Former UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan decided to accept a fight against the 13th ranked 135lb contender in the world instead of waiting for a title shot.
Last week, UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili successfully defended his title for a second time when he submitted Sean O’Malley in round four of the UFC 316 main event.
With Dvalishvili continuing to cement himself as the greatest bantamweight of all time, UFC boss Dana White dropped a hint regarding his next title defense immediately after UFC 316.
Although Cory Sandhagen is likely next in line, former bantamweight king Petr Yan has made a big claim that he was promised the next title shot.
Petr Yan claims he was promised title fight before accepting bizarre fight
‘No Mercy’ Yan fought ‘The Machine’ in a five round Fight Night main event in 2023 and was utterly dominated by the Georgian.
Since then, the Russian has impressively rebounded with two huge wins over Song Yadong and Deiveson Figueiredo, putting himself back into title contention.
Despite that, it was recently revealed that Yan will fight number 13 ranked bantamweight contender Marcus McGhee on July 26 at UFC Abu Dhabi.
The matchup has come as quite the surprise to the UFC fanbase considering the gap between the two in the rankings, however, Yan has revealed that he was promised the next title fight but decided to take the fight against McGhee instead of waiting.
“I was told that I can wait and I’ll be next in line for the title but I don’t want to wait and I don’t want to be an inactive fighter, I want to fight twice this year, if possible,” Yan told Gorilla Energy.
“I am ready to fight, I expressed my desire, and they found me an opponent. All the fighters in the top five or even top 10 are busy right now. Some of them already have fights scheduled. Some have other reasons.
“I just wanted to fight in July, they found me an opponent, and I’m ready,” he continued.
Petr Yan may live to regret his decision
Although Yan is keen to stay active this year, he may find himself pushed to the back of the line, even if he does beat McGhee in Abu Dhabi.
As well as hinting that Sandhagen would be next for Merab, White also stated how a rematch between Dvalishvili and Umar Nurmagomedov would be interesting.
If ‘The Machine’ does fight ‘The Sandman’ and beats him, a rematch against Nurmagomedov could come before a potential rematch against ‘No Mercy’ Yan.