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Marlon Vera's loss to Cory Sandhagen has the No.3-ranked bantamweight ready to get back in the octagon as he called out former champion Petr Yan. After a very subpar performance at last night's UFC event, 'Chito' took to Twitter to put the No.4-ranked bantamweight on notice.
Vera, who had his four-fight win streak snapped, stated:
"Yan it’s about time.."
Check out Marlon Vera's tweet to Petr Yan below:
'Chito' had previously taken to Twitter to call out the former bantamweight champion in November 2022, as he tweeted:
"@PetrYanUFC where u at ??"
Check out Marlon Vera's tweet from November 2022 below:
A lot has changed for both fighters since Marlon Vera originally called out Petr Yan. After two consecutive split decision losses, 'No Mercy' was dominated by Merab Dvalishvili at UFC Fight Night 221. 'Chito' dropped his first bout since 2020 at UFC on ESPN 43 this past weekend as Cory Sandhagen defeated him via split decision.
Both fighters are in a position where they will need to pick up convincing wins to work their way back into title contention in a crowded bantamweight division. Yan is yet to respond to the call out, however, the bout makes sense as Vera is the only bantamweight ranked in the top five that he has not faced.
What has Petr Yan said about facing Marlon Vera?
Prior to his UFC 280 split decision loss to Sean O'Malley, Petr Yan revealed that he was initially in talks to face Marlon Vera, however, those talks fell through as 'Chito' was unwilling to wait to make the bout happen. While speaking with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, 'No Mercy', who was the No.1-ranked bantamweight at the time, stated:
"There were talks about me fighting Chito Vera. I accepted the fight...I wanted to fight in September, but he wanted to fight in August and he couldn't wait a few weeks to fight me so it means he didn't put his actions where his words were at. If he really wanted to fight me he would've waited for me."
Watch Petr Yan discuss the potential matchup below (starting at the 2:08:56 mark):
While Yan, who many felt defeated Aljamain Sterling at UFC 273, was in a position to dictate the terms of a potential bout at the time, that is no longer the case. The No.4-ranked bantamweight has lost three consecutive bouts, including a lackluster performance in his most recent outing at UFC Fight Night 221. 'No Mercy' will need a dominant win to work his way back into title contention.
