By The Numbers: Petr Yan vs. Merab Dvalishvili

Pursuit of the Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight crown put two of the division’s best on a collision course with one another.

Former champion Petr Yan will lock horns with surging Serra-Longo Fight Team standout Merab Dvalishvili in the UFC Fight Night 221 headliner on Saturday inside The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. The winner figures to surface as the next No. 1 contender at 135 pounds. Yan steps into the Octagon on the heels of back-to-back losses. He last appeared at UFC 280, where he wound up on the wrong side of a contentious split decision against Sean O’Malley. Dvalishvili, meanwhile, has rattled off eight consecutive victories. He last competed on Aug. 20, when he laid claim to a three-round unanimous decision over Jose Aldo at UFC 278.

As Yan and Dvalishvili inch ever closer to their looming battle, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:

30: Years of age for Yan, who was born in Dudinka, Russia, on Feb. 11, 1993.

7: Yan victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 44% of his career total (16). His list of UFC victims: Aldo, Urijah Faber, Douglas Silva de Andrade and Teruto Ishihara. Yan owns one other victory by submission (6%) and eight more by decision (50%).

10: Knockdowns landed by Yan as a UFC bantamweight, tying him with Marlon Vera for first on the promotion’s all-time list at 135 pounds. They rank ahead of T.J. Dillashaw (nine), Cody Garbrandt (nine) and Montel Jackson (nine).

3: First-round finishes on the Yan resume, though only one of them has taken place inside the Octagon. He took out the aforementioned Ishihara with punches 3:28 into their UFC Fight Night 132 encounter on June 23, 2018.

.891: Cumulative winning percentage between the three opponents—O’Malley, Aljamain Sterling (twice) and Magomed Magomedov—who have beaten Yan. They sport a combined record of 57-7.

32: Years of age for Dvalishvili, who was born on Jan. 10, 1991 in Tbilisi, Georgia.

11: Dvalishvili wins by decision, accounting for 73% of his career total (15). Among those he has outpointed: Cody Stamann, John Dodson, Casey Kenney, Terrion Ware and Tony Gravely. Dvalishvili holds three other wins by knockout or technical knockout and one more by submission.

63: Takedowns completed by Dvalishvili as a member of the UFC roster, placing him fourth on the promotion’s active list. Only Clay Guida (76), Colby Covington (67) and Rafael dos Anjos (66) have been credited with more.

15: Seconds needed for Dvalishvili to cut down Raufeon Stots with a spinning backfist at a Ring of Combat show on June 2, 2017. Nearly six years later, it remains his fastest finish to date.

57: Combined victories between the four opponents—Ricky Simon, Frankie Saenz, Ricky Bandejas and Darren Mima—who have defeated Dvalishvili. They boast a cumulative .687 winning percentage at 57-26.