Petr Yan

Petr Evgenyevich Yan (Пётр Евге́ньевич Я́н; born 11 February 1993) is a Russian professional mixed martial artist.

He currently competes in the Bantamweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former UFC Bantamweight Champion.

Yan formerly fought in Absolute Championship Berkut where he is a former ACB Bantamweight Champion.

As of 20 February 2024, he is #4 in the UFC bantamweight rankings.

Yan was born to a father of mixed Chinese-Georgian descent and a Russian mother.

In sixth grade, Yan began training in ITF Taekwondo and often fought in the streets and at the school in his area, so his family often moved to try and prevent this.

Yan's older brother trained in boxing in the city of Dudinka, Krasnoyarsk Krai, and Petr wanted to learn how to box too.

But his elder brother initially refused to take Petr along with him, so Petr decided to sneak and follow his brother to go to learn the sport of boxing.

From then on, Petr went on to train in boxing for 8 years and achieved the rank of Master of Sport in Boxing in the 64 kg weight category.

Yan graduated from the Siberian Federal University in the city of Omsk with a degree in Physical Culture and Sport.

Yan debuted in MMA at the Eurasian Fighting Championship - Baikal Fight in December 2014.

He won via third-round knockout over Murad Bakiev, who was also a debutant.

In 2015, Yan signed a contract with the Russian promotion Absolute Championship Berkut.

He was said to have gained many fans after his debut with the promotion where he fought Brazilian fighter Renato Velame, who at the time, already had 26 fights in his MMA career.

However, Yan won this fight by decision.

In Yan's third fight, he fought and beat Kharon Orzumiev by first-round submission in just 47 seconds.

In his following fight, Yan knocked out Artur Mirzakhanyan in the first round which was held at Professional Fight Night 10: Russia Cup.

On 24 October 2015, Yan faced Murad Kalamov and won the fight by unanimous decision.

The win granted Yan the opportunity to fight Magomed Magomedov for the championship belt in the bantamweight division.

Yan fought Magomed Magomedov on 26 March 2016 in Moscow at ACB 32: "The Battle of Lions".

After going all five rounds, Magomedov won the fight by split decision and won the title at bantamweight; however, many felt that Yan had won the fight, including ACB president, Mairbek Khasiev who promised to book a rematch.

Although Yan lost, this fight was voted as ACB's best fight of the year in 2016.

Following his first professional loss, Yan returned to face English mixed martial artist Ed Arthur at ACB 41: Path to Triumph, in Sochi.

He won the fight by unanimous decision.

In the spring of 2017, Yan was scheduled to have a rematch with Magomed Magomedov on 15 April at ACB 57: Payback in Moscow.

This time, Yan exacted revenge and defeated Magomedov by unanimous decision after fighting all five hard-fought rounds.

He won the decision and ultimately was crowned the ACB bantamweight champion.

Following his win, Yan returned in September 2017 to fight Brazilian contender Matheus Mattos at ACB: 71 in Moscow.

After winning the first two rounds, Yan caught Mattos with a left uppercut which caused Mattos to fall to his back, making the referee stop the fight.

He successfully defended his bantamweight title by third-round knockout.

Following his first title defense, Yan signed a contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in January 2018.

Yan made his promotional debut against Teruto Ishihara on 23 June 2018 at UFC Fight Night 132.

He won the fight via technical knockout in the first round.

Yan was briefly scheduled to face top-14 UFC rankings Douglas Silva de Andrade on 15 September 2018 at the UFC Fight Night 136.

However, Andrade pulled out of the fight on 9 August citing a foot injury, and he was replaced by Jin Soo Son.

At weigh-ins, Son weighed one pound over the bantamweight non-title fight limit of 136 pounds and he was fined 20 percent of his purse to Yan.

Yan won the fight by unanimous decision.

This win earned him the Fight of the Night award.

A bantamweight bout was rescheduled between Yan and Douglas Silva de Andrade for UFC 232 on 29 December 2018.

He won the fight via technical knockout in round two after de Andrade's corner stopped the fight.