Petr Yan showed he’s still very much among the elite of the bantamweight division Saturday when he won every round of his UFC Fight Night 248 main event against Deiveson Figueiredo.
After an ACL injury sidelined him for eight months, Yan (18-5 MMA, 10-4 UFC) returned looking as sharp as ever when he delivered a clinical unanimous decision beating of fellow former UFC champ Figueiredo in their headlining bout at Galaxy Arena in Macau, and now there’s calls for him to fight for the belt once more.
One of those calls came form reigning 135-pound champion Merab Dvalishvili (18-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) himself, who again pushed the already-named next challenger Umar Nurmagomedov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) to the wayside and pitched a rematch with Yan, who he defeated by lopsided decision in March 2023, for a rematch at UFC 313 on March 8 in Las Vegas.
Is there any chance Yan’s performance can leapfrog him over Nurmagomedov? That was a topic of discussion on this week’s episode of “Spinning Back Clique” with panelists Mike Bohn, Nolan King and Dan Tom, who joined host “Gorgeous” George Garcia to debate the state of the bantamweight division.
Check out the segment above, or watch the complete episode of “Spinning Back Clique” below.