Petr Yan Says Umar Nurmagomedov Declined To Fight Him

Former UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan seems close to another shot at his former belt, but instead surprised fans by taking a bout with Marcus McGhee at UFC Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

Yan (18-5) is currently ranked #3 with McGhee holding the #12 spot at the moment. McGhee said he was surprised but happy to get the call to fight Yan. For Yan it was really needing an opponent to stay active.

“I was actually very happy to have a fight. I knew that people from top 5, top 10, there was nobody there who wanted to fight me. Once I knew that there was an opponent I was happy to fight,” Yan told reporters through a translator on Wendesday.

“I said give me anybody and I’ll fight them.”

There was one name that made for sense for Yan, but even though he was hoping for the fight, it never came through. For Yan a fight with a recent title challenger would likely have been the perfect segue way into a title fight.

“I was offered a 5-round fight against Umar Nurmagomedov in Baku, Azerbaijan,” Yan said.

“I accepted the fight right away, but for their own reason, his team didn’t accept the fight. I knew I wanted to fight as soon as possible in the next possible opportunity was to fight in Abu Dhabi.”

Watch the entire media day scrum with Petr Yan above. He takes on Marcus McGhee at UFC Abu Dhabi on Saturday.