Petr Yan says he has a lot to improve on after UFC Vegas 71 this past Saturday.
Yan suffered the most lopsided defeat of his career to Merab Dvalishvili, the Serra-Longo Fight Team staple who overwhelmed ‘No Mercy’ over the course of five rounds. Despite his attempts to slow the ‘Machine’ down, Yan struggled with the pace and pressure from Dvalishvili.
In his first post-fight comments, Yan reflected on his performance, describing it as ‘annoying ‘ and ‘frustrating’ to watch.
“It hurts to realize what is happening, but what happened cannot be rewound,” wrote Yan on Instagram in Russian. “In general, I was satisfied with the preparation. There were several slowing factors — which I thought and believed I would manage! Flew to the United States, a couple of days after the flight and started working. I felt I needed physical therapy! I worked out every day for a week and believed that everything would be fine.
“A week before the fight, they gave me a 5×5 roast, I breathed well and started [the weight cut],” continued Yan. “I couldn’t think about canceling the fight because I was already on the field! I think it was clear that I could not move or hit! I had to hang on! I know what I can do and I know I can do better. I need to reboot — make adjustments. The photo was taken from a training session at Tiger[Muay Thai] 7 days before departure; that day I thought I could jump and hit anything in the sky. Thank you all for your attention — understanding.”
Though he failed to mention what the ‘several slowing factors’ were, it appears they were significant enough for Yan to consider withdrawing from the fight.
When Yan expects to return to the Octagon remains to be seen. The former UFC bantamweight champion is winless in his past three fights, losing split decisions to Aljamain Sterling and Sean O’Malley at UFC 273 and UFC 280, respectively.
About the author: Kristen King is a writer for Bloody Elbow. She has covered combat sports since 2016. (full bio)
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