I have bad news for the winner of Frankie Edgar vs. Cory Sandhagen, a bantamweight showdown between Top 5 contenders scheduled for the upcoming UFC Vegas 18 event on Feb. 6 on ESPN+ inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Petr Yan doesn’t want you.
Instead, the reigning 135-pound titleholder is setting his sights on former champion TJ Dillashaw. The part-time juicer makes his return to competition after serving a two-year drug suspension for EPO, one that cost him the bantamweight strap.
“Edgar, older. It’s not big, fan base is not good,” Yan told Fanatics View. “Sandhagen, he lose to Sterling. I think maybe Dillashaw. T.J. Dillashaw is back after doping tests. I want a fight with him. It’s up to the UFC. If the term is right, then I’m going to fight him whenever. Just let’s make sure that he’s not going to use anything prohibited this time. I think it’s a real great fight and I win. He’s older. He took two years, don’t fight and now, if I remember, he’s 34 years. It’s older for bantamweight division.”
Yan, 27, won’t have to worry about choosing his next opponent unless he’s able to get past top contender Aljamain Sterling at the UFC 259 pay-per-view (PPV) event, recently made official for March 6 in either Las Vegas or Abu Dhabi.
And “Funk Master” does not appear to share his outlook on Dillashaw.
The 15-1 Yan has been competing inside the Octagon for less than three years but already holds seven straight wins under the UFC banner. The only knock against “No Mercy” is that he’s yet to beat anyone in the Top 5 of his division.
That may change at UFC 259 in just a few weeks.