The next UFC opponent of Petr Yan came from the left field.
A former champion of the Bantamweight Division, the #2-ranked competitor Petr Yan fought against whom Jose Aldo on 135 pounds to Aljamain Sterling (twice) to the two men in the UFC 316 Main Event between Champ Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O'Malley.
Despite back-to-back victories on Song Yadong and Deiveson Figueiredo, Yan was passed on for the next title Kans and the Russian will have to fight again if he wants a crack in gold.
Instead of facing a top candidate, the UFC reportedly matched Yan with someone who is further in the ranking.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Petr Yan to fight Marcus Mcghee at UFC Abu Dhabi
According to a report from Cageside Press, Yan accepted a fight on July 26 with #13-ranged competitor Marcus Mcghee on UFC Abu Dhabi.
Mcghee, 35, is a teammate of O'Malley's and trains from the MMA Lab in Phoenix, Arizona. 10-1 As a professional, Mcghee won his first four fights in the UFC Octagon with three implementing bonuses.
The knockout artist comes from a decision victory at Jonathan Martinez at UFC 309 and gets a huge step in competition when he takes on the former champion Yan.
O'Malley called Mcghee a 'Beast' when his teammate made his UFC debut on three days of notice in 2023.
UFC fans amazed by matchmakers for bantam weight books
It is not every day that you see an increasing prospect getting a chance at a former champion high in the ranking.
UFC fans are confused by the #2-ranged Yan Fighting #13 Mcghee, given that Yan is in the vicinity of title conflicts and Mcghee has no ranked victories.
“This fight makes no sense,” said a fan about the Bantamweight matchup on 'X'.
'Yan has just got Figgy [Deiveson Figueiredo] who was unbeaten at the time at BW. He shouldn't fight [someone] So arranged lower. I understand he wants to stay busy, but the [Cory] Sandhagen Rematch would have made more logical that the winner of that Rematch deserves a title shot. “
This fight makes no sense. Yan just removed Figgy who was unbeaten at BW at the time. He would not have to fight as a lower arranged. I understand that he wants to stay busy, but the Sandhagen Rematch would have been more logical that the winner of that rematch deserves a title shot
– The Combat Sports Matrixer (@thecsmatrixer) 29 May 2025
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“Don't get the matchmaking at all, unless Yan just wanted to be active. I got Yan at finish,” wrote another fan.
“What a disastrous booking, this should have been Yan vs Umar [Nurmagomedov]”A fan said.
Petr Yan has been in this kind of position earlier. When he was the #1 medical part in 2022, Yan fought against a #11-ranged Sean O'Malley on UFC 280, even though O'Malley had no desired victories.
O'Malley and the UFC matchmakers caught a lot of anti -aircraft guns, but it eventually paid off for O'Malley, who won in an exciting and controversial split decision.