Last night, all eyes were on UFC 296 with an incredible card headlined by two title fights. However, after the event was over, Dana White dropped some bombs in terms of breaking news. White announced several fights for the March 9th PPV in Miami.
One of the fights that White announced for UFC 299 was a bantamweight matchup between former champion Petr Yan (16-5) and Song Yadong (21-7-1). These two were originally supposed to headline the Fight Night in Shanghai, China that got shifted to the APEX earlier this month.
However, when Yan wasn’t able to fight, Chris Gutierrez stepped in to face Song. Song was able to neutralize Gutierrez and get the better of him over the course of five rounds. It was Song’s second straight main event win. He wanted to fight Petr Yan after the win and the UFC is granting his wish.
UFC 299
A few years ago, Petr Yan was on top of the world. He was the bantamweight champion and with the way he was looking, it was hard to see someone stopping him. Then, he took on Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259. Yan was well in control of the fight heading into the fourth round but he hit Sterling with an illegal knee that ended the fight and his title reign by DQ.
Following that, he faced and defeated Cory Sandhagen for the interim title. He got a rematch with Sterling and lost a close decision. Following the Sterling loss, he faced Sean O’Malley and once again lost a very close decision. Most recently, he had a main event against Merab Dvalishvili earlier this year and he was dominated.
So, after once being on top of the world, Yan is now facing a three-fight losing streak with a tough challenge in front of him in Song Yadong. In March, the former UFC champion will look to avoid a fourth straight defeat.