Petr Yan faces Merab Dvalishvili this weekend at UFC Las Vegas. The fight takes place at The Theatre at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas where Yan will be looking to snap a two-fight losing streak. And, despite his poor run of results, the Russian has a host of great performances throughout his career, let’s take a look at a few of them.
Petr Yan def. Urijah Faber via KO (14/12/2019)
At UFC 245, Yan faced Urijah Faber, former WEC featherweight champion and UFC Hall of Famer. He dominated the striking exchanges, dropping Faber in the second round, and eventually secured the knockout blow in the third and final round with a brutal front kick to the face. This would ultimately spell the end of ‘The California Kid’s’ MMA career, but for Yan, it set him up for a vacant title shot just seven months later.
You can watch the full fight below:
Petr Yan def. José Aldo via TKO (12/7/2020)
Following Henry Cejudo’s short-lived decision to retire from MMA competition in May 2020, the UFC booked Yan to face José Aldo for the vacant bantamweight title at UFC 251 on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi. After comfortably out-striking Aldo, ‘No Mercy’ was winning the fight 39-37 on all three scorecards going into the final round. However, they weren’t to be needed as Yan pounded out the former featherweight champion in the fifth round to win the fight via TKO.
Significantly, Aldo went on to beat Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera, Pedro Munhoz, and Rob Font following the loss. Which, as a result, caused Yan’s win over the Brazilian to age extremely well.
You can watch the full fight below:
Petr Yan def. Cory Sandhagen via UD (30/10/2021)
After the disqualification and loss of his title vs Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259, Yan was supposed to rematch ‘Funk Master’ later that year. But, due to ongoing neck issues for Sterling, the bout was cancelled and changed to an interim title fight. Consequently, in stepped Cory Sandhagen. The fight took place on 30th October 2021 with Yan winning the fight by unanimous decision and it was an amazing fight, both tactically and from an entertainment perspective. Fittingly, both men took home an extra $50k from the Fight of the Night bonus.
You can watch the full fight below:
What is your favourite Petr Yan victory?
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
