Petr Yan reportedly suffered serious injury in first round after almost pulling out of UFC 299
The recently concluded clash between bantamweight contenders Petr Yan and Song Yadong could have been in jeopardy as Yan nearly pulled out of UFC 299 due to an injury he sustained while preparing for the fight.
Yan also reportedly sustained a knee injury in the opening round, something that former UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski pointed out. The Australian took to X after the fight and praised Yan for winning despite being injured.
He wrote:
''@PetrYanUFC hurt his leg in the 1st round and came back to win last two rounds #UFC299''
Check out Volkanovski's tweet below:
Yan's manager Sayat Abdrakhmanov has revealed that the Russian fighter sustained a serious groin injury during sparring before the fight. In a recent interview with Ushatayka, Abdrakhmanov said Yan almost pulled out of his fight with Yadong just a week out of UFC 299 due to the injury.
He also confirmed that the former champ badly injured his knee in the first round of the fight.
In the opening match of UFC 299's main card, Yan defeated Yadong via unanimous decision. Even with Song's remarkable speed and early takedown success, Yan's increased pressure and better striking became the difference. 'No Mercy's' superiority was cemented in the later rounds with a perfectly timed takedown and ground-and-pound attacks.
Yan achieved his first victory since 2021, ending a run of three consecutive losses against Aljamain Sterling, Sean O'Malley, and Merab Dvalishvili. This win marked his first non-title fight victory since defeating Yadong's coach Urijah Faber in 2019.
Petr Yan addressed his win over Song Yadong
Former UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan faced surging contender Song Yadong at UFC 299 on March 9 in Miami, Florida. Following a fiercely contested three rounds, Yan prevailed over Yadong by unanimous decision.
In the post-fight interview, Yan discussed his fight against Yadong. He said:
''During the fight, I saw that he's defending the head shots very well so I had to change the levels a bit.''
Yan shed light on his injury and said:
''To be honest, I fought with one leg tonight and he's a good and tough opponent but my boxing was better today.''
Check out Petr Yan's full comments below (0:47):