Petr Yan’s bantamweight resurgence took another big step Saturday. He took on and defeated former UFC champion Deiveson Figueiredo in the main event of UFC Macau (UFC Fight Night 248). Now, ‘No Mercy’ has legitimate business trying his bid, edging closer to gold.
The Team BK Arkhangel Mikhail switch-stance boxer pressed against Figueiredo’s wide stance. UFC Macau’s Figgy posed his own set of challenges and raw power. The UFC flyweight kingpin entered 3-0 at 135 pounds with wins over Rob Font, Cody Garbrandt, and Marlon Vera. He was even the only one to log a knockdown over “Chito” in the third.
However, Petr Yan, facing former Flyweight roost-ruler, Deiveson Figueiredo, in the pivotal 135-pound scrap gave quite a performance. It was a fun, technical and tactical fight, but it also revealed Figueiredo’s ceiling at bantamweight. Figgy threatened at times with his wrestling and straight rights from close range. But ultimately, Yan’s boxing was far too crisp in the long run.
He’s staying on top! 😮💨@PetrYanUFC takes home the UD at #UFCMacau! pic.twitter.com/qmJbmmAaXu
— UFC (@ufc) November 23, 2024
With large title aspirations, Figgy scraped his way back into things in R3. But touting that Jon Jones-like oblique stomp and crisp long shots, Yan got the upper hand. He even dropped him hard. The championship rounds even seemed to take the fight to a new level. The 31-year-old defeated Deiveson Figueiredo via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45). The win has gone quite viral.
Top reactions to Petr Yan topping Deiveson Figueiredo in exciting ‘boxing’ battle
Petr Yan placed himself back on the map as a title threat at 135 pounds with a lopsided decision victory over Figueiredo. This was Figgy’s first fall in the division at Galaxy Arena in Macau. While it’s far from over for him, this does put a knob on his momentum, for now.
UFC Fight Night 248 social media reactions from Macau: Petr Yan vs. Deiveson Figueiredo (Source: X)After the fight, Yan demanded a fight with bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili. The two fought in March 2023. Dvalishvili defeated Yan by a decisive five round unanimous decision. ‘Machine’ is the current roost-ruler after snagging gold at this year’s Noche Pay-per-view (PPV). With history behind him, Yan thus made a legitimate case for a rematch at UFC Macau (UFC Fight Night 248) on ESPN+.
At the start of the fight, Figueiredo took less than half a minute to drag Yan to the canvas. But the opponent proved why he’s such a dangerous contender at this mark. When the dust settled, UFC Fight Night 248 results saw all judges favor his performance.
A prime reaction (@Grabaka_Hitman) even noted “How do you not love watching Petr Yan fight. Just a constant flow of violence“. Here are a few top reactions to it:
Figueiredo is freezing Yan with feints but he hasn’t followed up properly on them.
— Anton Tabuena (@antontabuena) November 23, 2024
A couple really nice shots from Figgy but Yan doing a vast majority of the work that round. 2-0 Yan
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) November 23, 2024
@PetrYanUFC you look damn good 🦾 #UFCMacao
— Merab “The Machine” Dvalishvili (@MerabDvalishvil) November 23, 2024
How do you not love watching Petr Yan fight. Just an constant flow of violence
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) November 23, 2024
Where were you when Petr Yan was on a win streak. pic.twitter.com/y0LPv6dS71
— Kenny B 📟🏝 (@KennyBalii) November 23, 2024
50-45 Yan @MMADecisions
Figgy was a live threat throughout. Great fight. #UFCMacau
— Seán Sheehan (@SeanSheehanBA) November 23, 2024
Yan is so crisp with this striking
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) November 23, 2024
I’m impressed @PetrYanUFC performance tonight #UFCMacao
— Merab “The Machine” Dvalishvili (@MerabDvalishvil) November 23, 2024
The win extended Yan’s winning streak to two. In March, he returned from a one-year layoff to defeat Song Yadong. Many elated fans billed this as the mark of the start of a good run for ‘No Mercy’. Others, including Dvalishvili even lauded his crisp boxing. There is a high chance that he veers attention back to him next instead of a rematch or any other wrestler-vs-wrestle dogma.
