Leaked DM discloses Petr Yan is out of a confirmed bout due to unfortunate circumstances
Petr Yan appeared set to face Song Yadong in the main event of UFC Fight Night 234, which is scheduled to take place on December 9th in China. 'Kung Fu Kid' recently revealed that 'No Mercy' is out of the bout, sharing a text message from his manager.
Chris Presnell of MMA Ecosystem shared the news, tweeting:
"As far as the main event on December 9th goes, there was a plan to have Song vs. Yan in that spot (hence my use of the word "targeted"), but Petr Yan is no longer in that plan. The search continues for an opponent for Song Yadong."
Presnell shared a screenshot from Yadong's post on Douyin, a TikTok-type app in China, which shared texts from his manager, who also manages Yan, adding:
"On Douyin, Song Yadong confirmed that Petr Yan was the plan for December 9th, and revealed a text from his manager claiming that Yan is injured."
Check out Chris Presnell's tweets on the bout falling through below:
It is unclear who the promotion will look to have Yadong face on the upcoming card or if he will remain the headliner. While the exact location of the bout has not been made official, it will take place in China.
There have only been three bouts announced. No.12-ranked flyweight Sumudaerji will face unranked Allan Nascimento. No.14-ranked middleweight Andre Muniz will face Park Jun-yong. Unranked light heavyweights Zhang Mingyang and Brendson Ribeiro will also face off.
Petr Yan has been on a downward spiral since losing the bantamweight title
Petr Yan entered his UFC 259 bout with Aljamain Sterling on a ten-fight win streak and looking to defend his bantamweight title for the first time. 'No Mercy' appeared to be on his way to doing so before being disqualified for a knee to the head of a downed opponent.
While he was able to defeat Cory Sandhagen at UFC 267 in his next bout, winning the interim bantamweight title, things have been downhill for Yan since then. He lost to Sterling via split decision in their rematch at UFC 273 before suffering a controversial split decision loss to Sean O'Malley at UFC 280.
In his last bout at UFC Fight Night 221, Yan was dominated by Merab Dvalishvili, losing via unanimous decision for the first time in his mixed martial arts career. He is now the No.5-ranked bantamweight and does not have a clear path back to the title in what has become a crowded title picture.