It’s now been over three years since anyone last beat Petr Yan. After his win over Merab Dvalishvili, the Russian fighter believes he can take any one the UFC sends for his next bantamweight title defense.
“Listen to me, brother: I’m the champion of this organization; I do not pick fights,” he told Daniel Cormier during the post-fight cage interview. “This organization puts the next contender in front of me, and I’m ready to fight with any of them. Give me Song Yadong, give me King Kong! Give me anybody! Just make the weight and I will take you down!”
Yan’s comments come on the heels of his win over Dvalishvili. Competing in the co-main event of UFC 333, headlined by Alexander Volkanovski and Movsar Evloev, Yan and Dvalishvili fought out a competitive bout that ended in another decision victory for the Russian.
With the win Yan has now beaten two of the top contenders in the bantamweight division, with Sean O’Malley being the exception.
Beyond a potential rematch with O’Malley, Yan feels he could revisit a matchup with Song Yadong before taking on other contenders such as Mario Bautista and Umar Nurmagomedov.

