Who Does Petr Yan Fight Next?

TheMMAnalyst said:
After the decision loss to Suga it seems like Petr Yan is kind of in a weird spot - with different judges he could be champ, instead he lost a close split to Aljo and was used as a launching board for the Suga Show.

He's 1-3 in his last 4 with the 3 losses being 2 contentious split decisions and a NC in a title fight he was winning, so it's one of those cases where the record is deceiving. He's still inarguably one of the best in the world, but it doesn't seem like the UFC is interested in him as champion based on how things transpired. I know there was rumors from DShill (sorry I meant DC) that he wasn't going to fight again, but I take everything he says with a grain of salt because he just puts out whatever the UFC tells him to.

With the recent Font vs. Yanez announce I wonder what the UFC is going to do with him.

The top 10 is currently:

Champ = Aljo > fighting Cejudo in March?
1 = Suga > sitting out until next Summer?
2 = Yan > lost the decision to Suga in October (no fight announced)
3 = Merab > beat Aldo in August (no fight announced)
4 = Vera > fighting Sandhagen in Febuary
5 = Sandhagen > fighting Vera in February
6 = Font > fighting Yanez in April
7 = Cruz > KO'd by Vera in August (no fight announced)
8 = Yadong > TKO'd by Sandhagen in September (no fight announced)
9 = Munhoz > NC against Suga in July (no fight announced)
10 = Simon > Subbed Jack Shore in July (no fight announced)

So the only realistic opponents for Yan would be:

3 = Merab > beat Aldo in August (no fight announced)
7 = Cruz > KO'd by Vera in August (no fight announced)
8 = Yadong > TKO'd by Sandhagen in September (no fight announced)
9 = Munhoz > NC against Suga in July (no fight announced)
10 = Simon > Subbed Jack Shore in July (no fight announced)

I don't think they'd do Munhoz coming off the NC and being ranked so far back in the top-10. I don't think Yan wants to fight a pressure-wrestler like Simon that is also so far back in the top-10.

The UFC likes to do loser-vs-loser/winner-vs-winner type fights so Cruz or Yadong both seem logical match-ups. Stylistically and name-value it would make way more sense to fight Cruz, so I could see that getting made.

Also the UFC could basically just say "we're going to pretend like you won against Suga and give you a top-5 guy coming off a win i.e. Merab" - by fighting Merab if Yan wins it would eliminate him from contention (something the UFC is keen to do).

So I think most likely would be Cruz or Merab - personally I would prefer to see Cruz because of the style match-up but Merab would be a great fight that would see if Yan is still a contender or not and can come up with new answers to pressure-wrestler/grappler style.

What do you Sherbros think - who do you think Yan is going to fight next and who would you like to see him fight?
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Solid post and you more or less already stated what I think haha I'm interested to see what they do with him as well; kinda tough circumstances. I think I'd lean towards Song for reasons you already highlighted.
 
Jackonfire said:
I don't want to derail your thread about who Yan should fight next but I will point out that OMalley and Sean Shelby had a falling out last year when OMally turned down an opportunity to fight on the MSG card. It got so ugly that Sean will only talk to Dana directly now when it comes to match ups. And we know from court documents that Shelby is a vindictive little prick. You can't tell him no.
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Damn didn't know that (no worries about derailing the thread haha, I appreciate the insight/relevant info). I guess Sean Shelby really is the new Joe Silva and knows how to be a vindictive prick that holds grudges and uses every tool of leverage against his fighters (he truly did learn from the best!).

I will say this though - even if Suga has beef with Shelby it doesn't necessarily mean the UFC isn't going to kowtow to him to a degree still. He's a social media star with an exciting fight style that is in the news and causes slight controversy at times.

The UFC basically played ball with Conor until he won the LW title against Eddie and he held them over a barrel to get the Mayweather fight. After that point they realized they'd created a Frankenstein situation where they couldn't control the monster they'd built.

Even though I don't think they'll ever let that happen again, they have to play ball with their stars to a degree.
 
Joshuaace said:
Gutierrez it is then. Another loss really puts Yan's career in the dump. Lets get the mean little Gremlin a W
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I think he has to toe the line between getting a win and it not being against someone that isn't top-10 with no name value. The easiest fight/highest name value/legit ranking on the list is Cruz, so if I was his team I'd be angling for that fight. Just need to make it a 5-round main event, would love to watch the progressive striking adaptations from both.
 
NicholasJBasile said:
Solid post and you more or less already stated what I think haha I'm interested to see what they do with him as well; kinda tough circumstances. I think I'd lean towards Song for reasons you already highlighted.
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It would be really interesting to see him matched up with Song, would be a lot of fireworks since Song doesn't really wrestle and loves to plant and throw with power.

But that's probably the least likely fight for him to take - if he's trying to get an easier W he should just fight Munhoz, same ranking but less height/reach/power (better match-up stylistically plus at least Munhoz has some relevant name value from the Suga fight).
 
I think he got robbed in his last fight. He probably needs a showcase fight. It feels like he dropped 3 in a row even though he has a win over Cory.
 
He needs a rebound fight. Munhoz isn't a gimme, but a sensible choice to me.
 
Can a MOD add a poll to this thread please? Possible opponents to list:
  • Dvalishvili
  • Cruz
  • Song
  • Munhoz
  • Simon
Seems the fight most people would like to see/get hyped for is Merab.
 
If he beats Merab convincingly, it will make for a good story set up for the Aljo trilogy.
 
Henry should be fighting Yan next to prove he's still got it. He's the one who quit, and he's not young anymore plus he parties like Conor on his Whiskey Tour.
 
Joshuaace said:
Gutierrez it is then. Another loss really puts Yan's career in the dump. Lets get the mean little Gremlin a W
Click to expand...

Hard fight for Yan, especially considering it will probably be a 3 rounder.

Guti has way better striking, footwork and length than Yan. I can see Guti lighting Yan up for 2 rounds and then maybe slowly and getting wrestlefucked but winning 2-1. A Guti knockout in round 2 isn't too far-fetched either.
 
Reffson said:
Henry should be fighting Yan next to prove he's still got it. He's the one who quit, and he's not young anymore plus he parties like Conor on his Whiskey Tour.
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Henry is a draw, Yan very possibly would derail him. This sport isn't about "proving yourself" and "earning title shots", Alex Pereir is the Middleweight champ and Sandhagen vs Chito is for the next title shot when neither can defensively wrestle and have been protected from all the great takedown artists in the division....But Cejudo needs to prove it vs the BW Boogieman? Lol
 
Jackonfire said:
"...it doesn't seem like the UFC is interested in him as champion based on how things transpired."

I disagree with this bit. They promoted his fight with OMalley as a #1 contenders fight but once Sean won, they decided to go with Cejudo getting the next shot. I believe if Yan had gotten the nod, he'd be fighting Aljo next.

Rankings wise it should be Mereb but personally I'd like to see him fight Yadong next.
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Yadong would be fuckin madness sir....
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