UFC bantamweight contender Cory Sandhagen has become the latest to express interest in running it back with ex-champion Petr Yan next year.
Yan continued his winning form at this past weekend’s UFC Fight Night in Macau, China, where he headlined in defense of his position on the 135-pound ladder against former two-time flyweight kingpin Deiveson Figueiredo.
Having snapped a three-fight losing skid with a victory over Song Yadong this past March, “No Mercy” got back to a win streak at the expense of “Deus Da Guerra,” whom he defeated by way of a lopsided unanimous decision.
Among others, Yan’s display caught the eye of a familiar foe…
In a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Sandhagen broke down Yan’s victorious performance against Figueiredo.
During it, “The Sandman” pointed to a rematch opposite the Russian as a possible next assignment for him in 2025, having fallen short of staking his claim for a title shot when sharing the cage with Umar Nurmagomedov this past August.
Sandhagen previously lost to Yan in their interim title fight, which played out at UFC 267 in Abu Dhabi just over three years ago.
“Congrats to Yan, maybe we’ll do it next,” Sandhagen said. “I don’t really know what the division’s going on. I haven’t really heard too much. I was hoping to hear probably sometime next week about the direction that they are going to go in because I know they were waiting on this fight to play out.
“Congrats to Yan. I still want to get that one back,” Sandhagen continued. “We’ll see if it’ll be next or not.”
Yan has already responded to one of his former opponents requesting a second dance, none other than the bantamweight champ himself.
In his continued trend of calling to face top contenders not named Umar Nurmagomedov, Dvalishvili suggested his first title defense in 2025 should come against the man whom he dominantly 50-45’d on the scorecards last year.
Let’s do it again! I promise fans won’t be disappointed
https://t.co/OVvxEzzkE4
— Petr “No Mercy” Yan (@PetrYanUFC) November 23, 2024
