Russia could be in line for another UFC champion after Dana White confirmed that Petr Yan will be one half of a fight to determine the new UFC bantamweight titleholder following the surprise retirement of Henry Cejudo at UFC 249.
Cejudo defended the UFC’s 135lb crown with a second tround TKO win against Dominick Cruz at Saturday’s UFC event in Jacksonville, Florida to become just the second fighter in UFC history to have successful title defenses in two separate weight categories.
However, ‘Triple C’ surprised the mixed martial arts community immediately after the fight by announcing his retirement meaning that the UFC will now have to pair two of the division’s contenders to compete for the now vacant championship – and according to Dana White, one of those two men has already been set.
“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.”
This statement was welcomed by Yan on social media, who told the UFC president to just tell him “when and where.”
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
The identity of Yan’s opponent remains a mystery but if the rankings are anything to go by, it looks as though surging contender Aljamain Sterling is positioned best, although another contender, Cory Sandhagen, has also inserted himself into the conversation on the back of five straight UFC wins.
New Yorker Sterling has won four fights at 135-pounds in succession, to include dominant wins against the likes of Pedro Munhoz and Jimmie Rivera, as well as a stunning submission win against Cody Stamann 18 months ago.
Both Sterling and Yan – who fights with the ‘Archangel Michael’ team in Ekaterinburg – have campaigned on social media to be recognized as legitimate title contenders and have repeatedly talked up a fight against one another to determine the next contender for the belt.
With Cejudo (and Cruz) now removed from the equation, that top contender bout may well be upgraded to a world title fight.
I’ve been asking for this fight before and after my surgery @seanshelby@danawhite! 5 rounds gets it even funkier! https://t.co/dOrZ0Cx3N2
The people have wanted this for a while now. Cejudo got his glory fight and made the best of it.???It’s time for the @UFC to get back to what makes us better than boxing. The current best fighting the current best!#2 Aljamain Sterling vs #3 Petr Yan https://t.co/XlJnR8Ak5Z
As for the now former champion, White says he was aware of Cejudo’s thoughts on retirement but he didn’t expect him to announce his decision quite so soon.
“He’s been talking to us about retirement for the past several months,” White said of Cejudo in the post-fight press conference.
“I didn’t know he was going to do it tonight but I knew he has been talking about, and you know my opinion on that. If you start talking about retirement in this business, it’s probably a good idea. Although, I think he’s one of the best in the world. He looked incredible.“
The standard, it seems, has been set in the UFC’s bantamweight division. Now it us up to the likes of Yan, Sterling, or even Sandhagen, to state their cases to be considered the world’s top 135lb fighter.
