“Maybe It’s Because I’m Not American” – Petr Yan Explains Why He Was Denied a Title Shot

The UFC’s choice of opponents for its Bantamweight champion, Henry Cejudo, is perplexing for Petr Yan.

The Russian is 6-0 in his six fights under the promotional banner. Of all the top-ranked contenders, he has the best resume that fits the role of a challenger. Surely one can argue that a fight with Marlon Moraes will cement his spot as the No. 1 challenger. But he is more deserving than the fighter who will challenge Henry Cejudo next, Dominick Cruz.

Cruz last stepped inside the Octagon at the end of 2016. He lost the fight and his belt at the hands of Cody Garbrandt. After being out for more than three years, Cruz is now making his comeback. In all likelihood, he will replace Jose Aldo in a match against Henry Cejudo. This entire situation puts a big hit on the reputation of the UFC, according to Yan.

“To be honest, moments like this in UFC kind of upset me,” the Russian told MMA Fighting’s Eurobash podcast. “He didn’t fight for three years and now he’s getting a title shot? It kind of upsets me and it’s a big hit for UFC reputation, in my opinion”

The blame for ducking contenders who are on the rise is as much on Cejudo as it is on the UFC. The former Olympian decided to chose Aldo. However, travel restrictions couldn’t allow him to come to the USA. Petr Yan is optimistic that a similar explanation exists regarding why he wasn’t called by the UFC.

“Maybe it’s because I’m not in America that I wasn’t granted this title shot, or maybe it’s because I’m not American they didn’t give me this opportunity,” he said.

Petr Yan speculates UFC doesn’t want another Russian champ after Khabib Nurmagomedov

The influx of Russian talent in the UFC has increased in the past decade. One of the most dominant fighters on the UFC roster is Russian. Yan believes that the way Russians are dominating the sport is not sitting very well with UFC. Consequently, this could have been the reason why the UFC didn’t turn towards Yan for fighting Cejudo.

“Maybe it’s because they’re afraid of me and they don’t want to give the chance to win another title to a Russian fighter, maybe they don’t want two Russian champions,” he added.

However, all of this is mere speculations. And even Petr isn’t willing to accept it. If Cruz would have been a massive PPV draw, the choice could have been understandable.

“I don’t think that [UFC’s] main goal, but to me, it’s kind of unclear why they gave it to Cruz. I don’t think, in my opinion, he’s going to bring a lot of pay-per-view buys.”

Despite his faulty choice of opponents, Yan hasn’t lost respect for Cejudo. He is still willing to fight the former double champ for the 135-pound belt. Probably Yan has accepted that being the champ, “Triple-C” will play his game. But why the UFC is buying into his antics is still beyond comprehension for him.

“I can’t say I lost respect for [Cejudo]. I know that he’s playing his game, he’s doing his part, but it’s weird that the UFC also agrees with him – that’s kind of weird.”