Petr Yan responds to call out from Marlon Vera for Madison Square Garden fight: ‘I’ll take him to school’
Former UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan is open to facing Marlon Vera next time out.
Vera is coming off a lopsided decision loss to Sean O’Malley at UFC 299 for the bantamweight title. Following the loss, Vera called for a fight with Yan, as he thought it made sense and was hoping for it to be in November at Madison Square Garden.
“I was hoping to fight Yan in November,” Vera told Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour following his loss to O’Malley at UFC 299, “I feel that would be a great fight that makes sense.”
Although Vera called for the fight with Yan in November, the Russian did suffer a significant knee injury, but he thinks he will be ready for November and to beat ‘Chito’ up.
“Yes, I’ll be ready just in time for November. Of course, I agree. I’m taking him to a mixed martial arts school. You saw how Song Yadong showed his coolest boxing. Everything didn’t go according to plan a little bit. For Vera, things won’t go according to plan either. One hundred percent. We proceed from what we have at the moment. October-November is a good time to fight. But can I do two? I think not – there will be only one,” Yan said to SportsRU.
On paper, a fight between Marlon Vera and Petr Yan does make sense, and after both are interested, many fans are hopeful it will happen on the MSG card in November.
Petr Yan rehabbing a knee injury
Petr Yan suffered a significant knee injury in his UFC 299 decision win over Song Yadong.
Yan revealed he hurt his knee in the first round, but he ended up winning the second and third rounds to get the decision win. However, following the victory, he took to social media to reveal he suffered a significant knee injury.
“So MRI confirmed ACL rupture, meniscus tear and groin injury,” Yan wrote on X. “Surgery is scheduled for tomorrow. Nothing will break me, I’m determined to come back stronger than ever in no time.”
Despite the significant injury, Yan still feels like he will be ready by November to face Vera.
