Petr Yan’s next UFC opponent came out of left field.
A former champion of the bantamweight division, the #2-ranked contender Petr Yan has fought the who’s who at 135lbs from Jose Aldo to Aljamain Sterling (twice) to the two men in the UFC 316 main event between champ Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley.
Despite back-to-back wins over Song Yadong and Deiveson Figueiredo, Yan was passed up for the next title opportunity and the Russian will have to fight again if he wants another crack at gold.
Instead of facing a top contender, the UFC has reportedly matched Yan with someone further down the rankings.
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Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLCPetr Yan to fight Marcus McGhee at UFC Abu DhabiAccording to a report from Cageside Press, Yan has accepted a fight with #13-ranked contender Marcus McGhee at UFC Abu Dhabi on July 26th.
McGhee, 35, is a teammate of O’Malley’s and trains out of The MMA Lab in Phoenix, Arizona. 10-1 as a pro, McGhee won his first four fights in the UFC Octagon with three performance bonuses.
Coming off a decision win over Jonathan Martinez at UFC 309, the knockout artist gets a massive step-up in competition when he takes on the former champ Yan.
O’Malley called McGhee a ‘beast’ when his teammate made his UFC debut on three days notice back in 2023.
UFC fans baffled by matchmakers for bantamweight bookingIt’s not every day you see a rising prospect get a shot at a former champion high up in the rankings.
UFC fans are left confused by the #2-ranked Yan fighting #13 McGhee, considering the fact Yan is near title contention and McGhee doesn’t have any ranked wins.
“This fight makes no sense whatsoever,” one fan said of the bantamweight matchup on ‘X’.
“Yan just took out Figgy [Deiveson Figueiredo] who was undefeated at BW at the time. He shouldn’t be fighting [someone] so lower ranked. I get that he wants to stay busy but the [Cory] Sandhagen rematch would’ve made more sense the winner of that rematch deserves a title shot.”
This fight makes no sense whatsoever. Yan just took out Figgy who was undefeated at BW at the time. He shouldn’t be fighting some so lower ranked. I get that he wants to stay busy but the Sandhagen rematch would’ve made more sense the winner of that rematch deserves a title shot
— The Combat Sports Matrixer (@TheCSMatrixer) May 29, 2025 View Tweet
“Don’t get the matchmaking at all unless yan just wanted to be active. I got Yan by finish,” another fan wrote.
“What a disastrous booking, this should have been Yan vs Umar [Nurmagomedov],” said a fan.
Petr Yan has been in this kind of position before. When he was the #1 contender in 2022, Yan fought a #11-ranked Sean O’Malley at UFC 280, despite O’Malley having no ranked wins prior.
O’Malley and the UFC matchmakers caught a lot of flak for the booking but it ultimately paid off for O’Malley, who won in an exciting and controversial split decision.
