October 13, 2022 at 8:00AM ET
Petr Yan is a two-time UFC champion, but arguably his biggest fight was his next game. Yan (16-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC) will fight Sean O’Malley (15-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) in a key bantamweight bout at UFC 280, which will take place on October 22 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Main cards, including Yan-O’Malley, play pay-per-view after ESPN and ESPN+ preliminaries.
Yan needs to bounce back after a unified bantamweight title loss to champion Ajaman Sterling in April. Yan brought the interim champion into the bout, but again fell short of Sterling. Sterling beat him with a controversial disqualification to win the title in March 2021 before winning a split decision earlier this year. Off the belt line, it has to start with a win over O’Malley, a Tipico Sportsbook favorite at -320.
Before the crucial bantamweight bout, a look at the fight that gave Yan his first title: the all-time great Ukrainian Leah Farber finished with a superb header in the third round of UFC 245. Shortly after that victory, Yan defeated Jose Aldo by TKO for the 135-pound vacant title.
Before UFC 280, check out Yan’s video above.
For more information on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s UFC 280’s event center.
