Former UFC Bantamweight champion Petr Yan decided to accept a fight against the 13th arranged 135 pounds of competition in the world instead of waiting for a title shot.
Last week UFC Bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili successfully defended his title for the second time when he submitted Sean O'Malley in round four of the UFC 316 Main Event.
With DvalishVili who continues to cement itself as the largest bantamweight of all time, UFC boss Dana White dropped a hint with regard to his next defending defense immediately after UFC 316.
Although Cory Sandhagen is probably in line for the next one, the former Bantamweight King Petr Yan has made a big claim that the next title shot has been promised to him.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Petr Yan claims that he was promised title fight before he accepted bizarre battle
'No Mercy' Yan Vocht de Machine 'in a five -round fighting night main event in 2023 and was completely dominated by the Georgian.
Since then, the Russian has returned in an impressive way with two huge victories over Song Yadong and Deiveson Figueiredo, which puts him in the title again.
Despite that, it was recently revealed that Yan will fight against Bantamweight Competier Marcus Mcghee on July 26 at Numpy 13 in UFC Abu Dhabi.
The matchup has come quite the surprise for the UFC fan base, given the gap between the two in the ranking, but 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 will be the next one in line for the title, but I don't want to wait and I don't want to be an inactive hunter, I want to fight twice this year,” Yan told Gorilla Energy.
“I am ready to fight, I have spoken my desire and they found me an opponent. All hunters in the top five or even top 10 are now busy. Some of them have already planned fights. Some have other reasons.
“I just wanted to fight in July, they thought I was an opponent and I am ready,” he went on.
Petr Yan explains why he ranked a fight against #13 ranked Marcus Mcghee:
“I was told that I can wait and I will be the next one for the title, but I don't want to wait and I don't want to be inactive hunter. I want to fight twice this year, if possible.
I just wanted … pic.twitter.com/ndfeazpwcz
– Championship Rounds (@champrds) June 13, 2025
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Petr Yan can live to regret his decision
Although Yan likes to remain active this year, he can be pushed behind in the line, even if he beats Mcghee in Abu Dhabi.
Besides that Sandhagen would be the next one for Merab, White also explained how a rematch between Dvalishvili and Umar Nurmagomedov would be interesting.
If 'the machine' fights against 'the Sandman' and beats him, a rematch against Nurmagomedov could come before a potential rematch against 'no mercy' yan.