Former UFC Bantamweight Champion Petr Yan expressed his distaste for the Sean O’Malley vs. Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera matchup. During a media day interview for UFC 299, he referred to the Bantamweight main event that Chito lost to a decision against Cory Sandhagen, who is ranked #3, whereas Chito is ranked #5.
Petr further criticized Sean O’Malley for cherry-picking his title defenses and not selecting actual contenders.
Petr Yan takes sly dig at Sean O’Malley and Chito Vera
Petr Yan commented on Sean O’Malley’s championship run wanting to ‘remind’ everybody how he got the title shot in the first place.
“He got gifted the title shot after being gifted the decision win against me,” said Petr, referring to Sean’s controversial win by decision against Petr in UFC 280. back in 2022.
Petr also mentioned how he feels that Sean does not believe that he can actually win against ‘real contenders’ and chose Chito Vera because he knew that it would be an easy win for him.
With regards to Chito, Petr said that he doesn’t completely understand how exactly he received the title shot after having lost to Sandhagen.
Petr Yan and Sean O’Malley head-to-head record
Sean O’Malley’s controversial decision win during UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi shook the entire UFC and MMA viewership.
Sean stepped into the octagon with Petr in October 2022, engaging in 5 hard-fought rounds that had most MMA and UFC fans on the edges of their chairs. Even though it was widely considered a close fight, most fight fans, coaches, and former UFC Champions, including Khabib Nurmagomedov and his team, believed that Petr should have taken the decision.
The UFC viewership was shaken when Sean O’Malley secured the win via split decision, with scores of 29-28 on two judges’ scorecards. The UFC faced heavy criticism from its own team and members, while Sean received a lot of respect because nobody expected the fight to be so close, given the dominant nature of Petr’s fighting style.
Petr then went onto fight Merab Dvalishvili in March of 2023, losing to decision again, and then taking some time off from the UFC. After a year, Petr is ready to step into the cage again, against Song Ya Dong, a very skilled Chinese mixed martial artist, currently ranked #7 in the Bantamweight division and is fighting on the same card as Sean O’Malley and Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera.
Having expressed a strong will to get back into the title picture, Petr Yan expects to walk through Song, wanting to have a shot against the top title contenders and the UFC Bantamweight belt again.
Would Petr Yan get a chance to avenge his loss against O’Malley? Let us know your thoughts.
