Petr Yan toppled a persistent Deiveson Figueiredo with a unanimous-decision bantamweight division win at UFC Fight Night in Macau, China, on Saturday.
The Brazilian Figueiredo (24-4-1 MMA, 13-4-1 UFC) started the match by taking down Yan of Russia (18-5 MMA, 10-4 UFC) within the first 30 seconds of the match but had to fight hard to stay in it against the well-conditioned Yan.
Yan, 31, landed more than double the significant strikes of Figueiredo (121-53), and Figueiredo, 36, made Yan work for it, especially with a late flurry in Round 4. Ultimately, Yan won every round on the judges’ scorecards (50-45, 50-45, 50-45).
Four years ago, the two won UFC titles within a week of each other — Yan at bantamweight and Figueiredo at flyweight — but both have been fighting their way back to the top since. Figueiredo, a two-time champion, had had more success leading up to the fight, having won his prior four matches. This was Yan’s second straight win.
In the strawweight co-main event, Xiaonan Yan of China dominated Tabatha Ricci of Brazil in a three-round match that lasted 15 minutes.
Yan, ranked 10th in the women’s pound-for-pound rankings, won a clear unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27). Ricci (11-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) couldn’t seem to get anything going against the Chinese fighter, who finished with a 78-15 significant strike advantage.
Yan of China (19-4 MMA, 9-3 UFC) was coming off a loss to champion Weili Zhang in a title challenge in April, and after Saturday’s match, she called out to Zhang, in the crowd, “Weili, I want a rematch!”
–Field Level Media
