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The UFC bantamweight division has a new conqueror and his name is Petr Yan. 

The 27-year-old Russian destroyer outslugged Brazilian legend and former featherweight king Jose Aldo en route to a violent fifth-round TKO to capture the vacant 135-pound title recently surrendered by a retiring Henry Cejudo. The bout served as the first of three title fights on the pay-per-view card of UFC 251 on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.

Yan (15-1) was forced to prove his mettle against a game Aldo (28-7) who traded hard strikes throughout. But Yan proved to be the complete package in a loaded division by becoming just the second Russian-born UFC champion and the sixth undisputed bantamweight king in promotional history. 

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"My plan was to put pressure on him and make him tired and after the third round start attacking," Yan said. "That's exactly what happened." 

Shortly after Yan's victory, he was heckled on Twitter by Cejudo who has maintained interest in potentially returning to the Octagon for big fights in the right situation. Yan will mostly likely face top contender Aljamain Sterling following his impressive first-round submission win over Corey Sandhagen in May. 

Aldo, who was controversially awarded a title shot despite having lost his previous two fights, came out strong in the opening round and forced Yan to switch to southpaw by connecting with his trademark outside leg kicks.

"I expected it to be a hard fight but then he hit my leg and I was forced to change stances," Yan said. 

Yan rallied to close the round with a flurry by reversing a takedown to maintain top position and visibly hurting Aldo with a punch to the body before bloodying his mouth with clean shots before the horn to the end. Aldo picked his spots over the next three rounds and exchanged hard strikes despite his gas tank slowly depleting. He forced Yan to showcase his strong chin in Round 3 by backing him up to the cage with straight punches. Aldo also went to the body repeatedly with left hooks. 

Yan avoided trouble, however, by answering each of Aldo's biggest strikes with clean shots of his own. Aldo appeared gassed entering Round 5 and was floored early by a left cross from a southpaw Yan in what became the beginning of his demise. Aldo was busted open with hammer shots and elbows as Yan twice had the veteran trapped helpless in a crucifix position. 

Eventually, Aldo was content to cover up as he filled the canvas with blood although referee Leon Roberts seemed to go too far above and beyond to give him a chance to recover. As Yan continued to batter Aldo, Roberts finally jumped in at 3:24 of the final round to award Yan the title.

For complete results and recaps of UFC 251, head over to our guide for the event