3. Petr Yan’s title reign has big potential
[autotag]Petr Yan[/autotag] accomplished one of the more impressive rises to UFC championship glory when he stopped Jose Aldo by fifth-round TKO to claim the vacant bantamweight belt.
Although some in the sport have known of Yan’s potential even prior to joining the UFC, his path the title is still worthy of massive praise. He did it purely through hard work. Sure, Yan has a solid social media game in chirping other fighters, but the real key has been his pace.
After making his debut in June 2018, Yan has fought seven times in less than 25 months to get to his position, and it seems he has no intention of slowing down. That’s massively exciting, because ether bantamweight division is as compelling as any in the UFC right now. It seems Aljamain Sterling is next, but after that the likes of Marlon Moraes, Cody Garbrandt, Dominick Cruz and perhaps even someone like Sean O’Malley down the line, gives opportunity for some big fights.
It’s going to be a difficult task for Yan to hold on to that 135-pound title for an extended period. If he’s able to rack up a solid run of title defenses against the challengers on the horizon, though, Yan could wind up the best bantamweight in MMA history.
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