Petr Yan not interested in Sean O’Malley rematch, wants title fight with Merab Dvalishvili

Petr Yan is not interested in running things back with Sean O’Malley.

On Saturday, Yan picked up a unanimous decision win over Deiveson Figueiredo in the main event of UFC Macau. It was a hard-fought battle for the former bantamweight champion as Figueiredo even dropped him in the fourth round, which Yan admitted had him in real trouble.

“When he landed the smackdown with his punch, I thought, ‘It’s not New Year’s year but fireworks already started,’” Yan told reporters at his post-fight press conference. “Maybe I was lost for a little second but then I recovered pretty fast and knew what was going on. It’s a tough sport, you can land tough punches. Anything can happen so you have to be ready. You can be broken or you can keep going.

“Here in the UFC, there are no easy opponents. Everyone is tough and hard, so you can’t relax any second. Everybody can surprise you. Even last second of our fight, anything can happen. We’ve seen a lot of examples in MMA and boxing.”

Yan overcame the moments of trouble and ultimately took a clean sweep of 50-45s on all three judges scorecards.

The win is now Yan’s second in a row and afterwards fan sentiment immediately turned toward a possible rematch with fellow former champion Sean O’Malley. “Suga” won a controversial split decision over Yan at UFC 280 to earn his own title shot, and now that O’Malley dropped the title to Merab Dvalishvili, fans have been hoping the two former champions will run things back. But Yan isn’t all that interested in that right now.

“I don’t know who I’m going to fight next,” Yan said when asked about an O’Malley rematch. “I didn’t decide yet. It’s more a question to the UFC matchmakers. I will fight anybody.

“I already beat both Sean O’Malley and Sandhagen,” he added. “I already beat them.”

Instead, Yan has his sights set on a different rematch: one with the current bantamweight champion. Yan and Dvalishvili faced off in March of 2023 with Dvalishvili winning a dominant decision victory. Now with two wins under his belt since then, Yan hopes he’s close to earning a second crack at the champion.

“Merab, let’s do it again,” Yan said. “I’m ready to talk about rematch and I believe it’s going to be a very exciting fight.”

“It’s my second win in a row,” Yan added later. “I beat really top opponents who were on winning streaks too. So step by step we’re getting there. We’re going to get this rematch and this title fight.”

Though nothing is confirmed yet, it is expected that Dvalishvili will defend his bantamweight title against Umar Nurmagomedov sometime next year. However, Yan does seem to be making some headway as shortly after UFC Macau, Dvalishvili answered his call out, suggesting a fight at UFC 313 on March 8.