Over a two-year-and-five day stretch between March 6, 2021 and March 11, 2023, Petr Yan made five trips into the Octagon, only walking out victorious one time.
The first loss in the sequence came by disqualification and cost him the bantamweight title, with his lone triumph following a few months later, when he claimed the interim title by defeating Cory Sandhagen. That win set up a rematch with Aljamain Sterling to determine who would reign as the undisputed champion of the 135-pound weight class, with the “FunkMaster” landing on the favorable side of a split decision verdict.
A similar result followed six months later, as Yan again fell on the wrong side of a split decision result in his competitive clash with “Suga” Sean O’Malley at UFC 280 before he ran afoul of Merab Dvalishvili, losing all five rounds of their main event clash as the Georgian continued his march towards the top of the division.