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Henry Cejudo admits that Petr Yan is the most impressive bantamweight he's seen since vacating the title and retiring at UFC 249. Having said that, Cejudo believes 'No Mercy' is definitely conquerable, but his opponents aren't using the right gameplan against him.
In conversation with The Schmo, Henry Cejudo said that Petr Yan is susceptible to leg kicks and takedowns. He claimed that if he were to fight the Russian, he'd definitely explore these options. Cejudo also spoke about how Israel Adesanya is also vulnerable to leg kicks and takedowns, claiming that his opponents don't use these weapons against him too often.
He pointed out that Adesanya looked like a completely different fighter when he did get taken down by Jan Blachowicz in their light heavyweight title showdown at UFC 259.
"Yes, I will say and I will admit, yeah, he's dangerous. But this is the thing, nobody is kicking his legs and nobody is taking him down. It's the same thing when we go back and talk about Israel Adesanya, nobody is kicking his legs and then finally when someone took him down, they become different fighters so if Triple C Henry Cejudo was to fight Petr Yan, those are the two things I will take away from him," Cejudo said.
Interestingly, Yan's latest opponent Cory Sandhagen did try to take him down on multiple occasions during their interim title fight at UFC 267. Sandhagen shot for Yan's legs, trying to take him down on six occasions during the contest. He landed just once but failed to cause the Russian any problems on the ground.
Petr Yan likely to run it back with Aljamain Sterling next
Petr Yan is likely to run it back with Aljamain Sterling in a title unification bout down the line. Yan and Sterling were initially supposed to fight at UFC 267, but 'Funk Master' was forced to pull out due to injury. The UFC then brought in Cory Sandhagen to replace Sterling and announced that the winner of the fight would become interim champion.
Sterling became the first fighter in UFC history to win a title via DQ after Yan illegally kneed him in the face during their first fight at UFC 259.
