Dvalishvili uncorked a staggering 49 takedown attempts during that five-round headliner, landing 11. “Obviously, we have a lot of information that we’ve downloaded about each other,” Yan said at the UFC 323 media day. “We know each other better. But if you look at my first two rematches with (Magomed) Magomedov and (Aljamain) Sterling, you could see that I’m 100 percent better in the second fight. So I’m determined to make sure I’m much better in this second fight against Merab. On paper, he’s one of the greatest. But for me, that’s also motivation, something that shows me I need to push myself further and show what I can do. I think Merab deserves any rematch that he wants, whether he calls it out or the UFC calls it out. I think he deserves a rematch. If I do win, I think that it would be a really cool trilogy to put that third fight together.”

Dvalishvili is clearly in his prime and virtually unstoppable. But unstoppable is not the same as invincible. “The Machine” could get unplugged by a guillotine on a takedown attempt, or get slept by a nasty knee — also during a takedown attempt. There’s also the chance that Yan could slow down the wrestling (he’ll never completely stop it) and strike for points, as opposed to knockouts, doing enough to sway the cageside judges. Dvalishvili would need to have an off night, coupled with Yan turning in the performance of a lifetime. I wouldn’t mind seeing it, just because the division is starting to get a little stale, but it’s hard to pick against the best bantamweight in the world, particularly when he’s firing on all cylinders.

UFC fans love shiny new toys and they don’t get any shinier or newer than Joshua Van, who takes over for the once-beaten Tatsuro Taira as the division’s next big thing. The 24 year-old flyweight wasn’t even ranked at this time last year, thanks to a knockout loss to Charles Johnson at UFC Denver, but a five-fight win streak — with three of those victories coming in 2025 — helped propel “Fearless” to the No. 1 spot at 125 pounds. That said, his only victory over an opponent currently ranked in the Top 10 came over Brandon Royval at UFC 317, so Van’s ranking feels a little shaky to me without having to fight some of the 125-pound mainstays like Brandon Moreno and Manel Kape, or even Amir Albazi. Nevertheless, it’s nice to see a fresh face at the top of the division mountain and let’s face it, Alexandre Pantoja isn’t getting any younger at age 35 — and there are a lot of miles on those Brazilian tires after 35 professional fights.