Yan Leaves Next Challenger to UFC as Song Yadong Gets a Push

Petr Yan has not named a preferred challenger after keeping his bantamweight title at UFC 333, but he said Song Yadong looks like the more complete fighter than Sean O'Malley.

Yan started slowly against Merab Dvalishvili in Abu Dhabi and took over in the third round. All three judges scored the fight 48-47 for him.

O'Malley appeared sure that a Yan win would lead to a title shot for him. He holds a split decision victory over Yan from 2022, which gives a rematch a ready-made storyline. But after the result was announced, commentator Daniel Cormier suggested that Song, who was in attendance in Abu Dhabi, was the real number one contender. He did not mention O'Malley.

What Yan said

Yan did not sound interested in avenging the 2022 loss. "I'm not the one to decide it, whoever is offered to me by UFC, by the promotion, is who I'm going to fight," he told MMA Fighting after the win.

He then took aim at O'Malley's route to title fights. "The UFC has already been trying to pull Sean O'Malley by his bootstraps since the very beginning, they've given him two free fights against the champ when it was Merab, right?" Yan said. "They've raised this chicken to lay eggs for so long, they're trying to squeeze as many eggs out of him as possible."

Yan has beaten Song before, in 2024. Even so, he said Song has progressed. "From what I see, Song Yadong is way more well rounded now," he said, before repeating that he does not choose his opponents. "Whoever the company gives me, that's who I fight."

O'Malley stayed in Arizona and did not travel to Abu Dhabi. If the UFC prefers another Chinese challenger and a title eliminator between O'Malley and Payton Talbott, he could end up on the outside of the title picture.

Source: MMA Mania