Dana White says Petr Yan will be one half of vacant bantamweight title fight
Petr Yan is next
UFC President Dana White already has one half of the vacant bantamweight title fight decided.
After Henry Cejudo announced his retirement following a second-round TKO victory against Dominick Cruz at UFC 249 on Saturday, May 9, White told the media during the post fight press conference that Petr Yan will fight for the vacant strap next.
“It’s Petr Yan and somebody,” White said. “We’ll get that figured out too. We’ll make a title fight next week for the vacant title and probably do that fight as soon as possible.”
Yan is undefeated in all six of his UFC bouts, a part of a nine-fight win streak. The 27-year-old most recently knocked out Urijah Faber with a head kick at UFC 245 in December 2019.
It marked his third stoppage inside the octagon, defeating Douglas Andrade and Teruto Ishihara earlier in his career. He also holds decision victories over Jimmie Rivera, John Dodson and Jin Soo Son.
Yan wasted no time on Twitter in reacting to Cejudo’s retirement announcement.
“Smart decision to runaway from fighting me @HenryCejudo,” Yan said.
Smart decision to runaway from fighting me @HenryCejudo
— Petr “No Mercy” Yan (@PetrYanUFC) May 10, 2020
I’m very happy to hear this news @danawhite Just tell me when and where, I don’t care who’s the opponent. My goal is to win the belt and become undisputed champion ✊🏼 https://t.co/cXUR683vKB
— Petr “No Mercy” Yan (@PetrYanUFC) May 10, 2020
Looking at the options
During the post-fight press conference, Cejudo offered the idea of a bantamweight tournament. Although White never mentioned a tournament, Cejudo included Yan, Aljamain Sterling, Cory Sandhagen, Jose Aldo and Marlon Moraes in the mix.
The champion gave his take on Petr fighting for the belt.
“He [Yan] hasn’t beat nobody,” Cejudo said. “I think he needs to fight an Aljamain Sterling or a Cody Sandhagen in order for him to get a title shot. It’s not just good because you beat Urijah Faber dude, come on.”
White indicated no fight will be announced until after the next two cards on Wednesday, May 13 and Saturday, May 16. He also plans to contact Cejduo before any other bantamweight.
“You let that guy take a week, go home or whatever he is going to do and think about it. Then when we get home and get back to work on Monday, we will call Henry and say, ‘Is this really what you want to do?’ and if the answer is, ‘Yes,’ then the matchmaking meeting is Tuesday. We will have another fight on Tuesday.”
