Is Petr Yan the new bantamweight GOAT? Evaluating his UFC 333 win
Petr Yan's win at UFC 333 was one of the greatest wins in UFC bantamweight history, and it has sparked conversations about the division's GOAT ranking.
Petr Yan has finally put an end to his rivalry with Merab Dvalishvili by defeating him at UFC 333. It was an astonishing win and one of the hardest-earned wins of his career. However, is it enough for him to be considered the greatest bantamweight of all time?
Where does Petr Yan fit on the 135-lb bantamweight GOAT list?
There aren't many fighters who can contend with Petr Yan's standing as a bantamweight. In fact, there are only three other fighters who can. They're Dominick Cruz, Aljamain Sterling, and, of course, Merab Dvalishvili. So, it's safe to say Yan is already one of the greatest bantamweights of all time, but do the aforementioned three still rank ahead of him after UFC 333? First, there's Cruz, a legend of yesteryear. He is a former WEC and UFC bantamweight champion, with wins over a fellow legend like Urijah Faber, and a win over former UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw, who is one of the best fighters of all time.
He also has wins over an all-time great like Demetrious Johnson, but the truth of it is that 'Mighty Mouse' was horribly undersized at bantamweight, as was Joseph Benavidez, who 'The Dominator' also beat. Unfortunately, injuries derailed much of Cruz's career and he never truly got the lengthy, consistent run he deserved. His body simply couldn't keep up. Then, there's Sterling, who holds the record for the most UFC bantamweight title defenses, but several of his fights were odd. He has wins over ex-bantamweight champion Renan BarĆ£o, but after the latter's decline had begun. His other conquests include Cory Sandhagen, Yan himself, twice, in fact, Dillashaw, and Henry Cejudo, but, as was said, there are some oddities.
First, Sterling's first win over Yan, which won him the bantamweight title, was a disqualification win in a fight in which he was being dominated. It all came down to Yan illegally kneeing him in the head when he was a grounded opponent. Their rematch at UFC 273, though, was very competitive, and a deserved Sterling win. However, the subsequent win over Dillashaw is stained by the fact that Dillashaw was one-armed in that fight, having dislocated his arm. An arm he claimed he had dislocated countless times in his training camp prior. The following win over Cejudo, though, was, again, deserved.
So, how does Yan compare to Cruz and Sterling? He also has a win over Faber like Cruz does, only he finished him. He too has a win over Sandhagen like Sterling does, has strong wins over all-time great featherweight JosƩ Aldo, rising contender Song Yadong, former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo, and two wins over Dvalishvili. He is the only one to have fully figured out the puzzle of 'The Machine,' who is widely regarded as the greatest bantamweight of all time, and who has beaten Aldo, Yan himself, Cejudo, Sean O'Malley twice, the then unbeaten Umar Nurmagomedov, and Sandhagen.
Only Yan has been able to beat him, and that counts for something. So, Yan may not be the greatest bantamweight of all time, as Dvalishvili is still ahead of him, but he's close. Closer than both Sterling and Cruz.
