solidarity with the Palestinians and another, shorter race was happening in Gaza.

The race, known as the Palestine Marathon, was held for the first time in three years and was among the first big international events in the West Bank since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Festivals, conferences and holiday festivities that once drew thousands have been scaled back or canceled because of the war in Gaza and heightened Israeli restrictions.

It marked a turning point for Al-Assi, 27, who was released from Israeli detention six months ago. Video from that day shows him gaunt-faced and hollow-eyed, his once muscular legs weakened after more than two and a half years of prison.

He began training in December, gradually upping his mileage every month since. He ran 62 miles (100 kilometers) that first month, and in April reached 135 miles (217 kilometers), according to his account on the tracking app Strava.

He jogs in the morning after his mother wakes him up in their home in Dheisheh, a Palestinian refugee camp made up of graffiti-covered cinderblock homes in tangled alleyways.

“The main difficulties we face are the cars on the roads and the presence of Israeli security forces along the route where I train,” Al-Assi said.

He had to suspend his training several times because of military operations in the camp.

“I would return home feeling hopeless because I couldn't do what I had intended to do,” Al-Assi said.

In the West Bank, runners cannot complete a 26.2-mile (42.2-kilometer) course without hitting a checkpoint or military gate, which is why Friday's marathon route looped around the same circuit twice.

They ran up through the narrow streets of two Palestinian refugee camps and down to a farming town next to Bethlehem where fields are divided by the concrete wall, barbed wire and cameras. The course hooked back to finish at Bethlehem’s Manger Square.

Organizers say the race highlights restrictions facing Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, where checkpoints can disrupt even routine commutes and where open land for hiking, biking and running is increasingly taken by Israeli settlements and outposts.

“Marathon runners anywhere may ‘hit a wall’ under the physical and emotional strain of completing the 42-kilometer race course," they said on the marathon's website.

But in the West Bank, they added, "runners literally hit the Wall.”

At a time when the West Bank’s economy is struggling and in the shadow of Gaza's fragile ceasefire and stalled rebuilding efforts, the atmosphere in Bethlehem was celebratory. Crowds gathered near the Church of the Nativity to cheer runners at the race's early morning start and finish. Bagpipes blared and drummers pounded out traditional rhythms through streets along the route.

On a beachside road in Nuseirat in central Gaza — which is roughly the length of a marathon — 15 disabled people, including amputees, ran a 2K, and a couple thousand of people ran a 5K. Thirteen years after the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, canceled a 2013 marathon because Hamas forbade women from participating, the women were back.

Haya Alnaji, a 22-year-old woman who ran in the 5K, said the number of people taking part reflected that Palestinians in Gaza were determined to live and persevere despite the devastation wrought by more than two years of war.

“All of Gaza loves sports,” she said.

Al-Assi was arrested in April 2023, and imprisoned under administrative detention, which allows Israel to hold detainees for months without charge. Between 3,000 and 4,000 Palestinians are being held under that system, according to Israeli rights groups and the Palestinian Prisoners Society.

In October 2023, Al-Assi was sentenced for transferring money to suspicious entities, a charge he denies. Israel closely monitors money transfers — particularly to Gaza — for fear that funds could end up in the hands of militants. Palestinians, however, say donations and charitable contributions are often swept up in the dragnet. Israel’s military, Shin Bet and Prison Service did not answer questions about Al-Assi's charges.

In Israeli prisons — where detainees routinely complain of inadequate diets — Al-Assi said nearly everyone goes hungry. The weight he lost eroded the endurance built through 10 years of training.

“I have more muscle mass than fat, so when I lost weight, the loss came from my muscles rather than fat,” he said. “This had a major impact on my physical fitness.”

He also had to regain the mental fortitude to run a marathon.

“I was emotionally shattered after spending such a long period in prison,” he said.

On Friday, he collapsed to his knees, bowing and thanking God after finishing second overall, as supporters and journalists encircled him. He dedicated his run to Palestinians still in Israeli detention.

“After 32 months in prison, Mohamad Al-Assi is first in his class!” he shouted through tears, raising his hands and looking up to the sky.

__ Imad Isseid contributed from Bethlehem, West Bank and Abdel Kareem Hana from Nuseirat, Gaza Strip.

A Palestinian amputee runner takes part in the 2-kilometer Palestine Marathon along the coastal road near Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinian runners take part in the 5-kilometer Palestine Marathon along the coastal road near Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Runners participate in the Palestine Marathon in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Runners pass by Israel's separation wall as they compete in the Palestine Marathon in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian Mohamad Al-Assi, who was released from Israeli detention six months ago, runs past Israel's separation wall as he trains ahead of the Palestine Marathon in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Sam Metz)