Brendan Schaub praises Petr Yan's takedown defense after UFC 333 win

Petr Yan's UFC 333 win over Merab Dvalishvili marked the end of their rivalry with one of the highest-level examples of a well-rounded striker facing a relentless wrestler, and his takedown defense deserves more credit, according to Brendan Schaub.

Brendan Schaub calls out Daniel Cormier's minimal praise of Petr Yan's takedown defense

Daniel Cormier hasn't had the best couple of days following UFC 333. Light heavyweight contender Dominick Reyes has aimed criticism at 'DC' for his commentary on his first-round knockout of Azamat Murzakanov, with accusations of bias and poor research. Now, former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub has weighed in, but his focus is on a different fight, criticizing Cormier for giving far too much credence to the 58 takedown attempts from Merab Dvalishvili, but not enough credit to Petr Yan for defending 53 of them.

"Shooting 58 times is absolutely mindblowing. The amount of cardio, the pace. Crazy. What's even crazier is this Russian defended, being very generous, the takedown, 53 mother-trucking times. Mindblowing. His takedown defense is the best of all time. Not even close. His scrambling ability, his ability to move forward, and remember, Yan did not go backwards the entire fight. He defended the takedown, applying pressure."

Schaub also disagrees with Cormier's assessment of round three, which the former double champion characterized as close.

"That third round is not close. It is not up for debate. And out of those five takedowns, quote unquote 'takedowns,' real there's just two of them. But let's say he gave five, we'll go ahead, glaze him and give him five. That only happened in the first two rounds. That means in the third, fourth, and fifth, he probably defended 30 takedowns, moving forward and landing shots. So, if we're gonna glaze anybody, if we're gonna glizzy anybody inside that octagon, if we're gonna give anybody the deep throat glaze, it's Petr Yan."

Yan's win was his second consecutive one over Dvalishvili, who he had previously beaten via unanimous decision at UFC 323. However, his UFC 333 clash with 'The Machine' was more competitive. It was the first successful bantamweight title defense in his career, and he will have another rematch on his hands, as he will face either Sean O'Malley or Song Yadong next, with both men determined to fight for the belt next.

However, until the UFC announces his next title challenger, he'll enjoy the fruits of his labor as one of the greatest bantamweights of all time.