Petr had all he can stands, he can’t stands no more!
Former UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan lost a razor-thin split decision to 135-pound rival Sean O’Malley on the UFC 280 pay-per-view (PPV) main card last weekend in Abu Dhabi, the second straight time “No Mercy” was edged out via judges’ decision.
Yan also dropped a close split to Aljamain Sterling at UFC 273.
The Russian bruiser is apparently so upset about the controversial scorecards in his last two fights that he’s actually threatening to leave the promotion once he’s completed his current contract, according to former champion-turned-UFC analyst Daniel Cormier.
“Ryan, a little inside baseball,” Cormier told his ESPN co-host Ryan Clark. “Petr Yan is so disappointed in this decision, Petr Yan is so disappointed in the decision against Aljo, that I’m hearing word this guy may want to look at something different down the line in terms of his career because he just does not feel like … maybe the organization doesn’t have his back. It’s crazy.”
All 26 media outlets listed on MMAdecisions.com scored the UFC 280 bout in favor of “No Mercy,” a far cry from the controversial scorecard (see it here) that gave the split decision nod to O’Malley. The scores against Sterling, however, were not nearly as close.
You know what they say about hands and judges.
“It was one of those razor-thin close fights,” UFC President Dana White told the media at the UFC 280 post-fight press conference (watch it here). “I can see people saying Yan won the fight, I can see people saying O’Malley won the fight. What’s weird is, it wasn’t the way I thought it was with the judges’ scorecards. I thought depending on who you gave the first round to determined who won the fight, but that was not the case, apparently.”
O’Malley replaced Yan atop the bantamweight division in the latest UFC rankings update.