Petr Yan is going to remind people who he is in his next outing.
Yan lost the bantamweight title to Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259 in 2021 by disqualification. Yan bounced back with a decision win over Cory Sandhagen, but was short-sided by a split decision in his subsequent rematch with Sterling. The Russian then withdrew back-to-back decisions against Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili, losing relevance in title negotiations.
However, Yan began his comeback with a unanimous decision win over rising Chinese fighter Yadong Song at UFC 299 in March of this year. “No Mercy” is scheduled to face former UFC Macau flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo (24-3) on November 23rd at the Galaxy Arena in Macau, China. Yan’s manager Sayat Abdrakhmanov said the former champion wanted to make a statement in the fight. Abdrakhmanov doesn’t expect Yan to win the title right away, given his potential victory over Figueiredo, but he is confident that “No Mercy” will be back in title talks.
“We need to make a statement so that people remember us,” Abdrakhmanov said in an interview with MMA Vestnik (translation by Red Corner MMA). “This is a very important fight and it’s what we wanted. Figueiredo is on a winning streak and he’s a former champion. So this fight will be looked at as a title fight. Perhaps the winner will be the next He won’t be a candidate, but he will be one of the candidates considered later.”
Figueiredo is unbeaten in three fights since moving up to bantamweight.
