Yan Not Interested In Fighting Garbrandt
UFC bantamweight contender Petr Yan has no plans on fighting Cody Garbrandt in the foreseeable future.
Following his impressive third-round knockout win over Urijah Faber at UFC 245 this past weekend, Yan was confronted by Garbrandt backstage before the pair were soon separated.
After picking up a victory over Urijah Faber, @PetrYanUFC had to be separated from Faber's teammate @Cody_Nolove backstage at #UFC245 (via sayatus/IG) pic.twitter.com/Z4VXSgeKQb
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) December 15, 2019
Afterwards, Garbrandt — who faces Raphael Assuncao at UFC Columbus in March — posted on Twitter about how he would love to face Yan in Moscow soon after. And according to Yan, the confrontation stemmed from comments “No Love” made on Instagram leading up to the Faber fight.
“Nothing really happened,” Yan told MMA Fighting. “Cody wrote, ‘Get this MFer,’ on Dana White’s Instagram page, I jokingly replied, ‘You are next, No Chin,’ and he tried to act tough and crossed the line by commenting that he will see me tomorrow and smack me like a little ho. You all saw what happened when he saw me face to face: he was hiding his hands behind his back, acting all emotional and didn’t back up his words proving that he is all talk. He is a puppy – he barks, but doesn’t bite.”
As for a potential fight with Garbrandt, “No Mercy” isn’t interested. That’s because he’s not only targeting Henry Cejudo and the bantamweight title next, but because he’s also unimpressed with Garbrandt’s ability to take a punch.
“Maybe he has speed and power, but he can’t take a punch,” Yan added. “It would just be a matter of time before I can catch him and after that you will see another fall of the man with no chin. Now I understand that he talks big just to stay relevant. He is trying to attach his name to mine because I just won the fight and I’m on the rise. He needs to win a fight first before calling me out.
“To be honest, at this stage of my career, I’m not interested in this fight at all. I believe I deserve to fight for the title and will talk to UFC about that first. After that we can plan and see what fights will make sense. In the future it’s still possible, I would love to show you Russian boxing style.”
Yan is undefeated in the UFC with a 6-0 record since debuting for the promotion last year. Garbrandt, meanwhile, has lost three in a row all by knockout since becoming the bantamweight champion back in 2016.
